Baseball Travels To Kennesaw State Wednesday
3/4/2013 8:27:21 PM | Baseball
GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Wens., March 6
Times: 4 p.m.
Site: Kennesaw, Ga./Stillwell Stadium (1,200)
TV/Video Stream: None
Play-by-Play: None; Analyst: None
Baseball Radio Network: gseagles.com/watch-listen
103.7 FM - WBMX - Metter/Statesboro
900 AM - WJLG - Savannah
1370 AM - WLOP - Jesup
Play-by-Play: Kris Draper; Analyst: Barrett Gilham
Live Stats: ksuowls.com
Twitter Updates: @GSAthletics / @GSScores
Series: Ga. Southern leads 9-4
Statesboro: Ga. Southern leads 4-2
Kennesaw: Ga. Southern leads 5-2
Neutral Site: No meetings
Unknown: No meetings
First Meeting: 2/20/07 - Kennesaw, Ga. - L, 5-7
Last Meeting: 4/10/12 - Statesboro, Ga. - W, 3-2
Last Ga. Southern Series Win: None
Last Kennesaw St. Series Win: None
Streak: Ga. Southern, 7 wins
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (6-5, 0-0 SoCon) travels to Kennesaw State (6-6, 0-0 A-Sun) Tuesday for their second road game of the young season. First pitch on the Georgia Southern Radio Network is set for 6 p.m.
The Eagles hold a 9-4 advantage in the all-time series against the Owls and have won seven-straight meetings. GSU is 5-2 all-time in Stillwell Stadium.
Georgia Southern will send righthander Josh Stevenson (0-0, 9.00) to the mound Tuesday. Kennesaw State will counter with sophomore righthander Steve Janas (0-0, 0.00).
Freshman infielder Cole Watson’s father Craig and his cousin Tyler Stubblefield played baseball at Kennesaw State. Stubblefield is a current minor leaguer in the San Diego Padres farm system.
After the single mid-week contest, the Eagles return home to open conference play against Wofford. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. and the series will conclude with a 2:30 first pitch on Saturday and a 1:30 first pitch on Sunday.
Promotions for the weekend series include a white out on Friday, family weekend on Saturday and athletic appreciation day on Sunday.
Tickets for the series are available at gseagles.com or by calling the Georgia Southern Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-GSU-WINS.
Georgia Southern wrapped up a seven-game homestand over the weekend. The Eagles finished 3-4 against Indiana, Georgia Tech and Xavier.
Chase Griffin led the team with a .407 batting average, two home runs and 13 RBIs.
Scooter Williams, T.D. Davis and Ben Morgan all hit above .300 on the homestand, and Davis and Morgan both homered twice.
The Eagles have scored a first-inning run in seven-straight games and in all but one game this season. GSU holds a 21-3 run advantage in the first inning.
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.
WEEKEND RECAP
Georgia Southern rallied after dropping the opener to Xavier to win the final two games and the series.
The Eagles hit .287 and posted a .395 on-base percentage at the plate and recorded a 6.33 ERA with a 3.71:1 strikeout to walk ratio.
Scooter Williams led the team with six hits in 13 at-bats (.462). Robbie Dodds, Ben Morgan and T.D. Davis all hit above .300 for the series. Dodds recorded his first pitch-hit homer on Friday night and recorded three hits in a start on Sunday.
Evan Challenger picked up his first career win with three scoreless innings of relief on Sunday, while Matt McCall earned his first career save after holding the Musketeers to one run over the final four innings of Saturday’s game.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Southern has recorded eight or more hits in the last four games.
The Eagles have recorded at least one extra base hit in every game this season.
GSU drew a season-high eight walks in Saturday’s 7-5 win over Xavier.
The Eagles are 1-0 in road games this season after an extra-inning win over #13 Florida. Georgia Southern went 11-16 in road contests a year ago.
After going two seasons at Georgia Southern without a home run, Ben Morgan has hit three through 11 games this season.
Georgia Southern ranks 21st in total attendance (18,539) and ranks 31st in average attendance (1,853) 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 73 games.
The Eagles have not been shut out since a 4-0 loss to Western Carolina on May 11, 2012, a streak of 21 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.
KENNESAW STATE SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Southern holds a 9-4 advantage in the all-time series against Kennesaw State.
The Eagles are 5-2 all-time against the Owls in Stillwell Stadium.
GSU has won seven-straight games against Kennesaw State.
The two teams met for the first time on Feb. 20, 2007 in Kennesaw, Ga. A year after Kennesaw State began playing at the Division I level.
Shawn Payne hit Georgia Southern’s last cycle on April 27, 2011 at Stiwell Stadium.
After striking out and walking in his first two at-bats, Payne homered in the fourth inning, tripled in the sixth, singled in the seventh and doubled in the ninth inning for the program’s first cycle since 2008.
A YEAR AGO
A year ago against Kennesaw State, Georgia Southern swept the two meetings.
Sam Howard threw four scoreless innings in a start, and Josh Stevenson allowed one run over 1.1 innings to earn the win in a 3-2 Eagle victory on April 10, 2012 in Statesboro.
T.D. Davis and Michael Burruss led the team with two hits each and Eric Phillips provided the lone RBI.
The Georgia Southern bullpen combined to allow one unearned run over seven innings to lead the Eagles to a 7-3 win at Kennesaw State on May 15, 2012. Garren Palmer drove in three runs and Eric Phillips led the team with two hits.
FIRST INNING SUCCESS
Georgia Southern has scored a first-inning run in all but one game this season and has scored a first-inning run in seven-straight games.
The only game the Eagles went scoreless in the first frame was their 12-inning victory over #13 Florida.
GSU has tallied 21 runs in the first inning and holds a 21-3 advantage in the first frame.
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.
