Relief pitcher Ian Horkley didn’t last long after he entered the game in the seventh with DC trailing 3-1. He faced just four batters, walking one and giving up three hits including a Ty Wright double, an infield single to Griffin Benedict to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and a bases-loaded, two-run single to first baseman Eric Phillips to put the Eagles up 5-1.
The Eagles batted around in the inning, and Wright got his second double — this time driving in Will Southwell and Brian Pierce to put GSU up 10-1.
A two-run homer by Phillip Porter in the bottom of the eighth was good for the final margin.
Chris Mederos (8-0) pitched lights out for eight innings. He set down the Wildcats in order in the first, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings, striking out nine and walking two. The one run allowed in the second was unearned.
“I’ve gone deep into a lot of games with pitches and I knew if I could get at them I could go deep into this game,” Mederos said. “All my pitches were working today and I had great defense behind me.”
Davidson put up it’s final six runs with a solo shot by Drew Gadaire, a pair of RBI infield singles, an RBI double by pinch hitter Will General and a two-run single by Graham Chapman in the ninth on GSU reliever Dexter Bobo. Bobo had allowed only six runs through 18 appearances until the six-run ninth.
Charles Matthews came in to get the final two outs.
The Wildcats got on the board first in the top of the second. A passed ball moved Tommy Piacenza to second and Chase FitzPatrick to third, and a Chris FitzPatrick groundout drove in his brother to give Davidson a 1-0 lead.
Georgia Southern responded with a run in each of the next three innings.
Will Southwell doubled to right and Brian Pierce (3-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R) drove him in with a single to tie it at a run each in the bottom of the second. Kevin Bowles singled up the middle to drive in Wright – who had singled and stolen second – in the bottom of the third.
The Eagles took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Wright (4-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R) hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right that drove in Southwell for his second run of the contest.
“We had some hits early in the game,” said GSU coach Rodney Hennon, “just never got the big hits to get the big inning. We were able to get a lead and then finally had a big inning there in the seventh.”
Two scoreless innings later, Davidson starter Thomas Middour was replaced by Horlkey. Middour went six innings, threw 117 pitches and gave up three earned runs on eight hits. He struck out one and walked one.
The series resumes this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Fans in possession of a Verizon’s phone can gain admission to today’s and Sunday’s games for one dollar.
Notes: The Eagles saw multi-RBI games from Wright (3), Pierce (3), Phillips (2) and Porter (2). Southwell (3) and Wright (2) crossed the plate multiple times and Wright (4) Phillips (3), Pierce (3) and Porter (2) had multi-hit games. … Two of the four games that have been rained out on the Georgia Southern schedule will be made up. The Eagles will play a doubleheader at Kennesaw State on April 29 and North Florida will travel to Statesboro on May 31.
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404.
Post a Comment
