Eagle Baseball Rushes Past College of Charleston, 14-7
STATESBORO, GA. - A six run first inning sparked a 14-7 Georgia Southern win over College of Charleston on Wednesday night on Jack Stallings Field at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles scored early and often as they tamed the Cougars for the third-straight contest and evened the all-time series at 31-31. Freshman Seth Shuman tossed five innings of two-hit shutout ball to pick up his first collegiate win in his first start for the Eagle Baseball team.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"It was good to see us bust loose offensively tonight. Steven Curry set the tone for us with a leadoff double right out of the gate. It was good to see us swing the bats and be aggressive offensively. Seth Shuman gave us a good effort on the mound. Sometimes when you get a big lead like that you worry about a guy losing focus, but Seth did a good job of filling up the strike zone and we played pretty sound defense behind him."
CRUICIAL MOMENTS
Bot 1st - GS 6 - COFC 0 - Georgia Southern tallied its first runs in the first inning this season with a six-spot in the opening frame. The Eagles batted around with Steven Curry getting a double and a single in the frame.
Bot 2nd - GS 8 - COFC 0 - Roury Glanton and Logan Baldwin drove in runs in the second to push the lead to 8-0.
Bot 3rd - GS 10 - COFC 0 - Ryan Cleveland's first home run of the year, a two-run job to the power alley in right, pushed Georgia Southern into double digit runs for the third consecutive game against the College of Charleston.
Bot 5th - GS 13 - COFC 0 - After an open frame in the fourth, the Eagles added another field goal in the fifth. RBIs from Mason McWhorter, C.J. Brazil and Jordan Wren accounted for the three runs off four hits in the inning.
Top 6th - GS 13 - COFC 3 - A three-run home run from Danny Wondrach, his first of the season, got the Cougars off the mark with one out in the sixth inning. Two walks from relief pitcher Zach Strickland helped College of Charleston put runners aboard in the inning.
Bot 6th - GS 14 - COFC 3 - Curry logged his third hit of the game and second RBI in the game with a single up the middle to plate Baldwin and add the extra point on a 14-3 Eagle lead.
Top 8th - GS 14 - COFC 4 - Luke Morgan doubled to the gap in right to plate Charleston's fourth run of the game in the eighth inning.
Top 9th - GS 14 - COFC 7 - A walk and two hits loaded the bases for the College of Charleston in the ninth with no outs. A hit batter and a single up the middle plated two runs as the Cougars cut the lead to just seven. Lawson Humphries worked out of the jam, notching three strikeouts in his inning of work.
GAME NOTES
- Freshman second baseman Steven Curry set a new career high with four hits in the game, opening the contest with a double in the first inning. The top three hitters went a combined 10-for-17 on the night.
- Georgia Southern, who had been outscored 10-0 in the first inning of the season's first seven games, posted six runs in the first inning to give starting pitcher Seth Shuman an early lead.
- Seth Shuman made his first collegiate start on the diamond on Wednesday, working five innings while allowing just two hits. He fanned two and walked two to pick up his first win.
- Georgia Southern's haul of 14 runs was their highest total since scoring 13 on Little Rock in the opener of the 2016 Sun Belt Tournament on May 25th, 2016.
NEXT UP
Georgia Southern sets out on the road for the first time this season, traveling to Memphis for a three game set this weekend. The series starts on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. (ET) at FedEx Field. Frank Sulkowski will be along to call the series on the Georgia Southern Sports Network. The Memphis Tiger Network at GoTigersGo.com will have premium video broadcasts of all three games.
No. 18 Coastal Carolina Wins 4-1 at UNC Wilmington
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Kevin Woodall Jr., who was tabbed the Sun Belt Player of the Week on Tuesday, continued his offensive prowess by delivering a two-run double in the eighth inning to lead #18 Coastal Carolina to a 4-1 win over UNC Wilmington Wednesday evening at Brooks Field, CCU's first road game of the 2017 season. Coastal improves to 5-5 while the Seahawks drop to 3-4.
While waiting for the bats to heat up, CCU pitchers Anthony Veneziano, Bobby Holmes and Austin Kitchen held down the Seahawks, combining to record a season-high 14 strikeouts. Veneziano had nine strikeouts in 4.2 innings, Holmes (1-1) had four in 3.2 innings and Kitchen (save) struck out one of the two batters he faced.
The Seahawks struck first, taking advantage of a CCU error. Robbie Thonburn reached on an error. Then, with two outs, Mason Berne lined an RBI double to left-center field.
Veneziano allowed a leadoff hit and walk in the third, but got a fly out and two strikeouts to keep it a one-run game. Then, in the top of the fourth, Coastal loaded the bases with two outs before UNCW's Clay Lockamon recorded a strikeout to end the threat.
Veneziano left with two out in the fifth but trailing 1-0. He did strike out nine, a season high by a Chanticleer pitcher and the most since Mike Morrison fanned 10 in a win over Arizona at the College World Series last June. Veneziano scattered five hits and walked five, but recorded six strikeouts with Seahawks in scoring position to limit the damage.
In the seventh inning, Coastal tied the game at 1-1. Seth Lancaster hit a leadoff double and moved to third on a Wood Myers sacrifice bunt. For the second time this season, Dalton Ewing had an epic at bat. Facing a 3-2 count, the junior fouled off 10 straight pitches before drawing a walk. (Last week versus College of Charleston, Ewing fouled off nine pitches before hitting his lone home run of the season.) Then, Lancaster slid in just ahead of the tag at home on Matt Beaird's sacrifice fly to right field to even the score.
Coastal put three runs on the board in the eighth to take a 4-1 lead. Cory Wood snapped an 0-for-18 spell with a leadoff single. The freshman stole second and moved to third on a ground out. Peyton Isaacson walked to put runners on first and third. Cameron Pearcey came on to pinch run for Isaacson and promptly stole second. Woodall broke the tie with a line drive double to the center field wall to score both Wood and Pearcey. Lancaster followed with an RBI single to give Coastal a 4-1 advantage.
The Chanticleers return to action this weekend by hosting the Tidelands Health Classic, welcoming Albany, San Francisco and Winthrop.
Big Inning Downs ULM on Wednesday Night
LAKE CHARLES, La. – The ULM baseball team posted three runs in the top of the fifth inning on Wednesday night to take a three-run lead, only to see host McNeese respond with six runs in the bottom of the fifth to retake control and follow that with a four-run sixth inning on the way to handing the Warhawks a 14-5 road loss.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: McNeese 14, ULM 5
LOCATION: Joe Miler Ballpark / Lake Charles, La.
RECORDS: ULM (4-5, 0-0 SBC)
McNeese (5-4, 0-0 SLC)
TURNING POINT
-Immediately following ULM’s three-run top of the fifth, McNeese responded with the six-run bottom of the frame, highlighted by a three-run homer that gave the Cowboys the lead for good as the first seven batters in the inning reached safely.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-ULM took the lead in the top of the second inning when Chad Bell singled and later scored on Blake Buckman’s RBI base hit, only to see McNeese take the lead in the bottom of the second via a two-run homer.
-The Warhawks tied the game in the top of the fourth when Brian Barefoot led off the inning with a double and later scored before posting the three-run top of the fifth, highlighted by RBI singles from Johnny DeLaCruz, Turner Francis and Barefoot to take a 5-2 advantage.
-McNeese’s first seven batters in the bottom of the fifth reached safely, with the hosts cutting the ULM lead to one run before the three-run opposite field home run gave them the lead for good. The hosts added to the lead with the four-run sixth, aided by a second three-run homer, and then added two final runs in the eighth to bring the game to its final score.
-Five Warhawks combined for 10 of the teams’ 12 hits, with Anthony Herrera, DeLaCruz, Francis, Barefoot and Bell each collecting two hits. Barefoot and Nate Reynolds (1-for-5) each tallied doubles.
-Trey Auger was saddled with the loss, going four-plus innings and allowing four runs on six hits with two strikeouts. Tyler Schwaner surrendered four runs (two earned) without recording an out as part of the six-run fifth inning, while Stephen Morrison (four earned runs) and Matt Reeves (two unearned runs) combined to eat up the final four innings of the night on the mound.
UP NEXT
-ULM continues the 10-game road trip with a three-game weekend series at Alabama beginning on Friday night with a 6:00 p.m. first pitch before day games on Saturday (2:00 p.m.) and Sunday (1:00 p.m.) afternoons.
A-State Baseball Drops Midweek Contest to Missouri State
JONESBORO, Ark. (3/1/17) – The Arkansas State baseball team fell behind to Missouri State early and couldn’t recover in a 13-0 loss to the Bears in a midweek contest Wednesday at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro.
The Bears (7-1) were given 16 free bases (12 walks, four hit-by-pitches) by A-State (6-4) pitching in the game and were able to score 13 runs on just seven hits. The Red Wolves only registered five hits in the contest with Drew Tipton picking up two in the contest along with a stolen base.
Missouri State scored a single run in the second on a sacrifice fly before Jake Burger ripped a double down the left-field line to score two runs in the top of the third for a 3-0 advantage off A-State starter Zachary Patterson. The biggest blow came in the top of the fourth when the Bears scored eight runs on three hits, an error, four walks, and three hit batters.
Patterson walked the lead-off man, but got a strikeout and a fly out and appeared to have the inning under control. However, he hit two consecutive batters with 2-2 counts and walked two more to bring home two runs. Burger hit a line drive to shortstop Grant Hawkins that should have been caught for the third out of the inning, but it was dropped to allow another run to score. Bradey Welsh relieved Patterson, but allowed five more runs to cross the plate for an 11-0 Bears’ lead.
Missouri State was able to tack on single runs in the fifth and seventh to set the final score at 13-0. Austin Knight picked up the win for the Bears with five shutout innings on four hits with two walks and six punch outs. Patterson took the loss. He allowed nine runs (five earned) in 3.2 innings on two hits with six walks and four strikeouts. Bo Ritter and Tyler Zuber were bright spots out of the bullpen as neither allowed a run in an inning of work.
Justin Paulsen drove in three runs for Missouri State, while Burger, Jeremy Eierman, and Aaron Meyer all collected two RBI to pace the offensive effort.
The Red Wolves return to action with a weekend series March 3-5 at home against Cincinnati. First pitch for Friday’s game is set for 6 p.m. against the Bearcats at Tomlinson Stadium.