
Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics
Eagles Narrowly Fall to Yellow Jackets, 5-4
4/10/2024 6:53:00 PM | Baseball
ATLANTA, Ga. – The Georgia Southern baseball team fell by a final score of 5-4 to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Wednesday afternoon.
Both sides were locked in a pitching battle for the first four innings, with Georgia Southern (18-15) pitcher Porter Buursema throwing for a career-high four innings with no runs on one hit and three strikeouts. Georgia Tech (20-11) used two pitchers in the first two innings, with starter Logan McGuire hurling for the first two and Michael Kovala tossing for the next two.
In the top of the fifth inning, Sean White led off with a solo homer to right field to opening up the scoring, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Cade Parker would follow up with a solo homer to right field of his own, doubling the lead and setting Southern up with a 2-0 lead after the first four and a half frames.
Tech responded in the home-half of the fifth with a Payton Green solo shot, then added four runs in the bottom of the sixth, first from a Matthew Ellis RBI-single, then a John Giesler three-run homer to take a 5-2 lead after six innings.
Georgia Southern would throw one more punch in the top of the ninth inning with a Parker two-run blast to cut the lead to one run, but the Yellow Jackets would close the inning out to take the 5-4 victory.
Garrett Mackowiak took the loss while Brett Thomas took the win. Ben King took his first save of the season.
Cade Parker led the Eagles with a perfect 4-for-4 night, finishing with two singles, two homers, three RBI and two runs scored.
UP NEXT
The Eagles host #20 Coastal Carolina in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series, starting on Friday, April 12.
Both sides were locked in a pitching battle for the first four innings, with Georgia Southern (18-15) pitcher Porter Buursema throwing for a career-high four innings with no runs on one hit and three strikeouts. Georgia Tech (20-11) used two pitchers in the first two innings, with starter Logan McGuire hurling for the first two and Michael Kovala tossing for the next two.
In the top of the fifth inning, Sean White led off with a solo homer to right field to opening up the scoring, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Cade Parker would follow up with a solo homer to right field of his own, doubling the lead and setting Southern up with a 2-0 lead after the first four and a half frames.
Tech responded in the home-half of the fifth with a Payton Green solo shot, then added four runs in the bottom of the sixth, first from a Matthew Ellis RBI-single, then a John Giesler three-run homer to take a 5-2 lead after six innings.
Georgia Southern would throw one more punch in the top of the ninth inning with a Parker two-run blast to cut the lead to one run, but the Yellow Jackets would close the inning out to take the 5-4 victory.
Garrett Mackowiak took the loss while Brett Thomas took the win. Ben King took his first save of the season.
Cade Parker led the Eagles with a perfect 4-for-4 night, finishing with two singles, two homers, three RBI and two runs scored.
UP NEXT
The Eagles host #20 Coastal Carolina in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series, starting on Friday, April 12.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Brett Thomas (1-0)
L: Mackowiak, Garrett (0-1)
S: Ben King (1)

Batting:
HR: White, Sean 1 ; Parker, Cade 2
RBI: White, Sean 1 ; Parker, Cade 3
Base Running:
RUNS: White, Sean 1 ; Jenkins, Jarrett 1 ; Parker, Cade 2
HBP: Jenkins, Jarrett 1

Batting:
2B: Drew Burress 1
HR: John Giesler 1 ; Payton Green 1
RBI: Matthew Ellis 1 ; John Giesler 3 ; Payton Green 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Drew Burress 1 ; Matthew Ellis 1 ; Carson Kerce 1 ; John Giesler 1 ; Payton Green 1
SB: Vahn Lackey 1
CS: Trey Yunger 1
HBP: Carson Kerce 1
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