TROY – Arkansas State senior Chandler Hawkins pitched 7.2 innings of one-run baseball to propel the No. 8 seed Red Wolves to a 6-1 victory over No. 5 seed Georgia Southern to knock the Eagles out of the 2015 Sun Belt Baseball Championship at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, Ala.

Hawkins (5-7) struck out 10 while only giving up five hits and a walk as he held the Eagles to just one run.  The win advanced the Red Wolves to Friday action where they will play the loser of the today’s 3 p.m. CT game between No. 5 Georgia State and No. 1 South Alabama at 3 p.m. CT tomorrow on ESPN3.  Georgia Southern is eliminated with its second loss of the tournament.

The Red Wolves’ (26-29) offense started early as senior Zach George hit a ball that carried out to the fence in left field to give him a standup double to lead off the first inning.  George was then sacrificed to third and knocked in as junior Austin Baker pulled a ball to right centerfield for a single. 

Arkansas State added three runs in the second inning as senior Colin Massanelli started the frame with a single into right.  He moved to second on a sacrifice before freshman Jeremy Brown took a walk after working the count full.  Senior Lucas Fedderson doubled down the right field line to score Massanelli and put runners on second and third.  George dropped a single into left which scored Brown and Fedderson to put the Red Wolves up 4-0. 

The Red Wolves put two more on the board in the fourth inning as Brown started the frame by smacking a single to left center.  Fedderson sacrificed to second and George lined out to put two outs on the board.  Sophomore Joe Schrimpf singled into the outfield to score Brown.  Schrimpf advanced to second on the throw and then came home as Baker followed with a single to right. 

Arkansas State senior lefthander Chandler Hawkins retired the first 11 batters, 6 by strikeout before senior Chase Griffin roped a double off the left field fence to break up Hawkins’ no-hit bid.  Hawkins only allowed two hits through the first six innings before the Eagles scored in the seventh.  Sophomore Ryan Cleveland doubled into right and with two outs and senior Dalton Busby singled into center to bring home Cleveland.

Sophomore Tyler Zuber pitched the final 1.1 innings for Arkansas State while striking out two and only facing four batters. 

George finished the game 3 for 5 with one run and two RBIs for the Red Wolves. Baker also tallied three hits and two RBIs.  Jeremy Brown scored twice for the second consecutive day. 

Tripp Sheppard (4-3) picked up the loss as he pitched three innings and gave up seven hits, one walk, and five runs.  Patrick Riley followed with two innings while giving up two hits and a run.  Chris Brown pitched 2.1 shutout innings while Jason Richman notched the final two outs. 

Five different Eagles collected hits while Busby collected a RBI and Cleveland scored the lone run.

Georgia Southern (30-27) ends its season with 530 strikeouts after striking out 12 times today.  That mark surpasses the NCAA record for team strikeouts in a single season which was set by Florida State in 1984 when the Seminoles struck out 520 times.