STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team scored six unanswered runs and defeated the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 8-6 on Wednesday night at J.I. Clements Stadium. Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.) broke open a 6-6 tie with a pinch-hit home run in the eighth to put the Eagles on top for good.
Georgia Southern (15-15) returned to .500 for the first time in seven games after the bullpen combined for five scoreless innings and two hits. Josh Stevenson (Social Circle, Ga.) (1-2) faced the minimum in the eighth inning and struck out two batters for his first win as an Eagle after GSU put two runs on the board in the bottom half of the frame. Kyle Rowe (Valdosta, Ga.) (S, 2) followed suit and retired the top of the order for the save.
Bethune-Cookman (16-13) got a solid start from Scott Garner, who worked out of jams in the second and third innings, but Jordan Dailey (3-4) allowed four runs on four hits over two innings of relief for the loss. Garner worked around 11 hits over four innings and allowed four runs with one strikeout and no walks.
The Eagles put two runs on the board in the eighth inning including the lead off homer by Griffin. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.), who went three-for-four with two RBIs on the day, plated a second run in the inning with a two-out single up the middle to score Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.). Williams walked and was sacrificed to second base before moving to third base on a ground out.
Georgia Southern tied the ballgame at 6-6 on a steal of third base by Burruss and an errant throw by catcher Carlos Delgado in the seventh inning. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) followed with a single and reached third base before being stranded after Dailey struck out Hunter Thomas (Johns Creek, Ga.) and Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) to end the inning.
Bethune-Cookman erased an early Eagle lead with two unearned runs in the third inning. An error and a single put runners on the corners with one out and both runs crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Josh Johnson and an error by the third baseman.
The Wildcats expanded on a one-run lead with a four-run fifth inning. Four-straight batters reached base before Alejandro Sanchez tallied the first and only hit of the inning to plate two runs. Brashad Johnson drove in the first run of the inning with a bases-loaded walk. Nick Johnson grounded into a double play but drove in Brashad Johnson for the final run of the inning.
Georgia Southern cut the deficit to one run with three runs in the bottom half of the frame. The Eagles opened the inning with two hits and a walk before Brown plated the first run of the inning on a ground out to second base. T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.) followed with a hard-hit ball through the right side to score Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.), who bunted down the third base line for a base hit earlier in the frame. Thomas added a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Burruss from third base.
Georgia Southern will hit the road in the morning and will face Davidson in the series opener Thursday night at 6 p.m. The series continues with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday and a 2 p.m. start on Saturday.
The games can be heard on the 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.
