Georgia Southern is certainly a familiar foe. Although they were more experienced last year, I think that we caught them at a very good time as they were collectively in quite the funk offensively. Georgia Southern would go on to finish 38-21 on the year. That’s a solid record and by my count, they were 35-17 after we left Statesboro. The highlight of their season was probably taking two of three from defending national champion Coastal Carolina on the road. Georgia Southern lost in Sun Belt tourney championship, in extra innings (Southern scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th as the away team to take a one run lead, then gave up one in the bottom of the 9th, then were walked off in the 10th).
Gone from last year (finally) is first baseman Ryan Cleveland, who lead the squad with 16 HRs (including that three run shot against South Alabama in the Sun Belt championship). Cleveland was the only Eagle with double digit HRs. Also gone is Jordan Wren, who had a very tough series against us, as well as Logan Baldwin. Leaving Statesboro last year, it would have been ridiculous to think that Steven Curry, Logan Baldwin, and Mitchell Golden would be the top 3 Eagles in batting average, but that’s how it shook out.
Also gone is Evan Challenger, who we beat last year on Friday night, but was a good arm for them. Landon Hughes, their closer was drafted in the 7th round by the Braves, but is no longer with the club after testing positive for a PED. Jacob Condra-Bogan was a really good arm for them last year, we saw him out of the bullpen, and he started some later in the year. He’s gone too, as is another of their main guys, Anthony Paesano.
So that’s the good news. But Georgia Southern still has some experience coming back on the mound. Tomorrow night we’ll see junior righty Brian Eichhorn, a stocky righty from Richmond Hill. Tomorrow will be his 26th start for Georgia Southern and his third against us. We beat him last year on Saturday. Last season he was 3-5 in 16 appearances, 12 starts, with a 4.33 ERA. He threw 68 2/3 innings and had a .269 average against, with 70 strike outs and 21 walks. He did a decent job against us last year. We didn’t have a great deal of trouble putting the bat on the ball, but he limited the damage against us and kept the Eagles in the game.
Saturday we’ll see sophomore Seth Shuman, a lanky righty from Valdosta and the lone Eagle on Baseball America’s All-Sun Belt team. He also played four games for Georgia Southern’s football team in 2015 and his bio notes that he started (at QB) against Louisiana Lafayette. Shuman had a terrific freshman year going 8-0 in 14 appearances, 9 starts, and also picking up a save. He had a 3.34 ERA in 56 2/3 innings with 49 strike outs and 17 walks. Opponents hit .251 against him. We didn’t see Shuman last year.
I just assumed that we’d see Chase Cohen this weekend as he’s started against us the last two years. I’m not sure if the junior is injured or why he’s not listed as a starter. Georgia Southern has left things TBA on Sunday.
Georgia Southern returns Steven Curry, their leading hitter (in terms of average) from last year. Curry hit .312/.426/.355 with no HRs and 21 RBI. I imagine that we’ll see the sophomore at 2nd or 3rd base. Curry is from Milton HS in Alpharetta.
Mitchell Golden is also back, having hit .301/.374/.321 last year. The sophomore from Marietta did not hit a HR in 2017 and had 15 RBI. I think that we’ll see him at 2nd or 3rd, also…
Tyler Martin is Georgia Southern’s leading returning HR hitter, having hit 9 a year ago. Martin is a fourth year junior OF from Acworth. He hit .291/.367/.508 a season ago.
Georgia Southern lost a lot of offensive production from last year. They were a young lineup in 2016 also, the last time they came to Athens… they reminded me of one those northern teams that doesn’t get to practice outside very much, at least at the plate, as they swung the bats A LOT.... It worked out well for us that year and hopefully we’ll see some of more of the same this time around.
I’ve made my thoughts known on this series. I don’t think that we should play it. And the fact that we lost to Georgia Southern three years in a row is still galling to me. We split the first two games in 2013 and 2014 and were hammered in the rubber game each time. One of the low points of the Stricklin tenure was getting swept down there in Statesboro in 2015. We won the rubber game against them behind a good outing from Kevin Smith in 2016. Then, we won the first two last year. You could argue that the Saturday win was the best played game we had all season. Sunday was a very winnable game, we lost on a walk-off bunt (which, amazingly, wasn’t the only time we got walked off on a bunt last year). After their SS Evan McDonald got hit by that foul ball while in the on-deck circle, the game was delayed about 20 minutes, the ambulance was on the field…. After that happened, I remember thinking that we just weren’t going to win, that Georgia Southern would rally and get the game, and they did.
Rodney Hennon is a good coach. I fully expect that Georgia Southern, despite being young in their lineup, to play well this weekend and to challenge us. This series is, I’m certain, a bigger deal to their program than to ours, but I know it’s really been emphasized in our program the last few years too. I don’t particularly like Georgia Southern, but I respect their program and I respect Hennon. They’ll beat us if we don’t play well, and that’s not always the case in these early season series.
27 innings in front of us…. Can’t wait to walk in the stadium tomorrow afternoon!
Gone from last year (finally) is first baseman Ryan Cleveland, who lead the squad with 16 HRs (including that three run shot against South Alabama in the Sun Belt championship). Cleveland was the only Eagle with double digit HRs. Also gone is Jordan Wren, who had a very tough series against us, as well as Logan Baldwin. Leaving Statesboro last year, it would have been ridiculous to think that Steven Curry, Logan Baldwin, and Mitchell Golden would be the top 3 Eagles in batting average, but that’s how it shook out.
Also gone is Evan Challenger, who we beat last year on Friday night, but was a good arm for them. Landon Hughes, their closer was drafted in the 7th round by the Braves, but is no longer with the club after testing positive for a PED. Jacob Condra-Bogan was a really good arm for them last year, we saw him out of the bullpen, and he started some later in the year. He’s gone too, as is another of their main guys, Anthony Paesano.
So that’s the good news. But Georgia Southern still has some experience coming back on the mound. Tomorrow night we’ll see junior righty Brian Eichhorn, a stocky righty from Richmond Hill. Tomorrow will be his 26th start for Georgia Southern and his third against us. We beat him last year on Saturday. Last season he was 3-5 in 16 appearances, 12 starts, with a 4.33 ERA. He threw 68 2/3 innings and had a .269 average against, with 70 strike outs and 21 walks. He did a decent job against us last year. We didn’t have a great deal of trouble putting the bat on the ball, but he limited the damage against us and kept the Eagles in the game.
Saturday we’ll see sophomore Seth Shuman, a lanky righty from Valdosta and the lone Eagle on Baseball America’s All-Sun Belt team. He also played four games for Georgia Southern’s football team in 2015 and his bio notes that he started (at QB) against Louisiana Lafayette. Shuman had a terrific freshman year going 8-0 in 14 appearances, 9 starts, and also picking up a save. He had a 3.34 ERA in 56 2/3 innings with 49 strike outs and 17 walks. Opponents hit .251 against him. We didn’t see Shuman last year.
I just assumed that we’d see Chase Cohen this weekend as he’s started against us the last two years. I’m not sure if the junior is injured or why he’s not listed as a starter. Georgia Southern has left things TBA on Sunday.
Georgia Southern returns Steven Curry, their leading hitter (in terms of average) from last year. Curry hit .312/.426/.355 with no HRs and 21 RBI. I imagine that we’ll see the sophomore at 2nd or 3rd base. Curry is from Milton HS in Alpharetta.
Mitchell Golden is also back, having hit .301/.374/.321 last year. The sophomore from Marietta did not hit a HR in 2017 and had 15 RBI. I think that we’ll see him at 2nd or 3rd, also…
Tyler Martin is Georgia Southern’s leading returning HR hitter, having hit 9 a year ago. Martin is a fourth year junior OF from Acworth. He hit .291/.367/.508 a season ago.
Georgia Southern lost a lot of offensive production from last year. They were a young lineup in 2016 also, the last time they came to Athens… they reminded me of one those northern teams that doesn’t get to practice outside very much, at least at the plate, as they swung the bats A LOT.... It worked out well for us that year and hopefully we’ll see some of more of the same this time around.
I’ve made my thoughts known on this series. I don’t think that we should play it. And the fact that we lost to Georgia Southern three years in a row is still galling to me. We split the first two games in 2013 and 2014 and were hammered in the rubber game each time. One of the low points of the Stricklin tenure was getting swept down there in Statesboro in 2015. We won the rubber game against them behind a good outing from Kevin Smith in 2016. Then, we won the first two last year. You could argue that the Saturday win was the best played game we had all season. Sunday was a very winnable game, we lost on a walk-off bunt (which, amazingly, wasn’t the only time we got walked off on a bunt last year). After their SS Evan McDonald got hit by that foul ball while in the on-deck circle, the game was delayed about 20 minutes, the ambulance was on the field…. After that happened, I remember thinking that we just weren’t going to win, that Georgia Southern would rally and get the game, and they did.
Rodney Hennon is a good coach. I fully expect that Georgia Southern, despite being young in their lineup, to play well this weekend and to challenge us. This series is, I’m certain, a bigger deal to their program than to ours, but I know it’s really been emphasized in our program the last few years too. I don’t particularly like Georgia Southern, but I respect their program and I respect Hennon. They’ll beat us if we don’t play well, and that’s not always the case in these early season series.
27 innings in front of us…. Can’t wait to walk in the stadium tomorrow afternoon!
