Baseball | 4/16/2015 12:03:00 PM
Game Notes
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern baseball team returns to league play and will face a familiar opponent in the UALR Trojans.
The Eagles (21-16) sit in second place in the Sun Belt Conference after a weekend series victory over the UT Arlington Mavericks. GS is tied for first in the league with 11 conference victories.
UALR enters the weekend in sixth place with a 10-7 league record. The Trojans are 14-19 on the season but have been winning when the games count the most in conference play.
The two teams will meet as conference members for the first time since 1990 when both were in the TAAC, now known as the Atlantic Sun. GS holds an 11-4 record all-time in the series.
The Eagles are hitting .270 as a squad. Senior catcher
Chase Griffin leads the team with a .322 batting average.
Aaron Mizell is second on the squad with a .310 average and leads the team with 10 home runs and 30 RBI. Mizell has hit seven of his 10 long balls in league play.
The pitching staff holds a 3.89 ERA on the year.
Ryan Frederick (2-0, 1.86 ERA) and
Jason Richman (3-0, 2.95 ERA) have been stellar out of the bullpen, while closer
Chris Brown (2-2, 6.17 ERA) has seven saves on the year.
Head Coach
Rodney Hennon will stick with the same rotation from last week. Lefthander
Evan Challenger, who leads the league with a 1.08 ERA, will get the call on Friday night. Challenger is a perfect 4-0 on the year and has not lost since 2013. Righthander
Tripp Sheppard (4-2, 2.55 ERA) will start on Saturday and freshman lefthander
Connor Simmons (1-3, 3.60 ERA) will take the mound on Sunday.
UALR is hitting .262 as a squad. Tanner Rockwell is the reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week and is hitting .358 with 9 doubles and team-best 28 RBI. Ryan Scott leads the team with a .378 batting average and a .567 slugging percentage.
The Trojan pitching staff holds a 6.67 ERA. Jarrid Garcia, who will start in the series opener, leads the staff with a 3.19 ERA. Garcia is 1-1 on the year with 29 strikeouts in 31.0 innings.
Righthanders Cory Malcom (4-2, 4.02 ERA) and Sam Thoele (2-4, 5.36 ERA) round out the weekend rotation. Malcom allowed five runs over 5.2 innings against Texas State last weekend but picked up a win in the 13-7 victory.
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.
