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Georgia Southern University Athletics

Kent Schmidt
AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics
6
Georgia State GSU 15-14, 7-3 SBC
10
Winner Georgia Southern GS 16-14, 6-4 SBC
Georgia State GSU
15-14, 7-3 SBC
6
Final
10
Georgia Southern GS
16-14, 6-4 SBC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Georgia State GSU 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 0 6 8 2
Georgia Southern GS 2 1 1 3 0 0 3 0 X 10 9 1

W: Higgins, Thomas (4-2) L: Evans, Rob (3-2) S: Jenkins, Jarrett (2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Graham Cooper

Eagles Down Panthers to Open Series, 10-6

Kent Schmidt's 3-for-3 night leads the way for Southern

STATESBORO - Thomas Higgins' third quality start of the season and a multi-hit night from Josh Tate, Kent Schmidt, and JD Kaiser powered the Eagles to a 10-6 victory over Georgia State in the first of a three-game Sun Belt Conference set on Friday night.

Kaiser led the scoring off for the Eagles (16-14, 6-4 SBC) in the bottom of the first inning with the first triple of his career, scoring Jarrett Brown and Schmidt to take an early 2-0 lead. The Eagles would add an additional run in the bottom of the second inning when Tate singled through the left side of the infield to score Jonathan Jaime.

Georgia State (15-14, 7-3 SBC) would get on the board with a lead-off homer in the top of the third inning from Brennan Hudson, but the Eagles would continue to pile on to extend the lead. In the home-half of the third inning, Jaime's sacrifice fly would score Schmidt to bump the lead back up to three runs at 4-1, then the bottom of the fourth saw three more runs added, first from a Schmidt RBI-single that scored Tate and Sam Blancato, then a based-loaded walk by Jaime to score Schmidt, boosting the lead to 7-1.

State mounted a rally in the later innings, starting with a Michael Maginnis RBI-single in the top of the sixth. The Panthers would plate three in the top of the seventh to close the gap at 7-5, starting with a Jae Williams RBI-single, then a Will Mize two-RBI single to cut into the lead.

Southern answered in the bttom of the seventh inning with a three-run inning of its own, first with a Tate bloop RBI-single to score Cade Parker, then a Blancato RBI-single to center field to score Luke Odden. An errant throw to first from Aidan McEvoy, the State pitcher, scored Tate and put Blancato at third on the two-base error, setting the Eagles up with a five-run lead at 10-5.

The Panthers scored one more time with a RBI-single by Luke Boynton in the top of the eighth, and tried to make some noise in the top of the ninth. Ben Johnson struck out the final pinch hitter for the Panthers to close the book on game one and seal the 10-6 victory for Southern.

Higgins earned his fourth victory of the season with his third quality start of the year, pitching six full innings with two runs on four hits, no walks, and six strikeouts. Ben Johnson earned his second save of the year after coming in to pitch when the game was at 7-5, giving up one run on one hit with four strikeouts.

Schmidt led the Eagles offense with a 3-for-3 night, scoring three runs and driving in two with the first stolen base of his collegiate career. Tate went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Kaiser went 2-for-4 with two, both hits being extra base hits (a double and a triple).

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern looks to take the series on Saturday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium. First pitch is set for 2:05 p.m.
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