MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Georgia Southern baseball team shutout Troy in the Sun Belt Conference Semifinals on Saturday afternoon, 8-0, to secure its 40th win of the season and clinch a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Championship on Sunday.


The game began as a pitchers duel, as neither side could score a run or gain any ground. Georgia Southern (40-17) was able to grab the first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning when Jesse Sherrill reached base on an error by the shortstop, bringing Blancato home and putting the Eagles up 1-0.

The Eagles would crack the game wide-open in the top of the eighth inning, starting with a Jarrett Brown two-RBI single, scoring Austin Thompson and J.C. Peacher. Parker Biederer's RBI-double would bring Brown home, then a JP Tighe RBI-single would plate Biederer and end the top of the eighth inning with a 5-0 Eagles' lead.

In the top of the ninth inning, Brown would add another RBI to his stat line with an RBI-double. Blancato then capped the scoring with a two-run homer to right-center field, scoring Brown and punching the Eagles' ticket to the SBC Championship with a 8-0 final.

Ben Johnson earned his fifth win of the season with 5.1 innings of relief, only allowing three hits and zero runs, striking out two. Johnson would face the final 21 batters and only threw 63 pitches. Troy ends its season at 32-24 with the semifinal loss.

QUICK HITS

• Georgia Southern will be playing in their fifth SBC Championship in six years on Sunday. 
• All but two of the GS runs came with two outs.
• GS has won 40 games for the first time since 2014.
• Starter Hayden Harris pitched for 3.2 innings, sitting down five Troy batters and keeping the offense in check, not allowing a run.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern will play the winner of No. 1 seed Texas State and No. 4 seed Louisiana on Sunday, May 29, in the Sun Belt Championship. First pitch is set for 2 pm ET.