BOX SCORE (PDF)

JONESBORO, ARK. - Georgia Southern Baseball bounced back from an extra innings loss to Arkansas State with a 10-5 win over the Red Wolves on Saturday evening. The Eagles tallied 10 hits and punished three Red Wolves errors to take the win in the second game of the series. Georgia Southern and Arkansas State will return to the diamond on Sunday at Noon (CT) / 1 p.m. (ET) to decide the series.

SCORING PLAYS
Top 1st - Jason Swan opened the game with a leadoff double to the gap in left on the game's fourth pitch. He advanced on Mitchell Golden's fly ball to right and scored on Austin Thompson's single up the middle to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Top 2nd - Mason McWhorter opened the second with a leadoff home run to cap a seven pitch battle. The Eagles would tack on two more with a Christian Avant single and stolen base, followed by a Steven Curry triple and a Nolan Tressler RBI ground out to push the lead to 4-0.
Top 3rd - A Thompson single and a fielding error opened the door for a four run third inning. McWhorter drove in two with a double that split the gap in right. A Matt Anderson sacrifice fly scored the inning's third run. Curry posted his second extra base hit in as many innings, ripping an RBI down the third base line to make it an 8-0 Eagle lead.
Bottom 3rd - Arkansas State got a pair of runs back in the home half of the third with a double down the right field line to plate two and cap a three hit frame, cutting the Georgia Southern lead to 8-2.
Top 6th - A one out walk and a pair of errors by the shortstop on what should have been a routine double play put runners on the corners for the Eagles. With two outs in the inning, Anderson broke for second to steal, but got caught in a rundown, allowing Avant to score as Anderson eluded the tag to get back to first base safely.
Bottom 7th - The Red Wolves got a pair of two out hits to put two runners in scoring position. A single to center plated both runs to make it a 9-4 Eagle lead.
Bottom 8th - Arkansas State took advantage of a leadoff hit batter to plate a single run on a sacrifice fly. The home side, however, ran itself out of the inning when Anderson cut down a runner attempting to steal second, keeping the damage to just a run heading to the ninth.
Top 9th - The dreaded leadoff walk came around to bite Arkansas State in the ninth inning when Swan reached to open the final frame with the free pass. Golden moved him up with a double and Thompson moved him in with an RBI ground out to short.

NOTES
- Mason McWhorter's big day featured his ninth home run of the season as the junior knocked in three runs and scored two of his own to pace the visitors.
- Christian Avant was 1-for-3 with a walk and a HBP to score three runs in the game. He also recorded a career-best three stolen bases in the game including a swipe of home.
- Steven Curry led a cadre of four Eagles to record multiple hits in the game. Curry was 2-for-3 with a double and a triple, two RBIs and a run scored. Jason Swan was 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot in the lineup, tagging a double while Austin Thompson was 2-for-5, both singles, with two RBIs and a run scored.
- With the win, the Eagles improve to 15-10 in the Sun Belt, good for fourth place in the East Division, a half-game behind Troy for third place. The Eagles would enter the Sun Belt Tournament as the No. 5 seed, one game ahead of the No. 6 seed Little Rock.
- Cole Whitney will start Sunday's series finale on the hill for the Eagles.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern closes out the weekend series with Arkansas State on Sunday at high noon. The Eagles will return to Statesboro on Sunday night in preparation for a Tuesday night game against Charleston Southern to open the final week of the regular season.

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