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STATESBORO, Ga. – The first three batters to the plate all scored and Tripp Sheppard turned in another solid outing on the mound as the Georgia Southern Eagles took the series from the UT Arlington Mavericks with an 8-1 win at J.I. Clements Stadium.

The Eagles (21-15, 11-6) erased a 1-0 deficit and chased the Mavericks' (14-19, 5-9) starter Brad Vassar from the game after scoring three runs in the first inning. 

"I was proud of the way we responded," Head Coach Rodney Hennon said. "I thought Tripp did a nice job of keeping his poise and gave us a strong effort to start the game. We made a few mistakes defensively, but we made some big plays as well to keep them from getting back into the ballgame."

Kody Adams was hit by a pitch to start the frame, and Aaron Mizell and Chase Griffin followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. 

Vassar (2-3) threw a pitch wide of the plate to score Adams before Hunter Thomas gave GS a 2-1 lead with a ground out to second base. Dalton Busby plated the third run with a double down the left field line. 

The freshman lefthander was tagged with the loss after allowing all three runs and worked just two thirds of an inning.

Tripp Sheppard allowed an unearned run in the top of the first inning after Matt McLean reached on a leadoff error and Levi Scott delivered a one-out single to right field.

Sheppard (4-2) got a double play with the bases loaded in the second inning to strand a pair of hits before settling in to retire 13 of the next 14 batters he faced. 

Sheppard picked up the win after limiting UTA to just four hits and one run. The senior righthander walked just one and struck out three batters in his seventh start of the season.

Dalton Busby tallied three of the team's 12 hits. Busby added a pair of singles to his RBI double. Kody Adams tallied two hits including his first home run of the season in the eighth inning. Chase Griffin and Kent Rollins also finished with two hits each. 

The three-game conference series concludes Sunday with a noon first pitch. The Eagles will send freshman lefthander Connor Simmons (1-2, 2.38 ERA) to the mound. He will face sophomore righthander Joel Kuhnel (1-1, 3.16 ERA).

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