Baseball Wraps Up Seven-Game Homestand Against Xavier
2/28/2013 7:38:12 PM | Baseball
GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Fri.-Sun., March 1-3
Times: 6 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 1:30 p.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: gseagles.com/watch-listen
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: First Meeting
Statesboro: First Meeting
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (4-4, 0-0 SoCon) concludes a seven-game homestand with a weekend series against games A-10 foe Xavier (2-4, 0-0 A-10). The Eagles will face Xavier Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The series will be the first meeting between Georgia Southern and Xavier.
The Eagles hold a 14-4 all-time record against A-10 foes. GSU last faced an A-10 member in 2011 when they hosted George Washington in a three-game set.
It will be baseball alumni weekend and Saturday’s game will be 80’s day and Sunday will be Golf Appreciation day. The three-game series will be streamed for free at gseagles.com/watch-listen and can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network.
Georgia Southern will send lefthander Sam Howard (2-0, 2.13) to the mound Friday, freshman lefthander Jason Richman (1-1, 6.30) Saturday and senior righthander Justin Hess (0-2, 8.74) Sunday. Xavier will counter with Vinny Nittoli (0-1, 8.53), Jon Richards (0-1, 4.50) and Tyler Koors (1-1, 2.25).
Tickets for the series are available at gseagles.com or by calling the Georgia Southern Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-GSU-WINS.
The Eagles have four hitters hitting above .300 and rank sixth in the Southern Conference with a .282 team batting average.
Georgia Southern has scored the second-most runs in the SoCon and has tallied the second-most RBIs.
The Eagles have tallied 19 doubles, six more than a year ago. T.D. Davis leads the team with five doubles.
Reliever Chris Myers has appeared in every game this season and leads the conference in pitching appearances.
Georgia Southern has 23 players from the state of Georgia, which accounts for over 70 percent of the team’s roster.
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 dropped a pair of mid-week games against #16 Georgia Tech at J.I. Clements Stadium.
The Eagles scored 12 runs, tallied 17 hits and drew 10 walks in the series.
GSU scored seven runs over the first two innings in the series but was held scoreless in the final five frames of both games.
Chase Griffin continued his hot hitting and went three-for-seven (.429) with a home run and five RBIs against Georgia Tech.
Ben Morgan and T.D. Davis also drove in three RBIs each in the series and both hit over .300.
QUICK HITS
T.D. Davis hit three home runs in the first six games of the season for the Eagles. It took him 19 games to reach three dingers a year ago.
Davis has five multi-hit games in the Eagles’ eight contests this year and has posted three multi-RBI games.
The Eagles went 19-10 in home games and won six weekend series a year ago.
Georgia Southern ranks 24th in total attendance (11,469) and ranks 25th in average attendance (2,293) in the nation.
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 70 games.
The Eagles have not been shut out since a 4-0 loss to Western Carolina on May 11, 2012, a streak of 18 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 42 victories to reach 600 career wins.
XAVIER SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Southern and Xavier will meet for the first time Friday at J.I. Clements Stadium.
The Eagles have faced five current members of the A-10 and are 14-4 all-time against those teams.
GSU last faced an A-10 squad in 2011 when they opened the season at home against George Washington.
After dropping the season opener in extra innings, the Eagles rallied to win the final two games of the series with a pair of shutouts.
Eric Phillips led the 2011 team in the three-game series with seven hits in 13 at-bats (.538), and Victor Roache hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the series finale.
The Georgia Southern pitching staff posted a 0.96 team ERA, and Will Middour and Josh Adams picked up 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.
