STATESBORO - Georgia Southern Baseball split a Saturday doubleheader with West Virginia to avoid the series sweep. The Eagles dropped Saturday's first game 3-1, but battled back to take a pitcher's duel behind six innings of four-hit shutout ball from Daniel Collins. Next up is a Tuesday night trip to the College of Charleston.

GAME TWO - GS 1 - WVU 0
The Eagles got an early season gem from starting pitcher Daniel Collins who scattered four hits over six shutout innings to take his first Division I victory. The transfer from Montreat struck out five in his second Division I game, throwing 97 pitches to improve to 1-0 on the season.

Georgia Southern went the first four and two thirds innings without registering a hit, but got the breakthrough in the hits column in the fifth and added a run in the sixth. A leadoff error came back to bite the Mountaineers. Jason Swan drove in the run with a ground ball to short that handcuffed the shortstop who couldn't make an in-time throw to second to get the trail runner and couldn't get Swan at first.

David Johnson came in for Collins in the seventh inning and worked clean seventh and eighth innings. He looked to be in line for his first save of the year, but a single to the leadoff batter in the ninth ended his day, bringing Cole Whitney in from the bullpen. Whitney got a strike out, and framed two foul outs around a hit batter to nail down his first save of the season. Whitney worked all three games of the series including both of Saturday's contests.

GAME ONE - GS 1 - WVU 3
Georgia Southern dropped Saturday's first game 3-1. West Virginia quickly got a pair off the Eagles in the first inning with a two RBI double to the gap in left. The Eagle offense struggled to get much off the Mountaineer starter Jackson Wolf who held the Eagles hitless through four and a third innings.

The Eagles got a run back in the eighth, taking advantage of a one out walk and a double by Christian Avant off the wall in right. Georgia Southern loaded the bases later in the inning, but a three pitch strikeout by Noah Ledford left the bases full of Eagles.

West Virginia tacked on an insurance run in the ninth, getting a runner aboard with a walk and moving around to third on a two-base wild pitch. The run scored on another wild offering to make it a 3-1 West Virginia lead.

UP NEXT
The Eagles are on the road on Tuesday night, traveling to face the College of Charleston in Mount Pleasant. First pitch against the Cougars is set for 6 p.m. at the Patriot's Point Complex.