Box Score | Hennon Interview | Full Video Replay

STATESBORO, Ga. - With the tying run at third base, Taylor Thurber struck out Robbie Dodds to preserve a 3-2 victory for the Appalachian State Mountaineers over the Georgia Southern Eagles at J.I. Clements Stadium on Saturday.

After allowing a seventh-inning rally on Friday night, Appalachian State (6-15, 1-1 SoCon) held on to a 3-2 fourth inning lead to even the series with Georgia Southern (18-6, 2-3 SoCon) at one game apiece.

Ben Morgan reached on an error by the second baseman Tyler Zupcic. Morgan advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kody Adams. Morgan stole third base during Dodds' pinch hit at-bat but was left stranded after Thurber (1) struck out Dodds looking.

The save preserved the win for Tyler Moore, who allowed two runs over seven innings. Moore (4-2) walked two batters, allowed five hits and struck out three batters on 98 pitches.

"Moore pitched a very good ball game for them," Head Coach Rodney Hennon said. "He did a nice job and gave them a strong effort."

Josh Wirsu retired the first six batters he faced but allowed a solo home run to Alex Leach to start the third inning. Wirsu (4-2) gave up a two-run homer in the fourth inning and left after allowing two hits in the sixth. The junior righthander allowed three runs on five hits over 5.1 innings.

"We pitched fairly well but made a couple of mistakes. They hit a couple of home runs. That is the difference in the ball game," Hennon said.

The Eagles cut the Mountaineers 3-0 lead to one run on a two-out double by Morgan in the fourth inning. The senior infielder plated two runs with a well hit ball into the left centerfield gap.

After Morgan was left stranded to end the fourth, an inning-ending double play in the sixth inning left a base runner at second base and a strikeout of Chase Griffin left runners on the corners in the seventh inning.

"We had opportunities but were unable to get that big hit. They played better than we did today. We have got to pick ourselves up and try to find a way to win the series tomorrow," Hennon said.

The series concludes tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. It is Junior Eagle Club Sunday Funday at the ballpark and all JEC members get free admission to the game and bounce houses, free popcorn and can run the bases after the game. Will Middour will get the nod for the Eagles and will be countered by lefthander Jeffrey Springs.

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.

Notes: The loss was their fourth this season by one run. The only other losses this year came in an 11-3 loss at Georgia and a 4-2 loss at Elon... GSU fell to 15-3 at home and 15-5 on the weekend... The Eagles are now 5-5 when not hitting a home run compared to 13-1 when hitting a long ball... Kody Adams extended his reached base streak to 11 games after a seventh-inning single... After Ben Morgan's double in the fourth, GSU now has had a double in each of the last six contests... The two walks last night were the fewest for the Eagles since the series finale at Elon when they drew just one free pass... The three hit batters tied a season high for GSU... The two sac bunts doubled the total number for the season coming into the game and set a new season-high... The three runs allowed by the pitching staff were the fewest since the Elon series opener, a span of six games... Eagle pitching has walked just three batters in this series... The two home runs allowed were just the seventh total on the year and the most in any game this season.