STATESBORO - JP Herrholz's grand slam highlighted a 7-4 victory by Georgia Southern over the Kennesaw State Owls as the Eagles improved to 8-8 on Tuesday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Kennesaw State (9-8) took to the board in the top of the third inning to lead off the scoring, first when Nick Hassan's RBI-single to the pitcher followed by a fielding error scored Shamaar McDuffie. Spencer Hanson's RBI-groundout scored an unearned run by Bayden Eidson to double the lead at 2-0, and Donovan Cash reaching on an error made an unearned run out of Hassan, taking the lead to 3-0 after the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the third inning,
Sam Blancato was hit by a pitch to reach, followed by a
Kent Schmidt single through the right side, followed by a
Jonathan Jaime walk to load the bases.
JP Herrholz swung to straight-away center, the ball sneaking between the outfield wall and the batter's eye to immediately put the Eagles up, 4-3, with Herrholz's first Division I home run.
The Owls tied the game in the top of the fourth inning with a Eidson RBI-groundout, scoring Jamarie Brooks. Georgia Southern retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with a
JD Kaiser sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Jaime.
The Eagles would pad the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when
T.J. McKenzie's RBI-single up the middle advanced
Jarrett Jenkins to third and scored Kaiser to take a 6-4 lead. The bottom of the eighth inning saw the Eagles add an insurance run in the form of a Kaiser bases-loaded walk, scoring
Josh Tate and setting Southern up with a 7-4 lead heading into the ninth inning.
Ben Johnson, who had been in since the top of the seventh inning, looked to record the final three outs and register his first save of the season. After a groundout on the lead-off batter and a fly out on the second batter, the Owls attempted a rally with a walk and a single through the left side. Johnson was able to induce an unassisted groundout to Schmidt to record the final out, sealing the victory for Southern.
Joey White earned his first victory of the season after being the pitcher that was in when the Eagles took the lead in the fifth inning. Johnson earned first first save after three innings of work, allowing no runs and sitting down three. Nolan Sliver took the loss after giving up the go-ahead run.
UP NEXT
Georgia Southern opens Sun Belt Conference play on the road as the Eagles fly north to face the Old Dominion Monarchs. Action from Bud Metheny Ballpark starts on Friday, March 15, at 6 p.m.
