Statesboro, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern Eagles (14-9, 3-3 SBC) defeated the Appalachian State Mountaineers (11-12, 3-3 SBC) by a 5-1 margin on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon (March 23rd).
In an afternoon eventually dominated by the Eagles' pitching staff, the Mountaineers would actually strike the board first for their lone run of the contest. After a leadoff walk and hit batter in the top of the second, a fielders choice would put runners on the corner and one away. However, Thomas Burke would walk the next two batters for App State to plate one and leave the bases loaded for Jacob Phillips to try and stop the scary situation.
Fortunately for the Eagles, he did. The junior would punch out the first batter he faced and force a groundout to leave three Mountaineers stranded early. The Eagles would take the lead for good in their bottom half of the inning as a walk and two wild pitches in a row would send Jonathan Jaime all the way to third. Cade Parker would drive him home after reaching on an error before seeing two runners in scoring position after a JP Herrholz double. Finally, back-to-back fielder's choices from Luke Odden and Josh tate would drive them both in to make it 3-1 after two.
The Eagles would tack on an insurance run in the third as a Sean White single would eventually put him at third for Cade Parker to hit him home. On the mound, Phillips had a phenomenal afternoon in relief. Now with a 3-1 record, he would throw 4.2 innings of scoreless ball, only allowing one hit and struck out six Mountaineers. His second-longest outing of the season also saw him set a new career high in Ks while earning his third win of 2025.
Southern would add one more to their count in the fifth as Parker would be plunked and stole a base with two outs. Herrholz would give the Eagles their first actual RBI base knock on the day with his single into left field to score the Eagle shortstop. In the top of the seventh, Phillips' day would be done, setting up Davis Smith for a great outing.
The senior would also have a standout day, going three full innings of scoreless baseball. Smith only allowed two base knocks and three strikeouts for now his third save on the campaign. The Eagles' pitching staff were able to bounce back from allowing 17 hits yesterday, to just three on Sunday. Although the hitting streaks of Josh Tate and Sean Smith were evaporated, others had good days at the plate, including Nico Senese and Herrholz's 2-3 afternoons.
After getting back to .500 in Sun Belt play with the sweep, the Eagles stay at J.I. for a midweek bout against the Ospreys of North Florida this upcoming Wednesday (March 26th). First pitch for Wild West Wednesday is set for 6:00 PM, with Georgia Southern boot koozis as the promotional giveaway.
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