Georgia Southern's timely hitting proved to be the difference as the Eagles scored four runs with two outs en route to a 9-5 victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Friday afternoon in Boone.
After App State (31-19-1, 16-13-1 SBC) took an early two-run lead from a two-run homer, Georgia Southern (30-25, 17-13 SBC) tied the contest in the top of the second with Sean White's two-run homer, scoring Jarrett Brown. Southern took the lead in the top of the third inning with a Kent Schmidt RBI-single, plating Josh Tate and putting the Eagles up 3-2.
App tied the contest in the bottom of the third inning, keeping the game knotted up at three-all until the top of the sixth inning, when Jonathan Jaime unleashed a home right to right field, scoring White and taking a 5-3 lead to break the tie.
In the top of the seventh, Southern scored two more runs with a Sean Smith single to score Tate, then a Brown single to score Smith. The top of the eighth saw the Eagles put up another two runs, as Schmidt doubled with two outs to plate T.J. McKenzie and Cade Parker to take a commanding 9-3 lead.
While the Mountaineers would score two in the bottom of the eighth inning from an RBI-single then a wild pitch, Jacob Phillips clamped down on the potent App State offense to keep the bats quiet and secure his third save of the season in the victory.
Jake Martin took his first win of the season after 3.2 innings of one-run ball, finishing the fifth inning of the contest with the game tied. The Eagles would take the lead before he was taken out of the game.
Kent Schmidt led the Eagles with a 3-for-5 day, with three RBI to his name. Josh Tate, Sam Blancato, and Sean White also ended the day with multiple hits.
UP NEXT
The Eagles will rest up and prepare for the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
Following the conclusion of the regular season Saturday evening, the Sun Belt Conference announced the seeds and matchups for the 2024 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University.
The 10-team tournament will be held at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala., from Tuesday, May 21, to Sunday, May 26. No. 5 seed Georgia Southern earned a bye into the eight-team double-elimination portion of the tournament bracket. Georgia Southern will take on No. 4 seed James Madison in Game 6 of the tournament.
Every tournament game will be nationally broadcast on ESPN+, concluding with the championship game at 2:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 26.
Tickets remain available, with prices starting at just $10. See the bracket below, and click here for more information.
