Series Notes
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern baseball team opens Sun Belt Conference play against Appalachian State this weekend in a three-game series at J.I. Clements Stadium.
The first pitch is set for Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday's game will begin at 2 p.m. and the series will wrap up on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Eagles (8-5) fell 4-1 to the Mercer Bears on Tuesday. The loss was the fifth-straight at home in the series, but GS has won all three weekend series this season after sweeping #18 Georgia last weekend.
Head Coach
Rodney Hennon will send redshirt-sophomore lefthander
Evan Challenger, senior
Tripp Sheppard and freshman lefthander
Connor Simmons to the mound this weekend.
The pitching staff held Georgia to two earned runs and posted a 0.67 ERA with 26 strikeouts last weekend.
Jason Richman struck out seven and allowed two hits over six innings to earn two wins against the Bulldogs.
Challenger (1-0) will be making his fourth-straight Friday night start and has a pair of no decisions in his last two outings against West Virginia and Georgia. Sheppard (0-1) made his first career start against Georgia and tossed 3.1 scoreless innings in a 1-0 shutout.
As a team the Eagles are hitting .267.
Chase Griffin leads the squad with a .346 batting average and has three doubles and eight RBI on the year. Griffin has a hit in all but three games this season and is currently riding a five-game hit streak.
Appalachian State (5-6) opened the season 2-3 after the first two weeks of play. The Mountaineers won one of three in a series against #16 Maryland at Emerson, Ga. last weekend and split a pair of mid-week games this week against High Point (W, 4-0) and N.C. State (L, 6-4).
Head Coach Billy Jones will start senior lefthander Jeffrey Springs (0-1) on Friday, freshman Travis Holden (0-0) Saturday and has not announced a starter for Sunday.
As a team the Mountaineers are hitting .253. Brandon Burris leads the squad with a .424 batting average. Burris is one of four members of the team with two home runs on the season.
Links to live video, live audio and live stats are also available on GSEagles.com.
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