AUBURN, ALA. – On Saturday afternoon the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the bats were dancing in the racks for Eagle Baseball who took a 7-5 win over No. 15 Auburn in 13 innings. Freshman
Noah Ledford hit a go-ahead solo home run in the 13th inning to give the Eagles the win and improve to 1-1 on the year. Georgia Southern and Auburn will close out the series on Sunday afternoon in a 2 p.m. (ET) matinee.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"I'm really proud of our team for bouncing back after a tough night last night and then to get down in today's game. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys. It was a good team effort and now we've got to come back out tomorrow and keep playing good baseball."
SCORING MOMENTS
Bot 3rd | GS 0 - AUB 4 | Georgia Southern's starting pitcher
Braden Hays dismissed the first six batters in order, but gave up a crooked number in the third. The Tigers got four runs off four hits and an error to take a 4-0 lead.
Top 6th | GS 2 - AUB 4 | Austin Thompson welcomed Auburn's bullpen to the game with a two-run home run off the first Tiger reliever of the game. His second career home run was the first for either team in the series.
Top 7th | GS 4 - AUB 4 | The Eagles loaded the bases with one out and forced Auburn to bring its closer in to work the seventh inning. The rare two-run wild pitch allowed the Eagles to tie the game, but a fly ball to left looked to be deep enough to score
Steven Curry from third. The junior, however, was cut down at the plate trying to score the go-ahead run.
Top 8th | GS 5 - AUB 4 | The Eagles loaded the bases with a single, double and an intentional walk.
Matt Anderson did the damage, driving in Thompson with a sacrifice fly to center, handing the Eagles a decisive 5-4 lead.
Bot 9th | GS 5 - AUB 5 | Auburn cashed in a leadoff single in the ninth inning with a sacrifice bunt and a single to center, tying the game at 5-5.
Top 13th | GS 7 - AUB 5 | After the first nine Eagles were retired to start the extra frames,
Noah Ledford ended that with a towering solo home run to right which left the Auburn right fielder looking like a statue as he watched the ball fly over the wall. Later in the inning,
Mason Miller got a single and made his way around to score on a wild pitch, pushing the lead to 7-5.
GAME NOTES
- Freshman
Braden Hays got the start and went five innings, allowing four runs, three earned off six hits in his debut outing.
- It was another freshman,
Aidan McAlister, who took the win to improve to 1-0. He worked two and two thirds no-hit innings with two strikeouts and a pickoff at first.
-
Austin Thompson had a big day for the Eagles, going 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two knocked in. He was one of three Eagles to have multi-hit games, joining
Christian Avant and
Noah Ledford.
- Saturday's sellout attendance of 4,096 was the largest to see an Eagle game since May 7, 2017 when 4,998 fans jammed Tigue Moore Field in Lafayette, Louisiana to see
Seth Shuman deal in a 9-1 Eagle win in the rubber match of a three game series win.
- The win was the longest game for the Eagles in terms of innings since 2/24/16 when the Eagles went 16 with Georgia Tech.
- Extra innings in the season's second game is becoming a trend with the Eagles needing extras three times in the last four seasons. The Eagles have won all three games, defeating Georgia, Middle Tennessee and Auburn.
UP NEXT
Georgia Southern and No. 15 Auburn will close out the season-opening series on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. (ET) on Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park in the rubber match.
