Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Howard Interview

ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia Southern baseball team split an opening day doubleheader with the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. The Eagles took game one 9-3 behind a strong start from Sam Howard before dropping game two 11-3.

Georgia Southern at Georgia Game One
Sam Howard tossed five scoreless innings as the Georgia Southern Eagles rolled to a 9-3 win over the Georgia Bulldogs in game one of a doubleheader at Foley Field.

Georgia Southern (1-0) tallied 16 hits, their most since March 16, 2013, and got three hits from Chase Griffin and Stryker Brown.

Griffin tallied the first hit of the ball game and scored the season's first run off of a base hit by Brown. He later drove in three runs of his own with a bases-clearing double in the sixth inning to put the Eagles ahead 8-0. Brown also added a RBI in the ninth inning when he plated a run with a double.

Howard (1-0) kept Georgia (0-1) without a hit through the first two innings and allowed only one walk and struck out seven for his 10th career win. He improved to 2-0 all-time against the Bulldogs and 3-1 against teams from the state of Georgia.

"I felt really good about how I threw and my infield and outfield made some plays for me in big situations," said Howard.

The Eagles took an early lead in the second inning after Hunter Thomas drew a walk to load the bases. Brown drove in a run with a single, and Dalton Busby plated two more on a base hit through the right side gap. Ben Morgan extended his hitting streak to six games and drove in the final run of the inning with a single.

Sean McLaughlin was unable to repeat the same performance from a year ago, when he earned the win against GSU after allowing three runs over four innings. This time around GSU got to McLaughlin (0-1) early, and he allowed four runs on four hits over 1.2 innings.

The Bulldogs snapped the shutout with a pair of unearned runs in the sixth inning off of a throwing error by Busby.

Georgia Southern at Georgia Game Two

The Georgia Bulldogs evened the three-game baseball series with the Georgia Southern Eagles with an 11-3 victory in game two of a Saturday doubleheader at Foley Field.

Ryan Lawlor held Georgia Southern (1-1) to three runs on six hits. Lawlor (1-0) picked up the win after  Georgia (1-1) jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three innings. The Bulldogs added two more runs in each of the fourth and sixth innings.

Josh Wirsu made his career debut but left after two innings. Wirsu (0-1) allowed seven runs – six earned – on four hits and three walks. He also struck out three batters.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning and scored two more runs in the seventh. Ryan Cleveland recorded two of GSU's five hits and drove in a run.

Garrett Chapman and Stryker Brown both plated runs in the seventh inning with Chapman scoring Cleveland with a ground out, and Brown plating Palmer with a sacrifice fly.

The three-game series concludes Sunday at 1 pm. Former SCAD pitcher Ryan Frederick is slated to face Georgia senior Patrick Boling on the mound. The game can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network and online at gseagles.com.

Notes: Fourth opening day start for Ben Morgan in his career... Has made opening day starts at second base, short stop and third base... Third career opening day start for Chase Griffin and second for Stryker Brown and Hunter Thomas... Today was Thomas' first game back since breaking his ankle on Feb. 24, 2013... Ben Morgan extended his hitting streak to seven games.

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