Baseball | 3/19/2015 3:47:00 PM
Game Notes | Tickets | Stats | Roster | Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern baseball team returns home from a four-game road trip to host the Arkansas State Red Wolves this weekend.
The two teams will meet for the first time in program history in a Sun Belt Conference three-game series at J.I. Clements Stadium. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. The series continues Saturday with a 2 p.m. start and wraps up Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
The Eagles (12-10) fell 4-3 at The Citadel on Tuesday and are looking to get back on track after dropping five of their last six games. Georgia Southern is 11-5 at home this season and has not lost a home weekend series this year.
The Eagles' pitching staff ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference with a 2.21 ERA in league games. The Georgia Southern weekend rotation boasts the league leaders in ERA. Freshman
Connor Simmons (1-1) leads the league with a 0.76 ERA and has not allowed an earned run since Feb. 22.
Evan Challenger (2-0) ranks second in the conference with a 1.30 ERA and picked up his second win of the season at Troy.
The Eagles are hitting .259 as a team. Freshman
Logan Baldwin leads the team with a .367 batting average.
Aaron Mizell leads the team with four home runs and 20 RBI. Mizell is hitting .265 with five doubles and three triples.
Head Coach
Rodney Hennon will send the same pitching rotation from a week ago to the mound against Arkansas State. Redshirt-sophomore lefthander Challenger will get the nod on Friday night, senior righthander
Tripp Sheppard (1-2) will make his fourth start of the season on Saturday, and Simmons will get the call on Sunday.
Head Coach Tommy Raffo will counter with a pair of righthanders. Sophomore Tyler Zuber (2-2) will make the series-opening start on Friday, and senior David Owen (2-2) will get the call on Saturday. Arkansas State has not announced a starter for Sunday's game.
Zuber holds a 1.88 ERA in four starts this season. The righthander has allowed just eight walks and struck out 23 batters in 28.2 innings. Owen has struck out 29 batters in 32.0 innings pitched this season and has a 2.81 ERA after five starts.
The Red Wolves are hitting .260 as a team. Zach George is one of five Sun Belt Conference hitters with a batting average of .400 or better this season. George leads the team with a .404 average and has five doubles in 15 starts.
Each game of the weekend series will be Education Day. Area students, teachers and staff can purchase $5 game tickets.
Links to live video, live audio and live stats are also available on GSEagles.com.
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.
