Wednesday, April 13

Eagles Sprint Past Mercer, 8-5
STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Baseball secured a season sweep over the Mercer Bears with an 8-5 win on Wednesday night to close out a five-game homestand. The Eagle offense was into the game, producing 15 hits as the Eagles took their third-straight midweek victory. The eagles will head for points west this weekend, playing a three-game series at UT Arlington which starts on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. (ET)/6:30 p.m. (CT).

QUOTEABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
"It was a good win. We got some big two out hits in the third to take the lead. I was proud of the way we responded after they tied it up in the seventh. We came back and answered immediately. We had a lot of guys contribute and be a big part of it. Certainly it was a big win going into the weekend and now we've got to get ready to head out to Texas."

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Logan Baldwin
4-for-5 // 2 RBI // 3 Runs // 1 Double // 2 Stolen Bases
Logan Baldwin was Mr. Everything for the Eagles on Wednesday night, contributing with four hits, three runs, two RBIs and a pair of stolen bases. He snagged four balls in centerfield as the Eagles took the season series over Mercer. It was his third four-hit game of the season, matching big games against Georgia Tech (2/24) and Savannah State (4/6).

SCORING RECAPS
TOP 2ND – Four walks by starting pitcher Lawson Humphries including three-in-a-row to end his outing, pushed across the game's first run to give Mercer a 1-0 lead.
BOTTOM 3RD – Logan Baldwin gave the Eagles their first lead of the game with a two-run double to the gap in left with two outs in the frame. After an intentional walk to Ryan Cleveland, Will Hudgins did more damage with an RBI single to right, extending the lead to 3-1.
BOTTOM 6TH – Kent Rollins opened the inning by getting hit and moving around to second on a sacrifice bunt. He advanced to third via the steal and scored when Jordan Wren laced a single off the pitcher's leg to extend the lead to 4-1.
TOP 7TH – Mercer tied the game with a three-spot in the seventh. A single, a walk and catcher's interference loaded the bases for Matt Meeder. His double down the line in right scored three runs to even the score at 4-4.
BOTTOM 7TH – The Eagles immediately responded by getting a pair of hits to open the seventh. Hunter Thomas drove in the go-ahead run with a single to left, plating Logan Baldwin. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly by Kent Rollins pushed Ryan Cleveland home to extend the lead to 6-4. Pinch hitter Drew Kelley's only contribution to the game was a RBI bloop single which sent Will Hudgins home for the seventh run of the night.
BOTTOM 8TH – An RBI single by Will Hudgins to the third baseman sent Baldwin home from third to make it a four-run game heading to the ninth.
TOP 9TH – Mercer got a leadoff single in the ninth, ultimately scoring him with a single and throwing error by the Eagles. Relief pitcher Landon Hughes ultimately walked the bases loaded, but settled down by striking out the final two batters to cement the win for the Eagles.

NOTES
- Nine pitchers combined to seal the win with Connor Simmons earning the statistical victory. He worked 1.1 innings of no-hit ball with all four outs recorded via strikeout.
- The win was Simmons first victory since taking the opener over App State on March 12th.
- Over the last three non-conference games (CofC, Savannah St. and Mercer) the Eagles have averaged 16.6 hits per game, winning all three games with an average runs haul of 12.3 runs per game.

Walks Hinder Trojans in Loss at Central Arkansas
CONWAY, Ark. – Leading the season series 1-0, Little Rock baseball (15-17) took a 6-1 loss to Central Arkansas (14-17) in the second game of the Rock 'n' Roar Rivalry at Bear Stadium in Conway on Wednesday night.

Ineffective pitching was the Trojans' downfall as Little Rock gave up a season-high 15 walks as the Bears only had four hits for the night.

"The most disturbing stat for me was the 15 walks," head coach Chris Curry said. "There were way too many. This team is very 'Jekyll and Hyde' right in that when they believe they're in it, they'll get out and battle you. When things don't go their way, especially early, that's when they don't respond very well. I told them that's very unlike them, especially in a big rivalry game on the road."

Offensively, the Trojans had nine hits, but they couldn't get the big one as they left six on base.

Hunter Owens, Dalton Thomas and Zach Baker each had two hits in four at-bats while Owens had the Trojans' lone RBI.

The scoring started early as UCA put a run on the board in the bottom of the first inning. With a runner on second, Matt Anderson hit an RBI double to left center field to plate the first run.

With two on and two outs in the bottom of the second, Chris Townsend gave Central Arkansas a 2-0 lead with an RBI single to right field as Brooks Balisterri scored from second.

The Bears took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third. With a bases-loaded and two outs, a sacrifice fly to right by Brandon Montalvo scored William Hancock. A balk by Trojan reliever Reed Willenborg with runners on the corners scored Tyler Langley from third.

Little Rock finally put a dent in UCA's lead in the fifth. With two outs and runners on first and second, Owens singled up the middle to plate Baker from second and put a dent in the Bears' 4-1 lead.

The Trojans' pitching staff got itself into trouble in the bottom of the sixth as it hit a batter, got two outs and proceeded to walk four. With runners on second and third and two outs, Langley scored on a wild pitch. Two walks later, Anderson trotted home to give the Bears a 6-1 lead.

Little Rock never found a way to respond at the plate and eventually took the loss to even the season series at 1-1.

With its midweek game out of the way, Little Rock will travel to Texas State for a three-game Sun Belt series in San Marcos, Texas, beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.