MACON, Ga. - Georgia Southern softball swept a pair of games at Mercer on Tuesday afternoon, giving Head Coach Sharon Perkins her 300th career collegiate head coaching victory in the process. The Eagles won game one, 17-4, and took the second in come-from-behind fashion, 6-5.
Perkins, in her first season at the helm of the Eagles, has now compiled a 301-167 career head coaching record for a .643 winning percentage. The wins halts a nine-game losing streak for the Eagles. Mercer moves to 13-34 on the year with the losses.
The Eagles (11-29) return to Sun Belt Conference action on Friday, traveling to South Alabama for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Jaguars in the first of a three-game league series.
GAME ONE: Georgia Southern 17, Mercer 5 (6 inn.)
The Eagles scored their most runs in a single game in more than four years by rapping out 18 hits in the 17-5 six-inning win in game one of the doubleheader for Coach Perkins' milestone 300th win.
The 18 hits are tied for the third-most in a single game in school history, and are the most since Georgia Southern had 18 hits against Binghamton on February 13, 2015.
Georgia Southern scored at least one run in all six innings, starting off things with Janai Conklin's two-run home run in a five-run first inning. The Eagles plated single runs in the second and third innings, then got a two-run single by Shelby Barfield in the fourth and a two-run home run by Jess Mazur in the fifth.
The Eagles then punctuated the win with a six-run sixth inning.
Mazur notched her first career four-hit game and also drove in a career-high five runs in the contest. In all, six different Eagles had multi-hit games.
Kastin Belogorska improved to 4-11 in the circle with the complete-game win. She gave up seven hits and five runs - four earned - over six innings, walking one while striking out two.
GAME TWO: Georgia Southern 6, Mercer 5
Jess Mazur's two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning helped the Eagles claim the doubleheader sweep in the 6-5 game-two victory.
The Eagles built a 4-0 lead on the Bears thanks to a third-inning Courtney Ball RBI double and a fifth-inning three-run home run from Janai Conklin.
Mercer took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning with a five-run frame, keyed by a pair of RBI doubles from Tori Ash and Rebeca Laudino.
In the top of the seventh, Conklin was hit by a pitch with one out, then Mazur drilled the go-ahead two-run home run, putting the Eagles back in front.
Kastin Belogorska (5-11) then set down the Bears in order in the bottom of the seventh to collect the win. Belogorska went 6 1/3 innings in game two, scattering seven hits and one run to earn the victory in both games of the doubleheader.
