Baseball Hosts Big Ten Favorite Indiana This Weekend
2/21/2013 8:22:10 PM | Baseball
Game Notes | Video: Preview with Coach Hennon
GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Fri.-Sun., Feb. 22-24
Times: 6 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 11:30 a.m.
Site: Statesboro, Ga./J.I. Clements Stadium (3,000)
TV/Video Stream: gseagles.com/watch-listen
Play-by-Play: Ryan Chambers; Analyst: Kris Draper
Baseball Radio Network:
103.7 FM - WBMX - Metter/Statesboro
900 AM - WJLG - Savannah
1370 AM - WLOP - Jesup
Play-by-Play: Ryan Chambers; Analyst: Kris Draper
Live Stats: gseagles.com
Twitter Updates: @GSAthletics / @GSScores
Series: Series tied, 3-3 (6 games)
Statesboro: Ga. Southern leads, 1-0
Bloomington: Indiana leads, 2-1
Neutral Site: Indiana leads, 1-0
Unknown: Ga. Southern leads, 1-0
First Meeting: 3/30/1956 - W, 6-5
Last Meeting: 4/22/2012 - W, 9-1
Last Ga. Southern Series Win: N/A
Last Indiana Series Win: 4/20-22/2012, 2-1
Streak: Ga. Southern, 1 win
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (3-1, 0-0 SoCon) returns home after a 12 inning win over #13 Florida to host Big Ten favorite Indiana (2-1, 0-0 B1G). The series opens on Friday night with a 6 p.m. first pitch and concludes with a 2:30 p.m. game on Saturday and an 11:30 a.m. first pitch on Sunday.
The game will be streamed for free at gseagles.com/watch-listen and can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network.
Friday’s game will be Farmer 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.
The Georgia Southern Dugout Club will also hold their first social of 2013 at 1 p.m. in the Champion’s Room on Saturday. To join the dugout club call the ticket office at 1-800-GSU-WINS.
The Eagles are 3-3 all-time against the Hoosiers and went 1-2 a year ago in Bloomington, Ind.
Former Eagle Eric Phillips went five-for-11 with a RBI in the series a year ago, while Stryker Brown recorded three hits in eight at-bats in two starts.
T.D. Davis has recorded a hit in eight-straight games and has reached base in 16 contests.
Sophomore Hunter Thomas leads the team in doubles and RBI.
Sam Howard has allowed one unearned run over 8.1 innings to start 2013. Howard has appeared in two games and has struck out seven batters.
Ben Morgan leads the Southern Conference in runs scored and stolen bases.
Reliever Chris Myers has appeared in every game this season and leads the conference in pitching appearances.
Georgia Southern, who went 23-9 when not allowing a home run in 2012, is off to a 3-1 start despite allowing a homer in all four 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.
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.
MID-WEEK RECAP
Georgia Southern defeated their second-straight SEC East opponent in #13 Florida 8-7 Wednesday night.
After 12 innings of baseball, Cole Watson drew a bases loaded walk to score the winning run.
The 12 inning game was the longest the Eagles have played since going 13 frames against South Carolina on 3/23/2010.
Kyle Rowe rebounded after a tough first inning to pick up the win in relief of starter Evan Challenger. Rowe threw four scoreless innings and worked around four walks for his first victory of the new year.
T.D. Davis recorded three of the Eagles’ 10 hits and scored three runs, including the game-winner.
QUICK HITS
The Eagles went 19-10 in home games and won six weekend series a year ago.
GSU’s six doubles against #29 Georgia on Feb. 17 was the most in a game since the Eagles recorded seven doubles against Jacksonville on April 12, 2011.
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 66 games.
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 43 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.
INDIANA SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Southern is tied 3-3 in the all-time series against Indiana.
The Eagles have faced the Hoosiers six times including once in Statesboro in 2009.
Indiana took two of three games a year ago in Bloomington behind strong pitching from Joey DeNato and Kyle Hart.
GSU got quality starts from Justin Hess and Will Middour.
Middour earned his second win of 2012 after allowing one unearned run over seven innings on Sunday.
A YEAR AGO
A year ago Indiana took the three game series in Bloomington, Ind., behind three quality starts from their pitching staff.
Georgia Southern salvaged a win in the series on Sunday with a 9-1 offensive outpouring. Will Middour threw seven strong innings and allowed just one run to earn his second win of 2012.
The Eagles recorded 25 hits and 11 runs in the series and finished with a .243 batting average, while the pitching staff posted an impressive 2.52 ERA with 23 strikeouts over the three games.
Former Eagle Eric Phillips hit .455 with a RBI and a walk in the series, while Stryker Brown finished with three hits in eight at-bats (.375).
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.
