Baseball Rallies Within a Run, Falls to Georgia Tech
2/28/2013 3:38:42 AM | Baseball
Box Score | Video: Post-Game with Coach Hennon
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern rallied to within a run of #16 Georgia Tech in the fourth inning before the Yellow Jackets scored five runs over the final three innings to win 14-8 and complete a sweep of the mid-week series at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Georgia Tech (8-1) took advantage of five Eagle errors and tallied 15 hits to score their second most runs of the season. Dusty Isaacs, DeAndre Smelter and Zane Evans combined to throw five scoreless frames, and Matt Gonzalez drove in three runs. Daniel Palka added a game-high four hits, and three other Yellow Jackets finished with two hits each.
Georgia Southern (4-4) tallied four runs in the fourth inning to cut Georgia Tech's lead to 9-8 on a sacrifice fly from Ben Morgan, a two RBI single from Chase Griffin and a double from T.D. Davis. Griffin and Davis finished with three RBIs each. Davis bounced back from a hitless night on Tuesday and finished with a team-high three base hits.
Jonathan Roberts (W, 1-0) picked up the win in relief of Yellow Jacket starter Sam Clay. Roberts threw 2.1 innings and allowed four runs on four hits. Clay lasted just 1.2 innings after giving up four runs on four hits.
Evan Challenger (L, 0-1) was handed his first decision of the year after giving up seven runs – three earned – on six hits. Challenger tossed three innings including the third inning in which three Eagle errors led to four runs.
After each team led twice in the early innings, Georgia Tech jumped ahead for the final time in the fourth inning on a pair of solo home runs from Sam Dove and Daniel Palka. The Yellow Jackets added a single run in the seventh inning and a pair of runs in the eighth and ninth innings to take their final six-run lead.
Georgia Southern responded to an early 1-0 Georgia Tech lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Davis drove in a pair with his first double of the day, and Garren Palmer plated the third run with a single.
The Eagles added a solo run in the second inning after Kyle Streicher, who finished with two hits, tallied a one-out double. Griffin recorded a two-out single to score Streicher from third base.
It will be baseball alumni weekend as Georgia Southern hosts Xavier in a three-game weekend series at J.I. Clements Stadium. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. with Saturday's game being a 2:30 p.m. start, and Sunday's series finale will begin at 1:30 p.m. It will be 80's day at the ballpark Saturday and golf appreciation day Sunday. Tickets are available online at gseagles.com or by calling the Georgia Southern Ticket Office at 1-800-GSU-WINS.
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.
