Baseball Wraps Up Road Swing In Atlanta Tuesday
3/18/2013 6:42:17 PM | Baseball
GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Tues., March 19
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Atlanta, Ga./Russ Chandler Stadium (4,157)
TV/Video Stream: ESPN3
Play-by-Play: Richard Musterer; Analyst: Roddy Jones
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: Georgia Tech leads 93-29 (122 games)
Statesboro: Georgia Tech leads 37-10
Atlanta: Georgia Tech leads 42-13
Neutral Site: None
Unknown: Georgia Tech leads 14-6
First Meeting: 5/06/47 - L, 8-7
Last Meeting: 2/27/13 - Statesboro, Ga. - L, 14-8
Last Series Win: 2/10-11/07 - Statesboro
Last Series Loss: 2/26-27/13 - Statesboro
Streak: Georgia Tech, 3 wins
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (12-7, 5-1 SoCon) wraps up a five-game road swing in Atlanta Tuesday. The Eagles will conclude the three-game season series against Georgia Tech (17-2, 5-1 ACC) at Russ Chandler Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN3.
Georgia Southern will send LHP Evan Challenger (1-1, 5.09) to the mound for his third start of the year and second against the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech will counter with RHP Jared Jillison (0-0, 4.32).
Evan Challenger allowed three earned runs on six hits in his previous start against the Yellow Jackets. The freshman lefthander threw 62 pitches for 3.0 innings in a 14-8 loss.
The game can also be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network. Network coverage starts 30 minutes before first pitch.
The Eagles currently sit in first place in the Southern Conference with a 5-1 record and are off to their best conference start since 2005 when they swept Davidson and East Tennessee State to open SoCon play.
Tuesday will be the 123rd all-time meeting between the two schools. Georgia Tech holds a 93-29 edge in the series and holds a 42-13 mark in Atlanta.
With two homers over the weekend, T.D. Davis has already tied his home run total from a year ago at five.
GSU is 4-2 away from Statesboro this year. A year ago the Eagles went 11-16 on the road and 3-1 at neutral sites.
T.D. Davis, Chase Griffin and Ben Morgan have combined for 12 of the team’s 15 home runs this season.
Georgia Southern has 23 players on the 2013 roster from Georgia, including six players who were born in Atlanta.
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.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
Tuesday’s contest between Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech will air on ESPN3 at 6 p.m. EDT. Richard Musterer (play-by-play) and Roddy Jones (analyst) will call the action from Russ Chandler Stadium.
WEEKEND RECAP
Georgia Southern fell behind in all three games but rallied from an early deficit in the final two to take the Samford series 2-6, 18-14, 6-3. The series win was the first since 2010 for the Eagles against the defending Southern Conference Tournament Champions.
T.D. Davis led the team with a .455 batting average, two home runs and four RBIs over the three-game series.
C.K. Irby held GSU to two runs on five hits over 8.1 innings to lead Samford to a 6-2 win on Friday night.
The Eagles scored three runs in the seventh inning of Saturday’s contest en route to winning 18-14 on Saturday. T.D. Davis recorded three hits, walked twice, homered twice and plated four runs.
A wild pitch and a throwing error allowed three runs to score in the eighth inning as Georgia Southern took the rubber match 6-3. Kyle Rowe allowed one hit and a walk over the final 2.2 innings and earned the win in his first appearance since Feb. 27.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Southern is 12-7, 5-1 after 19 games this season. A year ago the Eagles were 8-11, 1-4 after 19 games.
Justin Hess needs to throw just 3.2 more innings to reach 200 career innings pitched. He is also 14 strikeouts from 200 career strikeouts.
Since replacing the injured Hunter Thomas, Robbie Dodds is hitting .400 with a double, two home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 13 games.
Georgia Southern has tallied 10 or more hits in 10 of their 19 contests this season.
The Eagles have recorded at least one extra base hit in every game this season.
Georgia Southern ranks 28th in total attendance (22,214) and ranks 30th in average attendance (1,708) in the nation.
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.
GEORGIA TECH SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Tech holds a 93-29 edge in the 122 game all-time series.
The series opened on April 6, 1947 with an 8-7 Yellow Jacket win.
Georgia Southern is 13-42 all-time on the road in the series.
Georgia Tech won the previous two meetings in 2013. The Yellow Jackets won 11-4 and 14-8 in Statesboro on Feb. 26-27.
Georgia Tech has won three-straight games in the series.
A YEAR AGO
A year ago, Georgia Tech took two of the three mid-week games from Georgia Southern, including an 11-9 win in Statesboro.
The Eagles recorded a win for the second-straight year in the first game in Atlanta. Eric Phillips drove in three runs, and Jarret Leverett threw 2.2 scoreless innings in a 5-3 GSU win. Chris Beck also struck out two in the victory for his first career save.
Eric Phillips led the team with four hits (.400), two doubles and seven RBIs in the season series a year ago.
GEORGIA TECH CONNECTION
Ben Morgan’s cousin, Jeffery Rowland, played for Georgia Tech from 2008-10 and was a First Team All-ACC selection in 2009.
Rowland was drafted twice and signed with the Detroit Tigers in the 19th round.
Will Middour’s father, David Middour, pitched for the Yellow Jackets from 1976-78.
David recorded six wins in 1978 and led the team in innings pitched and ERA that season.
FIRST INNING SUCCESS
Georgia Southern has scored a first-inning run in 13 of its 19 games this season and is 8-5 when scoring in the first inning.
The Eagles hold a 24-11 run advantage in the first inning, their largest advantage in any inning this season.
GSU is 8-3 when scoring first and is 7-5 when leading after the first inning.
A year ago the Eagles scored 12 less runs (32-44) in the first inning than their opponents and went 13-8 when scoring in the first inning.
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.
