Baseball Returns Trip to Jacksonville Tuesday
4/1/2013 10:52:22 PM | Baseball
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tues., April 2
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Jacksonville, Fla./John Sessions Stadium (3,000)
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: judolphins.com
Twitter Updates: @GSAthletics/@GSScores
Series: Ga. Southern leads 65-58 (123 games)
Statesboro: Ga. Southern leads 28-14
Jacksonville: Jacksonville leads 23-16
Neutral Site: No Meetings
Unknown: Jacksonville leads 17-13
First Meeting: 1958 - Statesboro - L, 5-2
Last Meeting: 3/26/13 - Statesboro - W, 11-4
Last Season Series Win: 2012 - W, 17-11; W, 7-6
Last Season Series Loss: 2006 - L, 5-2; L, 10-6
Streak: Ga. Southern, 4 wins
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (18-9, 9-3 SoCon) will look to bounce back from a series loss to UNCG when they remain on the road mid-week at Jacksonville (10-18, 3-3 A-Sun). First pitch from John Sessions Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
The game can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network and coverage begins 30 minutes before first pitch.
Matt McCall (3-0, 4.18 ERA) will take the mound for the second time against the Dolphins. McCall started a week ago when the Eagles won 11-4 in Statesboro. Adam Maxon (1-0, 4.41 ERA) will make his first start of the season for Jacksonville.
Georgia Southern currently ranks 41st in RPI and is 6-4 against top-50 RPI teams this season.
The Eagles now sit nine games above .500 and have only fallen below .500 twice this season. GSU has won 14 of their last 18 games since an 11-4 loss to Xavier on March 1st.
The Eagles finished the month of March with a 14-5 record and posted a .279 batting average and a 4.46 ERA in 19 games.
T.D. Davis hit as many home runs in March as he did all last season. Davis finished the month hitting .329 with four doubles, five home runs and 19 RBIs.
Matt McCall appeared in nine games and made one start in March. McCall posted a 3-0 record with a 2.91 ERA and recorded three saves.
The trio of T.D. Davis, Chase Griffin and Ben Morgan have combined for 16 of the team’s 21 home runs.
T.D. Davis and Chase Griffin are tied for the Southern Conference lead with 33 RBIs each.
Sam Howard is tied for the SoCon lead with five wins in six starts this season. Howard has walked just 15 batters and struck out 48 over 42 innings.
Tyler Avera is hitting .400 with eight hits, a double and five RBIs over his last five games.
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
After winning the series opener 8-4 Thursday, Georgia Southern dropped a pair of games to UNCG. The Spartans won on a walk-off single on Friday and scored 10 runs to win 10-6 on Saturday.
T.D. Davis led the team in the series with a .357 batting average, a double and a home run.
Sam Howard tossed a quality start in the opener to earn his fifth win of the season. Howard allowed three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out seven over six innings.
Jason Richman pitched into the eighth inning on Friday night. He scattered 11 hits and struck out four while allowing four runs.
Lee Gilliam allowed three runs on five hits and four walks to earn his second win of the season in a UNCG win on Saturday.
The Spartans scored five combined runs over the sixth and seventh innings to open up a 4-3 lead.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Southern is off to its best start in league play since 2005. The Eagles opened Southern Conference play that season with nine-straight wins but finished 18-11 after winning just 9 of their last 20 league contests.
Justin Hess eclipsed the 200 career innings pitched mark this season and struck out his 200th career batter at UNCG Thursday night.
Robbie Dodds, who started the season on the bench, is hitting .359 with eight doubles and two home runs over 22 games this season.
T.D. Davis has 15 hits in 27 at-bats (.556) with four home runs against left handed pitching.
Stryker Brown is five for 10 (.500) with a double and five RBIs off the bench this season.
The Eagles have recorded at least one extra base hit in every game this season.
Georgia Southern is 14-2 when scoring six or more runs and is 14-2 when allowing five runs or less.
The Eagles are 15-1 when leading after the fourth inning and 13-0 when leading after six frames.
Georgia Southern ranks 35th in total attendance (25,783) and ranks 37th in average attendance (1,516) 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.
JACKSONVILLE SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Southern holds a slight 65-58 edge in the 123 game series history with Jacksonville.
The series began with a 5-2 Jacksonville win in 1958 and the two teams have played annually since 1997.
The Dolphins have appeared in 13 NCAA Regionals with their last coming in 2011.
The Eagles hold a four game win streak against the Dolphins after sweeping last season’s two-game series.
GSU leads 29-14 in the series at home but trails 23-16 on the road.
Head Coach Rodney Hennon is 18-11 all-time against Jacksonville.
A YEAR AGO
A year ago, Georgia Southern swept the two-game seasons series against Jacksonville with a 17-11 win on March 20th and a 7-6 win on April 11th.
Chase Griffin tallied seven hits, seven RBIs, five runs and three home runs. Griffin hit two long balls, including a grand slam, and finished a triple short of the cycle in the March 20th game.
Justin Hess earned his first win of 2012 against Jacksonville on March 20th. Hess allowed seven runs - four earned - over five innings.
Georgia Southern struck for four runs in the sixth inning and survived a three-run ninth to win the April 11th game 7-6.
Kyle Rowe recorded the final out after Jarret Leverett allowed three runs over 0.2 innings.
FIRST INNING SUCCESS
Georgia Southern has scored a first-inning run in 17 games this season and is 11-6 when scoring in the first inning.
The Eagles hold a 31-13 run advantage in the first inning, their largest advantage in any inning this season.
GSU is 13-4 when scoring first and is 10-6 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.
MANNING THE HOT CORNER
In 18 starts at third base this season, Brent Pugh has helped the Eagles to a 14-4 record and a 50-29 record over 79 career starts at the hot corner.
Georgia Southern has posted a .633 winning percentage with Brent Pugh at third base, compared to a .515 percentage (51-48) when he doesn’t man the hot corner.
In his third season in the program, Brent Pugh has yet to make an opening day start but has started when the Eagles needed him the most. Pugh was the starting third baseman in the 2011 and 2012 Southern Conference Championship games and in the 2011 Columbia Regional.
UPPERCLASSMEN TURNAROUND
Ben Morgan entered his junior campaign hitting .240 with no home runs over his first two years in the program. After 27 games this season, he has already upped his career average to .257.
Morgan hit three home runs through the first nine games this season and added his fourth on March 16th at Samford. Overall he is hitting .315 with six doubles and 19 RBIs.
Morgan posted averages of .239 and .243 over his first two seasons.
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.
