Box Score | Hennon Interview

STATESBORO, Ga. -  The Georgia Southern Eagles tallied 19 hits as they rolled to a 13-5 win over Jacksonville Tuesday night at J.I. Clements Stadium. 

Georgia Southern (21-9) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning after Ryan Cleveland beat out a dribble down the third base line to plate Kody Adams. Five straight hits followed Cleveland's hustle play and Aaron Palmer capped the inning with a RBI single. 

"That proved to be a big play. Ryan is just doing what he is supposed to do and that is playing hard and running the ball out. He was able to leg out an infield hit and then we got some big two-out hits behind him," Head Coach Rodney Hennon said. 

Will Jackson tossed three innings and allowed just two runs in the second inning to earn his first victory as an Eagle. Jackson (1-0) struck out three batters and allowed two hits in his first start of the season.

"He settled in and did a nice job," Hennon said about his starter Jackson. "I thought Jason Richman came in at a critical point and did a good job for us. I thought Avery Fagan and Byron Yelverton both threw the ball well to finish things off."

Jacksonville (8-18) pulled within two runs with a three-run fourth inning. After Caleb Pressey loaded the bases with a walk of Braddock Rowe, a pair of hit by pitches plated the first two runs and two-out single from Michael Babb drove in the third.

Jason Richman got the Eagles out of the jam with a 5-3 double play. Richman tossed two scoreless frames and struck out a batter in his fourth-straight appearance. 

Zach Gordon tossed four innings but allowed seven runs on 13 innings in his second start of the season. Gordon (1-5) did not walk a batter and struck out two on 89 pitches. 

GSU nearly tallied 20 hits for the third time this season, and Kody Adams, who finished with three hits, was a home run short of hitting for the cycle. Adams was one of three Eagles with three hits in the game. Aaron Mizell snapped a 0 for 13 slide with a single in the fifth inning and finished two for six with a RBI.

"I was really pleased by the way our guys bounced back tonight. Being able to come out early and put up the six spot in the first was big. It was just a good team effort and a good team win," Hennon said.

Garrett Chapman put the Eagles up 7-2 with a second inning home run over the wall in left field. Chapman went two for four with a walk before being lifted for Ben Morgan in the eighth inning.

After the Dolphins cut the lead to 7-5, GSU scored six unanswered runs to take an eight run lead in the seventh inning. The Eagles got four of those runs in the sixth inning, two coming on Adams' first triple of the season. 

Baseball returns home tomorrow and hosts Kennesaw State at 6 p.m. Will Middour will get the start for GSU.

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.