Baseball 3/27/2010 8:00:00 PM UNCGSpartans.com

Spartans fall to Eagles; Sunday game time changed

Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern scored three runs in the first and four in the eighth and got 4 2/3 perfect innings from starter Matt Murray as UNC Greensboro fell to the Eagles, 8-3, on Saturday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium.

The game time for the final game of the series on Sunday has been moved to 1 p.m. due to the threat of rain. It was originally scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.

Murray picked up his third win of the season after going seven innings and allowing just three runs on six hits and striking out six batters. Tyler Hollstegge picked up the loss for the Spartans (11-11, 0-5 Southern Conference) after yielding four runs on four hits in 3 2/3 innings of work.

Sophomore Kris Richards let the Spartans at the plate after going 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Harry Slade and Joey Frabasile also added RBI for UNCG.

A.J. Wirnsburger paced the Eagles (13-11, 6-2 SoCon) by going 2-3 with three RBI and a run scored on Saturday. Shawn Payne also went 2-3 with the home squad.

The Eagles jumped on the Spartans early as they scored three runs in the bottom half of the first to take an early lead. Kyle Blackburn drew a two-out walk before Wirnsburger took the first pitch he saw out to left field for his eighth home run of the season.

Steve Cochrane then drew a walk before stealing second base to move into scoring position. Eric Phillips stepped to the plate and delivered a single to left field to score Cochrane and put the Eagles ahead, 3-0.

The Spartans had no answer for Murray throughout the beginning of the game. Murray retired the first 14 batters he faced until Zach Leach hit a single to left field to break up the perfect game with two outs in the fifth inning.

UNCG was finally able to get on the board in the top of the sixth inning when Richards led off the inning with a home run off the scoreboard in left field. It was the first home run of the season for Richards.

Chris Barker was then hit on the next pitch to reach base and moved over to second on a single to center field by HARRY SLADE. Barker moved over to third on a fly out to deep center field and then scored as the next batter grounded out to pull the Spartans within, 4-2.

Richards had another leadoff hit in the top of the eighth as he delivered a double down the left field line that was just inside the line. He was able to advance to third on a balk before scoring two batters later on a groundout to make it a one-run game at 4-3.

That was as close as UNCG would get as the Eagles went on to add four runs on just two hits and one error in the bottom half of the eighth to make the final score, 8-3

UNCG will wrap up its weekend road trip on Sunday as the Spartans and Eagles begin play at 1 p.m.

AGATE

Georgia Southern 8, UNC Greensboro 3
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UNC Greensboro...... 000 002 010 - 3 6 1 (11-11, 0-5)
Georgia Southern.... 300 100 04X - 8 8 0 (13-11, 6-2)
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Pitchers: UNC Greensboro - Tyler Hollstegge; Wes McBride(4); Alex Shelton(8); Matt Parish(8) and Zach Leach. Georgia Southern - Matt Murray; Dexter Bobo(8); Colin Snow(9) and Michael Burruss.
Win-Matt Murray(3-1) Loss-Tyler Hollstegge(0-2) T-2:40 A-1529
HR UNCG - Kris Richards.
HR GSU - A.J. Wirnsberger.
Weather: 54 and overcast
Murray faced 1 batter in the 8th.
Shelton faced 1 batter in the 8th.