Western Carolina Rallies for Series Opening Win

Friday, May 9

Statesboro, GA

6:00 pm

Georgia Southern University

31-20, 13-12

Western Carolina

33-14, 17-4

Western Carolina

Georgia Southern

5/9/2014 9:20:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. - T.J. Fussell tossed four scoreless frames and Luke Gragg scored the game-winning run in the ninth on a fielder's choice as the Western Carolina Catamounts rallied to defeat the Georgia Southern Eagles 5-4.

Georgia Southern (31-20, 13-12) jumped out to a four run lead after Ben Morgan plated a two-out walk with a single but was held hitless over the final four innings by Fussell.

Fussell picked up the win in relief for Western Carolina (33-14, 17-4), who used two pitchers through the first five innings. Fussell walked two batters and struck out four to improve to 5-2 on the year.

The Catamounts bats backed Fussell's outing on the mound by scoring five unanswered runs. WCU cut into the lead with a three run sixth inning. Jacob Hoyle doubled in a lead off error and later scored on a two-RBI single by Dykota Spiess.

Adam Martin tied the game for the Catamounts in the eighth inning with a solo home run off of Eagle starter Josh Wirsu. Wirsu left with his first no decision of the season after 7.1 innings. The junior righthander allowed four runs – one earned – on six hits and two walks. He struck out four batters on 104 pitches.

Jason Richman retired the final two outs in the eighth inning, but a lead off error, a fielder's choice and two hits scored the go ahead run in the ninth inning. Luke Gragg scored after Dalton Busby fielded a high chopper off the bat of J.D. Long, but his throw got away from catcher Chase Griffin.

Richman (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing one unearned run on 26 pitches. Richman allowed two hits and struck out two batters over 1.2 innings.

The Eagles finished with six hits, while the Catamounts tallied eight hits. The bottom third of the order all had a hit for GSU, but no Eagle had more than one hit on the day. Bradley Strong led WCU with two hits both coming in his final two at-bats.

The series continues tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. The Eagles will honor all new Georgia Southern University graduates and Bulloch County Schools. All fans can get $5 admission by showing a graduation program at the gate. All Bulloch County School students, faculty and staff get in free.

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.