The Georgia Southern Eagles (11-9, 0-3 SBC) took down the Owls of Kennesaw State (8-13) 5-4 in midweek baseball action on Tuesday evening (March 18th).
Eagles' starter Carson Bryant started out hot on the bump, retiring his first three batters and striking out two Owls to close out the first. However, Kennesaw State's bottom half of the lineup would catch fire early, as a five-hit bottom of the second inning would plate three for the visitors and put Southern in another hole early.
The Eagles are never one to back down from a challenge, though. The very next half inning, back-to-back one out singles by Sean White and Nico Senese would make way for Cade Parker to drive one in on a fielder's choice to strike the board.
After a shaky second inning for Bryant, he would settle back in and retire the first five batters he saw in the third inning on. On the night, Bryant would go for 4.0 innings and not allow another run past the second inning, while also sitting down three more Owls. The change would make way for Jacob Phillips, who arguably made his best appearance on the season. The junior would also go for 4.0 innings, only allowing one run in the seventh, and gave up three hits while striking out the same number.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles were starting to cook with the two leadoff runners on in Josh Tate's single and Sean Smith getting beamed. Next, Daniel Haab would lay down a well-executed bunt to advance the runners to make way for newly inserted into the lineup Cam Foster to play hero. While it wasn't a typical scenario, Foster did do his job in slapping a high bouncing ball to the right side that the Owls' second baseman could not handle. Both runners on would score to nod the contest up at three all.
The Owls were not done yet, though. A leadoff single followed by a sac-bunt would put a runner in scoring position and one away for Kennesaw's nine-hole hitter to step in the box. Shamaar McDuffie would connect on a pitch perfectly into the gap, scoring the go-ahead run for the Owls in the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, Luke Odden would draw a leadoff walk that proved crucial for the Eagles just after a new pitcher was inserted for Kennesaw. With one away and a streak on the line, Smith stepped into the box for his final swings of the night. On a 2-0 hitters count, Smith crushed a fastball that kept rising and rising, until eventually, it would clear the fence in straight-away center to put the Eagles up 5-4 late. For Smith, it was his now ninth homer on the season and keeps his hit streak alive of 17 games, and on base streak at 30, dating into 2024.
A quiet eighth inning for both squads made way for Davis Smith to enter in the final frame. However, a leadoff double would put the whole stadium on notice in Smith's first batter faced. A sac-bunt the very next batter would put Chirello for the Owls just 90 feet away from tying up the contest late. The next batter would see a towering fly ball for recently subbed-in J.C. Peacher to get on his horse and make a catch in shallow left field to save the tying run. With two away, Smith would blow the heater by the same batter in McDuffie who gave the Owls the lead in the seventh to claim victory.
With the 5-4 finish, it now makes the Eagles 5-0 in one-run games in 2025, and their first midweek win since March 4th where they defeated Charleston Southern in extra innings in another one-run finish.
Next, the Eagles host their first conference series of the year as Appalachian State comes to town, who are fresh off a home sweep of Texas State to start Sun Belt play. First pitch Friday night at J.I. is set for 6:30 PM, as fans will be taken out of this world for Intergalactic Grand Slam night in Statesboro.
