STATESBORO, Ga. | Joseph Sullivan hit his third home run of the season to pull South Alabama to within one late, but Georgia Southern held on for 5-4 Sun Belt Conference victory at J.I. Clements Stadium on Sunday afternoon,
Georgia Southern (10-10, 3-0 Sun Belt) jumped ahead early in the game with a run in the third before a four-run fifth inning extended the lead to 5-0. South Alabama (8-12, 0-3 Sun Belt) responded with a run in the fifth and three in the sixth before both teams went scoreless the last three innings.
The Jags picked up six hits on the day, all by different players, while
Mitchell Heer (0-1) suffered the loss working 3.1 innings the start and allowing five runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
Zach Willingham,
Matthew DeLano, and
Grant Wood worked the final 4.2 innings of scoreless relief scattering eight hits.
How It Happened
- (B3) Jarrett Brown hit a one-out solo home run to break a scoreless tie, Georgia Southern 1-0.
- (B4) JD Kaiser reached on a fielder's choice to bring in a run on a fielding error on the play before JC Peacher singled to left center to extend the lead. The Eagles added another on a Brown single and a sacrifice fly by Sam Blancato added the final run of the inning, Georgia Southern 5-0.
- (T5) Cole Ketzner lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Sullivan after the Jaguars loaded the bases with one out in the inning, Georgia Southern 5-1.
- (T6) JG Bell grounded out to short to score Austin Thrasher, before Sullivan hit a two-run home run to right to trim the lead down to one in the inning, Georgia Southern 5-4.
Up Next
South Alabama returns to action on Tuesday night in Montgomery at Riverwalk Stadium against Auburn with first pitch scheduled for 6 pm.
Quotable, head coach Mark Calvi
First and foremost, Zach Willingham …
"It looks like he is going to be ok, thank God. You hate to see anyone get hurt especially up around the head. It could have been a lot worse, but again thank God he is going to ok."
The little things again today …
"It's the same thing, it's been the same thing, we made two defensive miscues and it costs us. We were right there at the end. It comes down to pitching and defense, some days on offense you are going to get 15 hits, some days you get five. We just have to be better with pitching and defense, it can't fluctuate like that."
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