Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Georgia Southern batted around in a six-run first inning and held off a late Furman rally to claim an 11-8 win over the eighth-seeded Paladins at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park on Saturday. 

With the win, the No. 4 seed Eagles have forced an elimination game against the Paladins at 5 p.m. Saturday, with a spot in Sunday's title game on the line.
 
Furman (26-32) trailed 10-2 heading to the seventh but scored six runs over the final three innings to make things interesting. GSU (37-21) held on, however, forcing the "if necessary" game in the top half of the championship bracket.
 
Georgia Southern battered Furman starter Jacques de Gruy (4-4) early, jumping on him to the tune of six hits and six runs in the opening frame. Aaron Mizell and Garrett Chapman had RBI doubles in the inning, while Stryker Brown, Garren Palmer and Dalton Busby had run-scoring singles and Chase Griffin had an RBI ground out.
 
The Eagles made it 8-0 in the second on Palmer's two-run home run, but Furman (26-32) got the runs back in the top of the third when Cameron Whitehead led off with a double and Jake Jones hit a two-out, two-run home run.
 
GSU stretched its lead to 9-2 in the third on Ben Morgan's RBI single and reached double digits in runs on Chapman's RBI fielder's choice in the sixth inning.
 
Furman began its comeback attempt in the top of the seventh, scoring on Hunter Burton's RBI single up the middle, which scored Carter Grote.
 
The Eagles responded in the bottom half with Busby's RBI double, but Furman scored four times in the eighth to get back into the game. 
 
Furman added one more run in the ninth on Jordan Simpson's two-out RBI single, but GSU reliever Matt McCall got a fly out to left to nail down his ninth save of the season.

Eagle starter Will Jackson improved to 3-2 on the year, allowing three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
 
de Gruy – who worked a career-best 9 2/3 scoreless innings in a start against the Eagles in their regular-season series – was tagged for nine runs on nine hits and three walks in three innings of work Saturday. 

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. To purchase tickets call 1-800-GSU-WINS.