Box Score | Press Conference | Highlights

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Ben Morgan went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and one of Georgia Southern's four home runs on the day as the fourth-seeded Eagles eliminated No. 1 seed Western Carolina in Thursday's first game of the Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
 
GSU (35-21) advances to face the loser of Thursday's game between No. 5 seed Appalachian State and No. 8 seed Furman at 3 p.m. Friday. Regular-season SoCon champion Western Carolina sees its season end at 37-18.
 
The game featured five total home runs, one more than the four hit in the previous six games of the tournament combined.
 
With the Catamounts leading 2-1, GSU led off the sixth with back-to-back home runs to reclaim the lead. Morgan opened the frame with a homer over the scoreboard in left, and Mizell followed with a mammoth blast over the batter's eye in dead center to make it a 3-2 contest in the Eagles' favor.

"That's what's special about this group: we get knocked down, but these guys continue to get back up and pick each other up. That's what it's all about," Head Coach Rodney Hennon said.
 
Western Carolina answered with an Adam Martin homer to lead off the bottom half of the sixth, tying the contest at 3.
 
The Eagles quickly responded, going ahead for good the following inning. After Chase Griffin drew a one-out walk, Dalton Busby got in on the home run act with a shot out to left to make it 5-3 in GSU's favor.

"Today was a battle on both sides," Hennon said. "Both teams played hard. I'm proud of our team and the tremendous team effort we had all the way around."
 
The Catamounts got a run back on Bradley Strong's RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh, but Georgia Southern put the contest away with three runs in the top of the eighth. Griffin drove in a run on a ground-rule double and two batters later, Morgan hit a two-run single to make it 8-4.
 
WCU had one last chance for the comeback in the bottom of the ninth but stranded two runners. Danny Bermudez led off with a ground-rule double, and after a pair of outs, Aaron Attaway drew a walk to put runners at the corners. Strong then lifted a fly ball down the left-field line, but Stryker Brown made the long run and tracked it down on a dead sprint to end the ballgame.

"We're thankful to have the opportunity to play tomorrow," Hennon said. "We're going to find out who we play and be ready to come out and be ready to compete."
 
The contest was shaping up to be a pitchers' duel in the first few innings, with GSU's Sam Howard and WCU's Jeremy Null, a second-team all-conference selection, dealing early. The duo entered the contest third and fourth in the league in ERA, respectively.
 
Eagle senior Garren Palmer hit a solo homer to left in the second for the game's first run, but that was one of just four hits Null scattered through the first five innings. The GSU offense would find its stride after that, though, with the consecutive home runs in the sixth and Busby's two-run shot in the seventh, which knocked Null from the game.
 
Howard was also effective in the early going, facing just two over the minimum through the first three innings before Western Carolina struck for two runs in the fourth. The Catamounts scored their first run on Dykota Spiess' sacrifice fly to deep right, and another run came in on Taylor Sandefur's RBI fielder's choice.
 
Howard (5-6) picked up the win for GSU, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four. Null (6-4) took the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five.
 
Five players had two hits each for the Eagles, who pounded out 13 total. Strong and Martin had two each to pace the Catamounts.

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