STATESBORO, Ga. – The West Virginia Mountaineers scored in all but two innings on Saturday to even the series with a 12-4 win over the Georgia Southern Eagles at J.I. Clements Stadium.
West Virginia (3-2) tallied 14 hits and hit three home runs a day after being held to five hits in the series opener.
The Mountaineers took a 2-1 lead in the third inning and added five runs over the middle three innings to lead 7-3 after six frames. They closed the game with five runs in the final three innings.
The WVU offense backed a quality start from Ross Vance, who allowed three runs over 6.1 innings. Vance (1-1) struck out nine batters and walked just one to earn his first win of the season. Conner Dotson held Georgia Southern (4-2) to a run over the final 2.2 innings and struck out seven batters.
Eagle starter
Adam Kelly was lifted in the third inning after walking Taylor Munden. Kelly (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing two runs – one earned – on two hits.
The Eagles finished with 11 hits, including
Chase Griffin's first home run of the season. Griffin tallied three hits on the day, while
Dalton Busby doubled twice in three plate appearances.
GS scored first in the contest on a two-out single by
Hunter Thomas in the first inning.
The Mountaineers tied the game in the next inning on a Justin Fox home run. WVU took the lead in the third inning after Ray Guerrini scored on a wild pitch.
Munden hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to put the Mountaineers up 10-3.
The three-game series concludes tomorrow with the rubber match set for noon. Freshman left hander
Connor Simmons will take the bump for the Eagles, and the Mountaineers will counter with righty Chad Donato.
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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, call 1-800-GSU-WINS or visit GSEagles.com.
