A six-run top of the fourth inning, highlighted by a Sam Blancato grand slam, led the Georgia Southern baseball team to a 9-7 victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins on Wednesday night at John Sessions Stadium.
Georgia Southern (3-5) threw the first punch of the match when Blancato's sac fly to center field plated Josh Tate, taking the early 1-0 lead. The Dolphins (3-4) responded with an RBI-triple by Abd Delgado in the home half of the second inning, tying the game at 1-1. Jacksonville would briefly take the lead with a Jad Bastian RBI-single, bringing Delgado home and taking the 2-1 advantage.
Southern scored twice in the top of the third inning, once with a Blancato RBI-groundout to score Tate, then a Kent Schmidt RBI-single to score Daniel Haab.
The top of the fourth inning saw the Eagles break the game open, first with Tate beating the throw to the bag from the shortstop to reach safely on a single, scoring AJ Wenrich. Following that, Haab knocked an RBI-single to third base to score Jarrett Jenkins before Blancato's first grand slam in his career, scoring Haab, Tate, and Luke Odden, setting the Eagles up with a big 9-2 lead.
The Dolphins scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, then three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to close the gap on the Eagles, but with runners on first and second in the final out, Jake Martin induced a popfly to the Odden to secure the win for the Eagles and earn his first save of the season.
UP NEXT
The Eagles will host the 21st-ranked Campbell Camels in a weekend series starting on Friday at J.I. Clements Stadium.
