STATESBORO - The Eagles offense exploded for 12Â hits in a 11-0 win over the Mercer Bears at J.I. Clements Stadium on Tuesday, February 28. With the win, Eagles head coach
Rodney Hennon earned his 800th win at Georgia Southern.
Georgia Southern (5-3) took a quick 3-0 lead after the bottom of the first inning, first from a
Sam Blancato run scored from a wild pitch, followed by a two-RBI single up the middle from
JD Kaiser, scoring
Zane Faulk and
Noah Ledford. In the bottom of the second inning, the Eagles added to the lead with a Blancato single to right-center field to score
J.C. Peacher, taking a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth inning,
Jarrett Brown knocked his first home run of thet season down the left field line, bringing
Jesse Sherrill home with him to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
The Eagles continued to rack up the runs, scoring two in the bottom of the fifth, as
Blake Evans came home on a throwing error by the Mercer (5-4) catcher, and Brown sending Peacher home off a sac fly. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Georgia Southern added another pair of runs, first of which coming from
Jonathan Jaime reaching base on a fielder's choice, sending Ledford home, and the second from an Evans sac fly to score Faulk. The final run of the night came from a
Hunter Noblitt RBI groundout, plating
Kyler Hultgren.
Jaylen Paden earned his first win of the season with a strong performance, only allowing two hits in five innings with zero runs, sitting down eight Mercer batters. Bears' starter Garrett Sloan took the loss in his first collegiate start.
QUICK HITS
- Rodney Hennon earned his 800th win in the Blue and White. He is currently 19 wins away from 900 wins in his coaching career.
- The Eagles were led offensively by Sam Blancato, who went 3-for-5 with a double and one RBI. Jarrett Brown, JD Kaiser, and J.C. Peacher all also had multiple hits on the night with two each.
- Three Eagles pitchers accounted for 13 strikeouts tonight. Starter Jaylen Paden had eight, Thomas Ross has three, and Jonah Milchuck had two.
- Georgia Southern now leads the overall series with Mercer 120-49-1, which is the most wins the Eagles have over any opponent. Mercer is the most played opponent of Georgia Southern.
UP NEXT
The Eagles will take to the road for the first time this season as the team takes on the UCF Knights in Orlando, Fla. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. from John Euliano Stadium.
