Eagles Return Home to Host Second-Place Elon
4/25/2013 3:22:17 PM | Baseball
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Fri.-Sun., April 26-28
Time: 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: Elon leads 18-16 (34 games)
Statesboro: Series tied 6-6
Away: Elon leads 9-6
Neutral Site: Ga. Southern leads 4-3
Unknown: No meetings
First Meeting: 6/1/02 - Clemson, S.C. - W, 6-2
Last Meeting: 5/26/12 - Greenville, S.C. - W, 10-7
Last Series Win: 2011 - Statesboro - 6-3, 6-0, 0-9
Last Series Loss: 2012 - Elon - 3-4, 2-7, 6-7
Streak: Ga. Southern, 2 wins
STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (21-19, 10-11 SoCon) returns home to host second-place Elon (22-21, 14-7 SoCon) in a three-game series at J.I. Clements Stadium. The series opens with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday and continues on Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. game and a 1:30 p.m. contest on Sunday.
All three games can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network and will be streamed online for free at gseagles.com/watch-listen.
The Eagles will send a rotation of Justin Hess, Jason Richman and TBA to the mound. Elon will counter with Dylan Clark, Spencer Medick and Kyle Webb.
Promotions for the weekend include Service Appreciation Night on Friday, Jimmy Buffett Beach Day on Saturday and Military Appreciation Day on Sunday. Local police, fire and EMS can receive a discounted $4 ticket on Friday and military service members can receive the same discount on Sunday.
Georgia Southern is looking to snap its current eight-game losing streak that dates back to the April 9th win at Charleston Southern. During the losing streak the Eagles are hitting .196 and hold a 6.21 ERA. Tyler Avera and Robbie Dodds are the only two GSU players hitting above .300 during the streak. Justin Hess leads the pitching staff with an 0-1 record and a 1.23 ERA during that stretch.
Robbie Dodds leads the offense in SoCon play with a .368 batting average and eight doubles. Justin Hess is 3-2 with three saves and a 2.85 ERA in 11 SoCon games this season.
The trio of T.D. Davis, Chase Griffin and Ben Morgan have combined for 17 of the team’s 24 home runs.
T.D. Davis has nine home runs on the season while the rest of the team has hit just 15.
Chase Griffin has started all 40 games behind the plate for the Eagles this season. In his two-year career, Griffin has started 88 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.
WEEKEND RECAP
Western Carolina swept the Georgia Southern Eagles in a three-game series at Hennon Stadium in Cullowhee, N.C.
Georgia Southern hit .245 in the series and posted a 6.75 team ERA.
Tyler Avera finished with six hits in 11 at-bats (.545) with three RBIs.
Justin Hess pitched well in a 9-3 loss on Friday night but allowed nine runs - two earned - over 5.2 innings pitched. Hess struck out 10 batters and walked just two in his fourth-straight SoCon start.
The Eagles rallied in the eighth inning of game two but the Catamounts retook the lead with a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 9-8.
WCU plated five runs in the fifth inning to win the series finale 7-4. Sam Howard allowed six runs on eight hits over 4.2 innings in the loss.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Southern, who has fallen below .500 only twice this season, sit just two games above .500 after the eight game losing streak.
Tyler Avera is eight for 19 (.421) with four RBIs in his last five games, while Robbie Dodds is hitting .409 over the same period.
Chase Griffin is averaging nearly an RBI a game (.98) and leads the team in that category with 39.
Georgia Southern is 14-0 this season when recording as many or more hits than their opponent. The Eagles are 10-0 when out-hitting the opponent.
Georgia Southern is 16-3 when scoring six or more runs and is 16-5 when allowing five runs or less.
The Eagles are 18-2 when leading after the fourth inning and 16-1 when leading after six frames.
Chase Griffin is the only Eagle with 10 or more multi-hit games and 10 or more multi-RBI games. Griffin has 14 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games.
Georgia Southern ranks 41st in total attendance (31,763) and ranks 46th in average attendance (1,443) 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.
ELON SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Southern trails in the all-time series with Elon 16-18.
The series opened with a 5-2 Eagle win in the 2002 NCAA Clemson Regional. The series began yearly play when the Phoenix joined the Southern Conference in 2004.
The series is tied 6-6 in Statesboro, and Elon leads the series in Elon, N.C. 9-6.
The two teams have met seven times in postseason play. GSU holds a 4-3 mark in neutral site contests. The two teams have met six times in the SoCon Tournament, and the Eagles have won the last three meetings.
Georgia Southern won two-straight series from 2010-2011 before being swept in 2012. The Eagles bounced back in the 2012 conference tournament and won two meetings by a combined score of 29-9.
A YEAR AGO
A year ago Elon swept the season series in Elon, N.C., but Georgia Southern won the two meetings in the Southern Conference Tournament in Greenville, S.C. to reach the championship game.
Chase Griffin went 0-for-3 in the regular season series, but led the team in the five games against the Phoenix with a .538 batting average. Tyler Avera and T.D. Davis hit over .400 against Elon and helped the team to a .326 batting average.
The Eagles exploded for 19 runs and won 19-2 in the SoCon Tournament opener on May 23rd. GSU scored six runs in the fifth inning and nine in the ninth inning to set a new season high.
The two teams met three days later in the semifinals. The Eagles jumped out to an 8-1 lead after the sixth inning but was forced to hold on for a 10-7 win after the Phoenix scored six runs in the seventh 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.
