Baseball Opens Five-Game Road Trip in Charleston
3/5/2012 8:01:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - After snapping a five-game losing streak on Sunday, the Georgia Southern Baseball team takes to the road for five games beginning with Charleston Southern on Tuesday. First pitch from Buccaneer Ballpark is set for 2 p.m.
Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) takes the mound for Georgia Southern (6-6) in his third start of the season. The senior pitcher picked up the win in relief in both games against Charleston Southern (4-7) last year. Adams tossed a scoreless 11th inning in the first game of 2011 and picked up the win after Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.) drove in the winning run in walk-off fashion. The two teams met again later in the month, and Adams won again after the Eagles rallied from a nine-run deficit with nine runs in the seventh inning.
Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) has kept a hot bat and has tallied a hit in every game this season. The senior captain is hitting a team-best .451 with six doubles and 15 RBIs. Phillips has led Georgia Southern to a .301 team batting average and a SoCon-best .402 on-base percentage. He currently ranks seventh all-time with a .364 career batting average.
The Eagles salvaged a win in Sunday's doubleheader with North Florida. Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) made his first start in Thursday's series opener and finished the four-game set with a .471 average, two doubles and two home runs. Phillips went 9-for-18 at the plate in the series and slugged .722 for the weekend.
Charleston Southern (4-7) is mired in a four-game losing streak after three loses at the Auburn Tournament. The Buccaneers are 4-4 at home this season and won three-straight games after opening the season with two losses to Georgetown.
Bobby Ison leads the CSU bats with a .413 batting average in 11 starts in the outfield. The Buccaneers are hitting .272 as a squad with 17 doubles and three home runs. Brian Welch has two of the three long balls and is hitting .389 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and 9 RBIs.
The Charleston Southern pitching staff holds a 5.01 ERA and a 2.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The staff is holding opposing hitters to a .286 batting average. Kyle Ward has made three scoreless appearances on the season and has worked around eight hits in 8.1 innings thanks to nine strikeouts and just one walk.
Georgia Southern holds a 43-4 all-time record against Charleston Southern but two of the four losses have come in Charleston. The Eagles have won 10-straight meetings over the Buccaneers but had to rally in both games last season for the two victories.
All games can be heard on Boomer 103.7 FM and inside the stadium on 88.1 FM. Audio for all games is also available on the web and subscription video is available for all home games at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision.
Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics
