Baseball Holds on for 7-6 Win
5/2/2013 2:05:49 AM | Baseball
Box Score | Video: Post Game with Garren Palmer
STATESBORO, Ga. - Robbie Dodds threw out Zach Hagaman at the plate to preserve a 7-6 Georgia Southern victory over the Charleston Southern Buccaneers on Wednesday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Georgia Southern (24-21) scored seven over the first two innings but was held scoreless over the final six frames. Heath Durand combined with Sam Howard to hold Charleston Southern (17-25) to no runs over five innings. Kyle Rowe (S, 2), who came on in the eighth inning, ran into some trouble in the ninth inning and allowed a pair of runs but earned the save.
Durand (1-0) picked up the win after throwing 3.1 scoreless frames in relief of Evan Challenger. Durand allowed just three hits and one walk and earned his first win of the season.
Stephen Leopard (1-3) suffered the loss after giving up four runs on three hits over an inning plus. Leopard walked two batters and struck out one but was unable to record an out in the second inning after allowing the first two batters to reach on walks.
Georgia Southern tallied seven hits with three coming off the bat of Garren Palmer. Chase Griffin provided three RBIs and finished with a hit and a walk. Charleston Southern tallied 14 hits, and three Buccaneers finished with three hits each. Drew Woodall drove in three of the team's six runs and tallied a pair of hits.
The Eagles started the scoring with a two-run first inning. Chase Griffin plated a pair of lead off base hits with a single up the middle.
After Charleston Southern got a run back on a RBI ground out by John Faircloth in the top of the second, GSU struck for five runs in the bottom half of the frame. The Eagles batted around in the second inning and scored the first run after four-straight batters reached on a walk. Garren Palmer plated the second run of the frame with a base hit through the left side. Robbie Dodds grounded into a fielder's choice to score the third run, and Griffin hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate the fourth run. T.D. Davis added the final blow in the frame with a double over the head of Ison in center field.
The Buccaneers answered back in the third inning, scoring three runs on three hits and two errors. Woodall drove in the first run with a single to right field, and Chase Shelton plated the second on an error by the first baseman Davis. Robbie Streett drove in the third run with a single through the left side of the infield.
Brian Welch led off the ninth inning with a walk and was one of two runs to score on Woodall's single to center field. After the second out was recorded on a fly out to center, Streett singled through the right side of the infield but Dodds came up throwing and got the third out at the plate to end the game.
Georgia Southern returns home this weekend to host Furman. The three-game set begins with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday night and continues with a 10:30 a.m. game on Saturday and a 1:30 p.m. contest on Sunday.
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.
