STATESBORO, Ga. - Eric Phillips connected on a two-run blast as part of a three-run seventh inning by Georgia Southern as the Eagles would hold off a furious rally by UNCG to win the rubber match of their Southern Conference series, 6-5, at J.I. Clements Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Georgia Southern (9-11, 2-4 SoCon) scored single runs in three of the first four innings before scoring three runs in the seventh to secure a series win. UNCG (11-8, 2-4 SoCon) hasn't won a series at Georgia Southern since the 1998 season.
Phillips led the Eagles with four RBI on the afternoon, including two sacrifice flies and the home run.
Georgia Southern jumped on UNCG starter Max Povse early by leading off the game with a double by Scooter Williams. Michael Burruss moved Williams over to third with a groundout, setting up Phillips for his first sacrifice fly of the game.
Leading 1-0, the Eagles repeated themselves in the third inning with Williams starting the inning off with a bunt single before advancing to third on a fielder's choice two batters later. Once again, Phillips lifted a fly ball to right field for his second sacrifice fly to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
UNCG quickly responded in the top of the fourth with a four-pitch walk to Trevor Edwards. Two batters later, Christian Wolfe reached on an error and Zach Leach followed with a four-pitch walk of his own. With the bases loaded, Cambric Moye ripped a single to left field, scoring Edwards and Wolfe to tie the game at 2.
After each team scored an additional run to tie it up at 3, Phillips launched a two-run shot off of Dylan Hathcock in the seventh to give the Eagles the lead for good.
However, UNCG would not go down without a fight, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth. Nick Chapman drew a walk, Thomas Troelstrup followed with a single, and Edwards drew another walk to load up the bases with one out. Lloyd Enzor lofted a ball to right deep enough to score Chapman. Eagles closer Jarret Leverett uncorked a wild-pitch that allowed Troelstrup to score and make it a 6-5 game, but Leverett struck out Cole Harrison to end the game.
Moye led the Spartans with two RBI and Edwards drew three walks on the afternoon.
Kyle Rowe (2-1) picked up the win for the Eagles tossing 4 1/3 innings and scattering four hits to go with three strikeouts. At one point, he retired 11 of 12 batters he faced.
Hathcock (2-2) was tagged with the loss, pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief and allowing one run off of three hits.
The Spartans will welcome Princeton in a midweek bout on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
AGATE
Georgia Southern 6, UNCG 5 (Mar 18, 2012 at Statesboro, Ga.)
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UNCG................ 000 210 002 - 5 6 1 (11-8, 2-4 SoCon)
Georgia Southern.... 101 100 30X - 6 12 2 (9-11, 2-4 SoCon)
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Pitchers: UNCG - Max Povse; Zach Furl(4); Jonathan Jones(4); Dylan Hathcock(5);
Dominique Vattuone(7); Adam Boghosian(7); Pete Schultz(8) and Cambric Moye. Georgia Southern -
Will Middour; Kyle Rowe(5); Jarret Leverett(9) and Clint Clark.
Win-Kyle Rowe(2-1) Save-Jarret Leverett(1) Loss-Dylan Hathcock(2-2) T-3:10 A-1038
HR GSU - Eric Phillips (3).
Weather: 70, 0 N, Cloudy
Furl faced 1 batter in the 4th.
Vattuone faced 2 batters in the 7th.
- UNCG -
