Eagles Take SoCon Opener Behind Hess' Shutout Performance
5/23/2013 6:04:00 PM | Baseball
Box Score | Video: Post Game with Coach Hennon
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Justin Hess tossed a complete-game shutout, and T.D. Davis hit a first inning homer to lead the Georgia Southern Eagles to a Southern Conference Tournament win over the College of Charleston Cougars Thursday morning.
Georgia Southern (26-30) snapped a seven-game losing streak and ended College of Charleston's (31-25) five-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory in the SoCon Tournament opener. The game, which was originally scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, was postponed until Thursday morning after thunderstorms soaked Fluor Field.
Hess (5-6) tossed his first career complete game and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts to earn his first win since April 26th. Hess worked around a Cougar offense that averaged six runs a game in the regular season series. He allowed just four hits and two walks in the Eagles' second shutout this season.
Jake Zokan (4-3), who emerged victorious in the regular season match up, suffered the loss after allowing two runs on seven hits. Zokan struck out a career-high 10 batters and went 6.2 innings.
The two teams combined for just 12 hits, but Davis provided all the offense Hess would need. The senior first baseman hit a 2-1 pitch off the New York Life building in left field to score the Eagles' two runs in the first inning. Davis plated a Robbie Dodds single with his 13th long ball of the season.
Hess took it from there. The senior righthander stranded two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the first with a pair of strikeouts and faced just one over the minimum over the next four innings. A two-out error in the seventh inning put a pair of runners in scoring position, but Hess battled back to end the inning with a fly out. He retired the final six batters in order and struck out Ben Boykin to end the contest.
GSU left nine runners on base including three in the fourth inning. The Eagles had a base runner in all but three innings and loaded the bases in the fourth with one out. Zokan struck out Scooter Williams and Ben Morgan to end the threat. An intentional walk to Davis in the seventh put runners on the corners with two outs, but reliever Derrick Smith coaxed a fly out to end the frame.
Georgia Southern will face Furman later tonight at Fluor Field. That game is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. and can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network and online at gseagles.com/watch-listen.
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 "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
NOTES: The home run was T.D. Davis' second career long ball in the SoCon Tournament... Davis hit a grand slam in game two a year ago against The Citadel... The shutout was the first for the College of Charleston in a tournament game since 2002.
