Baseball Returns Home to Host The Citadel
4/11/2013 7:51:00 PM | Baseball
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Fri.-Sun., April 12-14th
Time: 6 p.m., 5p.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: Ga. Southern leads 43-35 (78 games)
Statesboro: Ga. Southern leads 23-13
Charleston: The Citadel leads 16-10
Neutral Site: Ga. Southern leads 8-5
Unknown: Ga. Southern leads 2-1
First Meeting: 1961 - L, 3-2
Last Meeting: 5/24/12 - Greenville, S.C. - W, 8-1
Last Series Win: 2011 - W, 4-3; W, 15-2; W, 11-9
Last Series Loss: 2012 - L, 1-4; W, 5-2; L, 7-8
Streak: The Citadel, 1 win
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (21-11, 10-5 SoCon) returns home after an eight-game road trip to host The Citadel. The three-game Southern Conference series gets underway Friday night at 6 p.m. and continues with a 5 p.m. contest on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
All three games can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network and streamed online for free by visiting gseagles.com/watch-listen.
Baseball will be one of five teams in competition on the Georgia Southern campus during the annual Spring Game Weekend. On Saturday, men's tennis will start the day's action with a noon match against Chattanooga; football will play its Blue White game at 1 p.m.; and softball will host a doubleheader against the Samford Bulldogs starting at 3 p.m. Baseball will serve as the nightcap and gets underway at 5 p.m.
The Eagles will use a rotation of Sam Howard (5-3, 5.55 ERA), Jason Richman (4-2, 4.27 ERA) and TBA for the series. The Citadel will counter with Austin Pritcher (3-2, 3.14 ERA), Logan Cribb (2-2, 3.78 ERA) and Austin Mason (2-2, 7.34 ERA).
Jason Richman is 1-1 with a 2.42 ERA over his last three starts. Richman has walked just six batters over that stretch. He was the hard-luck loser in a 2-0 pitchers' duel in his last start. Richman held Appalachian State to one earned run on five hits over 6.2 innings.
The Eagles hold a nine-game home winning streak but have not played a home game since March 26 against Jacksonville.
Robbie Dodds leads the offense with a .403 batting average in Southern Conference games. Dodds has eight doubles, a homer and seven RBIs in 15 league games this season.
Zac Lenns is hitting .533 with eight hits in 15 at-bats over his last eight games.
The trio of T.D. Davis, Chase Griffin and Ben Morgan have combined for 16 of the team's 21 home runs.
Georgia Southern has yet to hit a home run in the month of April. The Eagles hit 14 in March.
Chase Griffin has started all 32 games behind the plate for the Eagles this season. In his two-year career, Griffin has started 79 times as the team's catcher. He and first baseman T.D. Davis are the only two Eagles to start every game this season at the same position.
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 won their second-straight game behind a strong outing from starting pitcher Josh Stevenson.
Josh Stevenson allowed one run on five hits over six innings to help the Eagles defeat Charleston Southern 3-2 on the road.
The Eagles set season-highs in the game for walks, stolen bases and runners left on base. GSU recorded 10 hits but was only able to score three runs after 18 were left on base.
Robbie Dodds posted three or more hits for the second-straight game and extended his hit streak to eight games.
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.
The Eagles now sit 10 games above .500 and have only fallen below .500 twice this season.
Georgia Southern is 14-0 this season when recording as many hits or more than their opponent. The Eagles are 10-0 when out-hitting the opponent.
Chase Griffin is the only Eagle with 10 or more multi-hit games and 10 or more multi-RBI games. Griffin has 12 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games.
Stryker Brown is five for 11 (.455) with a double and four RBIs off the bench this season.
Georgia Southern is 16-2 when scoring six or more runs and is 16-3 when allowing five runs or less.
The Eagles are 18-1 when leading after the fourth inning and 16-0 when leading after six frames.
GSU is 16-2 when Arthur Owens is the starting designated hitter. Owens is hitting .322 with five doubles and 10 RBIs in 18 games as the team's designated hitter.
Georgia Southern ranks 39th in total attendance (25,783) and ranks 40th in average attendance (1,516) in the nation.
In his 16th season at the helm of a Southern Conference program, head coach Rodney Hennon is the second winningest active coach in the SoCon.
THE CITADEL SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Southern holds a 43-35 edge in the 78 game series history with The Citadel.
The two teams are the last active Southern Conference members to appear in a College World Series. Both made it to Omaha in 1990. The Eagles, however, were a member of the TAAC at the time and would join the SoCon for baseball in 1992.
The series began with a 3-2 Bulldog win in 1961 and the two teams would next meet in the NCAA Atlantic Regional at Miami in 1979. The Eagles won that meeting 5-3.
The two teams have met 12 times in the Southern Conference tournament with the Eagles winning the last meeting 8-1 in 2012.
Georgia Southern is 23-13 at home in Statesboro.
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.
