Eagles Drop Nail-Biter to Little Rock, 3-2

Saturday, April 23

7 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

24-16, 10-10

Little Rock

19-18, 12-8

Little Rock

Georgia Southern

4/23/2016 10:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Ryan Cleveland’s 3-for-4 day includes a solo home run in the 9th

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Baseball dropped a 3-2 result to Little Rock on Saturday as the teams evened the weekend series at one game each. Ryan Cleveland's 3-for-4 day bookended the game with RBIs in the first and ninth innings. The Eagles and Trojans play the rubber match of the series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

With the win, Little Rock improves to 19-18 on the year and third place in the Sun Belt with a 12-8 league mark. The Eagles fall to 24-16, snapping a five-game win streak. Georgia Southern is sixth in the Sun Belt at an even 10-10.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"It was another well-played ballgame by both teams. Little Rock got a great performance from (Starting Pitcher Cory) Malcom and we weren't able to get a whole lot going offensively against him. We had to go to the bullpen early, but we had a chance there late and it has been two very competitive games. We've got to come out and respond in a positive manner, play our best baseball in the final game of the series.

CRITICAL MOMENTS
BOTTOM 1ST – Georgia Southern got off to a solid start with a leadoff single from Evan McDonald. He moved up with a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. A Ryan Cleveland single sent McDonald home and gave the Eagles an early 1-0 advantage.
TOP 3RD – The Trojans cashed in a leadoff double for a run when Nik Gifford stroked an RBI single and tied the game at 1-1.
TOP 4TH – A leadoff walk came back to sting the Eagles in the fourth as the Trojans played small ball to get the runner into scoring position. Hayden Martin's RBI single pushed the run home and gave Little Rock its first lead of the day.
TOP 8TH – Dalton Thomas extended Little Rock's lead to 3-1 with a solo home run.
BOTTOM 9TH – Ryan Cleveland cut the lead to 3-2 with a solo home run of his own to open the 9th. His 10th bomb of the year snapped a run of three games without a long ball for the Eagles. Jordan Wren then worked a four pitch walk and made it to second on Brazil's sacrifice bunt. Hunter Thomas struck out while Kent Rollins made the final out on a foul out down the third base line.

NOTES
- Ryan Cleveland went 3-for-4 to post his fourth-straight multi-hit game while extending his hit streak to 11-straight games.
- Little Rock's Cory Malcom went 8.0+ to improve to 4-3 on the year. He struck out nine batters and silenced the Eagle bats for much of the game.
- Georgia Southern's starting pitcher Chase Cohen went just 2.1 innings, matching his shortest outing (Arkansas State) and allowed a run off two hits and three walks. He went deep into counts early, throwing 67 pitches while striking out four.
- The Eagle bullpen ate up the innings, allowing just two hits over the final 6.2 innings while giving up two runs. Adam Kelly fanned a career-high five batters with his longest career appearance, going 3.1 innings.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern faces Little Rock in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Fans can watch the game live on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com and listen along the Georgia Southern Sports Network from Learfield Sports.

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