COLUMBIA, S.C. - A complete effort from the Georgia Southern baseball team, including three home runs by the offense and 12 strikeouts from the defense, earned the Eagles its third Top 25 victory this season about the 22nd-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, 8-0.
Action started in the second inning when JD Kaiser belted his team-leading fifth homer, a 401-foot solo blast to right field to get the Eagles (15-14) on the board. A Sean White single, a Jonathan Jaime walk, and a Josh Tate walk loaded the bases, when Sam Blancato sent a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall, notching his second grand slam of the season and giving the Eagles a 5-0 lead after two frames.
The fourth inning saw Blancato launch his second homer of the game, also to right field, to bump the Georgia Southern lead up to 6-0.
The Eagles were able to add two insurance runs in the top half of the ninth, when Kent Schmidt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then a wild pitch moved the runners up, scoring Tate and putting up the eventual 8-0 final. The Gamecocks (21-8) could not mound any offense in the bottom half of the frame, earning Georgia Southern the shutout victory.
The Georgia Southern pitching had a spectacular combined effort, with each pitcher putting up at least one strikeout in the game. Starter Ty Fisher had two, Garrett Mackowiak had two, Jake Martin had three, Davis Smith had one, and Mitchell Gross had four. Fisher earned the victory on the staff day for the pitching staff.
Southern defeated the Gamecocks for the first time in 28 years. The last victory came in February of 1996, a 9-5 victory in Columbia. This was only the fourth time since the year 2000 the two met on the field.
Blancato and Kaiser both led the offense with 2-for-5 nights. Blancato ended the night with 5 RBI.
UP NEXT
Georgia Southern hosts Georgia State for a Sun Belt Conference contest at J.I. Clements Stadium, starting on Friday night.
