STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Baseball erased an early five-run deficit, but a grand slam in the eighth inning proved to be the difference as UL Lafayette took game three, 13-9. The Ragin' Cajuns won the three-game set to drop Georgia Southern to 7-8 in Sun Belt play. Next up is a Tuesday night date with Mercer at 6 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium.
 
QUOTABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
I liked the way we battled back from getting down early. Brian Eichhorn had a tough day, but the team picked him up. After that, we got back into the game and took the lead. I thought that some of the guys in the middle innings did a nice job out of the bullpen and got some outs for us. Byron Yelverton didn't throw a bad pitch on the home run, but their guy kept his hands back and hooked it around the foul pole in left for them to take the lead. What I was disappointed with was the way we responded after that. It was still a two-run game at home and I didn't think our at bats were very good after they took the lead. We've got to do a better job of competing in at bats like that if we want to take things to the next level.
 
CRUCIAL MOMENTS
Top 1^st – The Ragin' Cajuns scored early to post a 2-0 lead after just one inning. An error by the Eagles early in the frame opened the door for the Cajuns to score first off a sacrifice fly and later on an infield ground ball.
Bottom 1^st – The Eagles answered immediately, getting a runner on with Cal Baker's one-out double to left. He scored thanks to an error by the ULL first baseman who kicked a ground ball, allowing Ryan Cleveland to reach and Baker to score.
Top 2^nd – ULL's lead grew to 4-1 heading into the third frame after a home run brought in two runs late in the inning.
Top 3^rd – Two singles to open the third set the table for the Cajuns, but ultimately a wild pitch and an error allowed two runs to score and push the lead to 6-1.
Bottom 3^rd – Matt Anderson's lead-off walk opened the door for the only run of the inning for the Eagles. Anderson advanced to third on a single and a balk before reaching on Baker's RBI groundout.
Bottom 4^th – Georgia Southern took a big bite out of the ULL lead with three runs in the fourth off two hits. C.J. Ballard and C.J. Brazil drove in two runs with one out in the inning with a third scoring on Jordan Wren's RBI triple.
Top 6^th – A wild pitch put runners in scoring position for UL Lafayette, but only one was able to score on a RBI ground out to shortstop, putting the Ragin' Cajuns up 7-5 in the top of the sixth.
Bottom 6^th – The Eagles took their first lead of the game, 9-7, scoring four runs in the bottom of the frame. Cleveland's two-RBI single plated Wren and Baker was followed by another two-RBI single by Hunter Thomas, sent Baldwin and Cleveland in to score.
Top 8^th – Lafayette re-took the lead in the eighth with one swing of the bat. Brian Mills hit his second home run of the day, hooking a grand slam around the pole in left to give the visitors an 11-9 lead.
Top 9^th – UL Lafayette tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, extending the lead to 13-9. A double to left allowed runners on first and second to score, producing the final two Ragin' Cajun runs.
 
NOTES
- Georgia Southern dropped the season series to the Cajuns and evening the all-time series 3-3.
- The loss was the Eagles' first this season when scoring six or more runs. The Eagles are now 9-1 in 2016 when scoring six or more runs.
- Next weekend the Eagles travel to UT Arlington for a three-game Sun Belt series and the first for Georgia Southern in Arlington.
 
NEXT GAME
The Eagles face off against the Mercer Bears Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at the friendly confines. Fans can watch the game on GS All-Access on GSEagles.com or listen live on Georgia Southern Sports Network.
 
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