Baseball Evens Series With a 12-4 Victory on Saturday
5/7/2011 10:11:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (27-20, 14-9) evened a series that has seen a 15 combined errors with a 12-4 victory over Wofford (20-27, 7-16) on Saturday, May 7th. The Eagles began the day with the induction of former pitchers Julio Ayala and Brett Lewis to the Wall of Fame.
Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) made just his fourth start on the mound this season and pitched a solid five innings. Hess improved to 3-2 on the year after allowing one earned run, three total, on five hits. The bullpen did its part as well, holding the Terriers to just one run over four innings.
Georgia Southern allowed a first inning run for the sixth consecutive game, but rebounded with two of its own in the bottom half of the inning. A RBI ground out and two-out double by Tom Richardson (Lilburn, Ga.) drove in the two runs.
The Eagles added a single run in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead before both teams scored two runs each in the fourth inning. GSU broke open the game with a combined seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings to extended the lead to 12-3. The Terriers fourth run of the contest crossed the plate in the eighth inning.
Tom Dolinak allowed only one earned run through five innings in his start for Wofford, but was tagged with the loss. Dolinak (L, 3-6) gave up five total runs on six hits, but five Terrier errors allowed the Eagles to score four unearned runs. The Wofford bullpen did not fare as well as Georgia Southern's, allowing seven combined runs over three innings.
The four-run sixth inning for Georgia Southern saw only two hits with two errors allowing four unearned runs to cross the plate. A leadoff walk to Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.), who reached base in all but one plate appearance in his first start of the series, came around to score after a throwing error was wide of home plate.
Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) singled with one out in the inning, stole second and scored along with Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.), who reached on a fielder's choice, after a failed rundown play. A RBI-single by Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) drove in the fourth run of the inning.
After two quick outs to start the seventh inning, Georgia Southern tallied five-straight hits to score three runs on a home run by Burruss, his third of the season.
The series finale between Georgia Southern and Wofford is set for 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. In the rubber match of the three-game set, Joe Lower (West Palm Beach, Fla.) will take the mound for the Eagles against a Terrier starter to be named later.
All games can be heard on Eagle 102.9 FM in Statesboro and are also available online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision beginning 30 minutes prior to first pitch. Ryan Chambers of the Georgia Southern Radio Network will call all the action.
Fans may follow Georgia Southern Baseball by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/baseball or check in at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics for short updates.
