Eighth-Inning Rally Leads Paladins Past Eagles
5/4/2013 2:21:13 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Furman Paladins rallied from a two-run deficit with a 10-run inning as they won the Southern Conference series opener 13-5 over the Georgia Southern Eagles on a rainy Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
After a short delay to start the game, Georgia Southern (24-22, 12-13 SoCon) jumped out to a 5-3 lead behind starter Justin Hess. Hess held Furman (25-20, 11-14 SoCon) to three runs – two earned – over 6.1 innings. The senior righthander left with the lead intact in the seventh inning after allowing eight hits and striking out nine batters.
The Paladins tied the game in the eighth inning with two runs charged to reliever Chris Myers. Greg Harrison homered to left field before Paul Nitto doubled. Nitto later scored on a two-run double by Chris Ohmstede. Jake Jones forced in a run with a bases loaded walk before Will Muzika delivered a two-RBI single to right field. The final two runs in the inning came on an Alex Abrams sacrifice fly and Ohmstede single.
Sam Howard (6-7) suffered the loss for Georgia Southern after allowing five runs on two hits and three walks. Howard entered after the Nitto double and faced five batters without recording an out. Drew Johnson recorded the final two outs in the eighth inning and pitched a scoreless ninth frame.
Ben Carlson (5-2), who entered the game in the seventh inning with his team trailing, picked up the win after throwing three scoreless frames. Carlson allowed three hits and faced 12 batters on 36 pitches.
The Eagles scored five runs off of starter Nate Smith and forced him to throw 109 pitches. Smith, who had walked only 25 batters coming into the night, walked five and struck out six over six innings.
After Furman got the scoring started with a two-run first inning, GSU answered back in the second inning. After the Eagles loaded the bases on a walk by Zac Lenns, Kyle Streicher hit a three-run triple two batters later to give the Eagles a lead.
Georgia Southern added onto their lead in the third inning. T.D. Davis drew a two-out walk; and after Tyler Avera singled, Ben Morgan drove in Davis with a base hit to center field.
Morgan later hit a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning and put the Eagles ahead 5-3. Over the wall in left field,Morgan hit his fifth long ball of the season and his first since March 18th.
Georgia Southern will continue the three-game set tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Saturday's contest will be Breakfast and Baseball and breaskfast-type items will be served at the concession stand.
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.
Notes: The start of the game was delayed 11-minutes to prepare the field for the eventual rain... Justin Hess finished one strikeout shy of his season high of 10... The start was Hess' first career appearance against Furman... Kyle Streicher's three hits ties a career high set two weeks ago at Western Carolina... His three RBIs sets a new career-high... The 10-runs in the eighth inning were the most allowed since Xavier scored eight in a frame on March 1st.
