Thomas Interview | Hennon Interview
STATESBORO, Ga. – Hunter Thomas tallied three hits including a home run as the Georgia Southern Eagles rallied from an early deficit to win the series opener 7-4.
West Virginia (2-2) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second inning, but Georgia Southern (4-1) clawed its way back into the game with two runs in the third inning and a run in the fifth before taking the lead in the sixth inning.
Thomas led off the sixth with a home run over the wall in right field, his second long ball of the season and third of his four-year career, to tie the game at 4-4. After a two-out intentional walk of
Kody Adams loaded the bases, freshman
Will Hudgins promptly hit a pitch right back up the middle to drive in the go ahead runs.
"We did a good job of playing one pitch at a time. I was proud of the way we responded after the four-run second inning," Head Coach
Rodney Hennon said. "I thought our guys stayed poised and just kept battling."
Caleb Pressey entered in relief in the fifth inning and picked up the win after the four-run sixth inning. Pressey (1-0) combined with
Jason Richman and
Chris Brown to hold the Mountaineers hitless over the final 4.2 innings.
Brown (2) struck out two batters and tossed a perfect ninth inning to earn his second save of the season.
"The guys out of the bullpen did a great job.
Caleb Pressey threw the ball well, and
Chris Brown did a nice job closing it out," Hennon said.
Adam Keller took the loss after allowing four runs over 1.2 innings. Keller (0-1) walked two batters and allowed two hits.
Freshman B.J. Myers got the Friday start for WVU and allowed three runs over four innings.
Evan Challenger made his second start of the season for GS and allowed two earned runs over 4.1 innings.
The Mountaineers opened the second inning with three-straight hits and scored the game's first run on a Kyle Davis single. WVU also scored runs in the frame on an error, a ground out and a sac fly.
Chase Griffin and Thomas both plated runs in the third inning. Griffin put the Eagles on the scoreboard with a sac fly, and Thomas scratched across a run with a single through the right side of the infield.
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