Baseball Faces #13 Florida on SunSports/Fox Sports Florida
2/19/2013 8:20:33 PM | Baseball
Game Notes | Video: Preview with Head Coach Rodney Hennon
GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Feb. 20
Times: 7 p.m.
Site: Gainesville, Fla./McKethan Stadium (5,500)
TV/Video Stream: SunSports/Fox Sports Florida
Play-by-Play: Mick Hubert; Analyst: Nick Belmonte
Baseball Radio Network:
103.7 FM - WBMX - Metter/Statesboro
900 AM - WJLG - Savannah
1370 AM - WLOP - Jesup
Play-by-Play: Kris Draper; Analyst: Barrett Gilham
Live Stats: gseagles.com
Twitter Updates: @GSAthletics / @GSScores
Series: Florida leads, 10-3 (13 games)
Statesboro: Florida leads, 1-0
Gainesville: Florida leads, 8-3
Neutral Site: N/A
Unknown: Florida leads, 1-0 First Meeting: 1948 - L
Last Meeting: 4/17/2012 - L, 8-2
Last Ga. Southern Series Win: N/A
Last Florida Series Win: 2/9-11/1990
Streak: Florida, 1 win
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (2-1, 0-0 SoCon) hits the road for the first time in 2013 and visits their second SEC opponent of the year, #13 Florida (2-1, 0-0 SEC), Wednesday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen on SunSports/Fox Sports Florida.
The game can also be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network.
The Gators have reached the NCAA College World Series the past three seasons.
The two teams will meet for a third-straight year at McKethan Stadium. Florida won last season’s contest 8-2 behind a five RBI night from Brian Johnson.
The Eagles trail in the all-time series 10-3 and are 3-8 all-time in Gainesville, Fla.
Tyler Avera went two for four with a run scored in last season’s contest.
Top of the order hitters, Scooter Williams and Ben Morgan, reached base in the first inning of all three games of the Georgia Series and helped GSU score nine first inning runs.
Georgia Southern has scored a first inning run in five-straight games dating back to a 5/26/2012 contest against Elon.
The Eagles have scored 13 runs over the first three frames this season and just six over the final six innings.
GSU, who went all of last season without a four run first inning, scored four runs in the first inning of Sunday’s 11-2 win over #29 Georgia.
Georgia Southern, who went 23-9 when not allowing a home run in 2012, is off to a 2-1 start despite allowing a homer in all three games.
The Eagles are coming off a 33-27 season in which they finished as a Southern Conference Tournament finalist.
Georgia Southern was picked to finish fifth in both the Coaches and Media Preseason Polls. Seniors Justin Hess and Scooter Williams also picked up Second Team Preseason All-Conference Honors.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
Wednesday’s road contest at Florida will be televised at 7 p.m. ET on SunSports/Fox Sports Florida. Mick Hubert (play-by-play) and Nick Belmonte (analyst) will call the action.
WATCH & LISTEN
All Georgia Southern home games will be video streamed on gseagles.com/watch-listen for free. The stream will carry the Georgia Southern Radio Network’s feed with long-time play-by-play voice Ryan Chambers and color commentator Kris Draper on the call.
The Radio Network will also air the entire baseball schedule on 103.7 FM in Metter/Statesboro, 900 AM in Savannah and 1370 AM in Jesup.
WEEKEND RECAP
Georgia Southern opened the 2013 season with a series win over #29 Georgia at J.I. Clements Stadium.
The Eagles set a new three-game series attendance record of 9,225 fans and posted the second, third and fifth largest single-game crowds at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Former high school teammates, T.D. Davis and Ben Morgan hit .500 on the weekend and both hit home runs on Sunday.
New weekend starters Sam Howard and freshman Jason Richman picked up wins in their first starts of the year.
GSU finished the series with a .305 batting average, 12 extra-base hits and a 2.67 team ERA.
QUICK HITS
The Eagles went 11-16 in road games a year ago and 3-1 in neutral site contests.
In his 14th season at the helm of Georgia Southern's program, head coach Rodney Hennon is the second winningest active coach in the SoCon.
Hennon needs another 44 victories to reach 600 career wins.
Hennon is also set to coach his 800th career game as the Eagles’ skipper at Mercer on March 5.
Hennon ranks 42nd in winning percentage among active Division I head coaches.
Former Eagle coaches Ron Polk (1972-75) and Jack Stallings (1976-99) rank eighth and 14th, respectively, for most wins in a NCAA career.
Georgia Southern’s 2012 average home attendance of 1,323 fans ranked 47th among Division I schools.
Georgia Southern has not posted a shutout since Chris Beck tossed a complete game in a 1-0 win over Samford on May 29, 2011, a streak of 62 games.
ON-DECK FOR #CLEMENTS
Georgia Southern returns home Friday to host Big Ten favorite Indiana for a three-game weekend slate. Game times are 6 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Friday’s game will be farmers' night and all fans are encouraged to wear farmers' clothing to the game. Saturday will feature a chili cookout and a Student Eagle Club tailgate.
Sunday will be “Hoosier” daddy and all fathers are encouraged to bring their children to the game.
FLORIDA SERIES HISTORY
Florida holds a 10-3 record in the all-time series and is 8-3 all-time in McKethan Stadium.
The Gators won the first-ever meeting in 1948 and won last year’s mid-week game 8-2.
The two teams will meet for the third-straight year and both are 1-1 since resuming the series in 2011.
This will be the first meeting since the series resumed without Florida being ranked #1.
Georgia Southern won the 2011 meeting 7-0 behind strong pitching performances by Chris Beck, Josh Adams and Matt Murray.
A YEAR AGO
A year ago Florida’s Brian Johnson drove in five runs with a homer and a double, and Greg Larson held Georgia Southern to one run over three innings in an 8-2 Gator win.
Former Eagle Michael Burruss recorded four singles but did not make it past first base.
The Eagles recorded nine hits but scored just two runs after leaving eight runners on base.
Jarret Leverett allowed one run on two hits over 3.0 innings of relief.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
