JONESBORO, ARK. – Arkansas State hit a walk-off single to left in the ninth to claim a 6-5 win over the Eagles to even the weekend series at 1-1. Georgia Southern trailed 4-0 early, but rallied to tie the game at 5-5 in the seventh with a pair of home runs. The Eagles and Red Wolves will play the rubber match on Saturday at Noon (ET)/11 a.m. (CT).

QUOTABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
"You've got to give Arkansas State credit, they jumped out on us early and we didn't do a whole lot against (Adam) Grantham early. Finally we had something going there in the fourth and we didn't execute as well as we could have with runners at third. We got one out of it and had a chance for more but we didn't. Despite that our guys kept battling and we had some great at bats in the seventh. Cleveland stepped up and was able to tie it for us. Unfortunately we didn't finish it off, but credit Arkansas State. We've got to pick ourselves up, we've got an early start tomorrow and we've got to fight tooth-and-nail tomorrow. "

PITCHERS OF RECORD
WIN – Coulton Lee (1-1)
LOSS – Chris Brown (2-1)
SAVE – None

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ryan Cleveland – 1B – Jr. – Toccoa, Ga.
2-for-4 – 1R – 3 RBI - 1HR
With one swing of the bat in the seventh inning, Ryan Cleveland tied the game at 5-5 with a two-run home run. His fourth home run of the season came on an opposite-field poke that left with no doubts off the bat.

CRUCIAL MOMENTS
BOTTOM 1st – Tanner Ring saw 11 pitches and found the perfect one, lifting a solo home run to left with two outs in the inning.
BOTTOM 2nd – A Neil Lambert triple past a diving CJ Brazil in right allowed the Red Wolves to double their advantage and make it 2-0 after two.
BOTTOM 3rd – A walk and a single ended Chase Cohen's outing, but a walk by relief pitcher Connor Simmons loaded the bases. Tony Ortiz hit a grounder up the middle which found its way past the fielders to plate two and extend the lead to 4-0.
TOP 4th – A walk and two hits loaded the bases for Kent Rollins. The senior hit a fielder's choice up the middle which scored Hunter Thomas to get the Eagles on the board, 4-1.
BOTTOM 6th – Two hits by the Red Wolves in the seventh followed by a sacrifice bunt landed two runners in scoring position. Tim Seldomridge hit a ball through the left side to plate a run and make it 5-2.
TOP 7th – Drew Kelley made his second pinch hit appearance of the season, clubbing a one-out solo home run to right. The lefty ripped the first pitch he saw to right which climbed over the fence. An error by the shortstop and a walk to Hunter Thomas brought Ryan Cleveland up as the tying run. He crushed a home run to the opposite field over the 370' sign to tie the game at 5-5.
BOTTOM 9th – Chris Brown came on in the ninth, walking two and hitting another to load the bases full of Red Wolves with no outs. A soft liner down the line in left was all the Arkansas State needed to take the win and level the series at 1-1.

NOTES
- Cleveland's seventh inning home run combined with Drew Kelley's pinch hit solo job for the Eagles' first two-home run frame this season. Kelley's home run was his first collegiate home run.
- Cleveland has now hit safely in 12-straight games.
- Connor Simmons went a season-long 4.0 innings, working around four hits and one run in relief of Chase Cohen who worked a season-low 2.1 innings. Simmons matched his season-high with five strikeouts.
- Logan Baldwin had a big day from the No. 5 slot in the lineup, going 3-for-4 in the game. It was one hit shy of his career-best of four against Georgia Tech earlier this season.

NEXT GAME
The Eagles and Red Wolves close out the three-game series with the rubber match on Saturday at Noon (ET)/11 a.m. (CT). Video streaming is available at AStateRedWolves.com with radio coverage from the Georgia Southern Sports Network available at GSEagles.com/showcase.

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