San Marcos, Texas – The No. 6 seed Georgia Southern continued its stellar run at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship with a 4-0 win against No. 2 seed South Alabama on Saturday to advance to its first-ever baseball tournament championship game.
Georgia Southern (36-23) advances to the tournament’s winner-take-all championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN3. The Eagles await their opponent as No. 1 seed UL Lafayette and No. 8 seed Arkansas State play at 12:30 p.m. CT in the other semifinal with an “if necessary” game to follow should the Red Wolves prevail in the first game.
Both starters were sharp during their outings and both teams played stellar defense behind their hurlers in support. Georgia Southern freshman Brian Eichorn (5-2) threw 7 1/3 shutout innings with four strikeouts to lead the Eagles to the semifinal win. Sophomore Connor Simmons (2/3 IP) and freshman Chase Cohen closed out the game for Eichorn as each notched a strikeout over the final two frames. South Alabama senior Austin Bembnowski threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings and scattered six hits with four strikeouts.
South Alabama (40-19) stranded eight base runners including a first-and-second with one out situation in the top of the eighth inning. Simmons worked around that jam to get Georgia Southern out of the inning. The Eagles carried the momentum into the bottom of the eighth when junior Jordan Wren socked a three-run home run to right to provide the insurance tally.
South Alabama is eliminated from the tournament and awaits its fate for an at-large selection to the 2016 NCAA Baseball Championship on Monday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPNU.
Georgia Southern got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning. Senior Hunter Thomas hit a leadoff single to center and was sacrificed to second by junior Cal Baker. Freshman CJ Ballard stepped in and bunted for a base hit before senior Kent Rollins laid down a bunt on a safety squeeze to score Thomas from third.
The 2016 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship continues on Saturday with a semifinal game between UL Lafayette and Arkansas State at 12:30 p.m. CT on ESPN3. With a Red Wolves win, a second game between the two teams for a spot in the championship game will take place 75 minutes following the end of the first game. All games will take place at Bobcat Ballpark on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.