STATESBORO, Ga. –  Georgia Southern opened a three-game series against Memphis with a 3-2 win on Friday night in J.I. Clements Stadium. Evan Challenger picked up his second win of the season with a brilliant outing. Chris Brown came on late and nailed down his first save of the year. The Eagles play Memphis in the second game of the series tomorrow evening, with first pitch set for 7 p.m.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Evan Challenger // LHP // Jr. // Mount Dora, Fla.  
Evan Challenger held the Tigers scoreless in the first five innings. He finished the game giving up two runs, one earned, off a pair of hits and two defensive errors. The junior went seven and a third innings to improve to 2-1 on the year.

QUOTABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
"Evan was terrific tonight. Right out the gate, he was getting ahead in the count, working both sides of the plate and changing speeds. He stayed in a nice rhythm and it worked really well for us tonight. The guys are doing a good job of executing right now, especially in tight games like tonight where you have good pitching on both sides."

STARTING PITCHER EVAN CHALLENGER
"I felt really good coming into the game. I had my change-up back; that's been my pitch since I've been here and I haven't been able to throw it in the past two games, but I had a feel for it today. Each outing I'm really trying to focus on getting better at each phase of the game and today that started with getting ahead early and being able to put guys away."

CRUCIAL MOMENTS
BOT 2ND – An RBI single by Matt Anderson plated Will Hudgins from second to get the game started for the Eagles.   
BOT 4TH – Cal Baker grounded out to advance Logan Baldwin to third and score Hudgins. A sacrifice bunt later in the inning plated Baldwin, giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
TOP 6TH – A fielding error and a passed ball put Tigers' lead-off batter Jason Santana on second to start the inning. A single to left plated Santana to put Memphis on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth.  
TOP 8TH – Trent Turner hit a leadoff solo home run to cut the Eagles lead to 3-2 in the eighth.
 
NOTES
-Challenger carried a no-hitter through the first five innings. It was the longest an Eagle pitcher has carried a no-no this season, surpassing Chase Cohen's four innings against Georgia on February 20. His eight strike-outs was one off his career high set at UL Lafayette (4/3/15) and Radford (2/26/15).
- Logan Baldwin had three hits. It was his second highest hit total of his career, behind a four-hit game against Georgia Tech a week and a half ago.
- Chris Brown picked up his first save this season, the 12^th of his career, to end the game. He is 1-for-2 in converting save opportunities this year.
- The Eagle pitching staff held Memphis to just two hits on the night. It was the fewest allowed this year by the Eagles who entered the game with a .173 opponent batting average. That number fell to .165 after Friday's contest.
 
NEXT GAME
The Eagles face Memphis once again in a 7 p.m. contest Saturday evening. Fans can watch the game on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com. Due to a scheduling conflict with Eagle Basketball, there will be no live radio call of the game.

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