MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The No. 5 seed Georgia Southern baseball team avenged a series sweep from No. 4 seed JMU earlier this season, downing the Dukes by a final score of 12-4 in the Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University on Wednesday night at Riverwalk, Stadium.

Georgia Southern (31-25) wasted no time taking to the board, putting up four runs in the top of the first inning, starting with a wild pitch that scored Josh Tate. Sam Blancato's two-RBI single plated Sean Smith and Kent Schmidt to put the Eagles up 3-0, then a RBI-groundout from Sean White scored Jarrett Brown to plate the fourth run of the inning.

Southern continued to score in the top of the second inning when Schmidt slapped a double to left field, scoring Cade Parker. Blancato then drove in his third runner of the night on a RBI-single to center field, scoring Schmidt and putting Southern up 6-0. 

James Madison (32-22) responded in the bottom of the third inning with a RBI-double to get on the board, then took advantage of a wild pitch to cut into the lead at 4-2.

Tate would provide an extra run in the top of the sixth with an RBI-double that T.J. McKenzie timed up perfectly, scoring from first base, but the Dukes would plate two more runs, first in the bottom of the seventh with a sac fly, then in the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer.

Georgia Southern took advantage of several JMU errors in the top of the ninth, with Parker scoring due to an error, Blancato's fielders choice scoring Tate and Schmidt, White's fielder's choice scoring Brown, and a failed pickoff attempt on White plating Blancato to put the Eagles up 12-4, the eventual final.

Ben Johnson earned his fifth win of the season after another quality inning, throwing six innings with one earned run on four hits, striking out eight. Jacob Phillips earned his fourth save of the season after three innings in relief. T.R. Williams took the loss after surrendering the first runs to Georgia Southern, with the Eagles getting him out of the game before recording an out.

Sam Blancato ended the night going 2-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored. Josh Tate and Cade Parker also had multi-hit nights, while Sean White had a multi-RBI night.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern takes on No. 8 Seed Old Dominion in the final game of day three of the SBC Championships. First pitch is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.