Skip To Main Content

University of South Alabama Athletics

Navigation Curve divider
#OURCITY
Mitchell Heer
Courtney West/South Alabama Athletics
4
Georgia St. GSU 27-30
7
Winner South Alabama USA 34-22
Georgia St. GSU
27-30
4
Final
7
South Alabama USA
34-22
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Georgia St. GSU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 9 2
South Alabama USA 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 3 X 7 7 1

W: Stevens, Zach (7-1) L: Crooms, Brian (3-6)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Heer Dominates, Guerin Late-Game Homer Lifts Jaguars to Victory over Nine-Seed Georgia State in Elimination Game

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Five-seed South Alabama (34-22) avoided elimination when it defeated nine-seeded Georgia State (27-30) lifted by a go-ahead three-run blast off the bat of Blake Guerin in the bottom of the eighth on Thursday night at DABOS Park. Mitchell Heer dealt seven complete innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts in the victory.


PRIMARY THREADS
  • South Alabama saw the bases loaded for Ethan Melton in the bottom of the second inning who drew a walk for an RBI to open the scoring of the elimination contest.
  • The bags were full of Jags for another opportunity in the fifth Rett Johnson did not pass up. The payoff pitch allowed Duncan Mathews and Stewart Puckett to get a head start and would score for a two-RBI single to center field with two-away. The knock extended the Jaguar lead to three runs.
  • Mitchell Heer shoved on Thursday night when he retired the side in order four times across seven scoreless frames. Heer would allow a solo homer as the lone earned run of the evening to his line and struck out eight Panther hitters. After Heer's exit, Georgia State would post three more runs in the inning to tie the game at four.
  • Blake Guerin stepped in with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth when he got a pitch he drilled while dropping to a knee in his follow through that carried over the left field wall for a three-run shot. The swing gave the Jaguars the lead right back and would close it out in the ninth, 7-4 final score.

KEY STATS
  • Blake Guerin launched his 16th homer of the season and tallied his 57th RBI in a 2-5 effort at the plate.
  • Rett Johnson turned in a knock good for two clutch RBI.
  • Stewart Puckett cashed in a base hit and an RBI when he went 1-3 at the plate and walked twice.
  • Duncan Mathews tagged a base hit and drew two walks to score twice
  • Mitchell Heer rose to the occasion in the elimination game when he delivered the following line: 7.0 IP, 6, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Zach Stevens (W, 7-1) allowed three runs that tied the game in the away half of the eighth, but shut it down in the ninth for his team-best seventh win.

QUOTABLE
HEAD COACH MARK CALVI
"For the most part our guys have been really good about getting the big hit, but it's been hard to come by the last couple games. We scraped and clawed and beat a really good arm. That kid deserves a lot of credit, the Georgia State starter, but so does ours against a really tough lineup. Mitch was outstanding and we did enough today.

I told the guys you got to play well, just take small bites, don't worry about tomorrow and with the game that's in front of you. That's what our guys did tonight. That was a culture win right there. That's because our guys aren't worried about going another direction, or pro ball, or graduation, or what they're going to do this summer. They're like man, what do we need to do to win this ballgame?"


FIRST BASEMAN BLAKE GUERIN
  • On early game struggles turning around with the go-ahead HR
"It's the coaches going into the dugout who give you the confidence throughout the entire game. So being involved in that situation and knowing we just gave up a lead, just wanted to hopefully put up a swing to give our guys some runs on the board." "He's a guy that's going to try and do the other side for us, so we have to do the other side for him. He's a guy that competes every single time and there's zero questions asked when he's on the mound, or any one of our guys, we know we got to do our job on the offensive side."


STARTER MITCHELL HEER
  • On Coach Calvi's message after game one loss
"It was about keeping our heads up. We played a tough game this morning, but we had another chance to come out and compete tonight, and that's what we did. It was incredible. Great group of guys and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else."
  • On performance and emotion on the mound
"That's everything you play for. The preparation in this game, long offseason work, long falls, you throw a lot of innings in season and be prepared for it everyday. It's awesome to go out there and do stuff like that for your team and give us the best chance to win and keep playing. That's what we did tonight."


ON DECK
The Jaguars match-up with the loser of game 10 of the Sun Belt Conference Championship between No. 4 Troy and No. 1 Southern Miss tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. (CT).


FOLLOW THE JAGS
For complete coverage of University South Alabama baseball, follow the Jaguars on social media @SouthAlabamaBSB (Twitter), /SouthAlabamaAthletics (Facebook), @southalabamabsb on Instagram, or visit the official home of South Alabama athletics at USAJaguars.com.
 
—USA—
Print Friendly Version