After dropping two of three to The Citadel in Charleston, the Eagles found themselves three games behind Elon in the regular-season championship race.
The Bulldogs (25-17, 12-9) outscored GSU 15-9 and for the Eagles, the bats just weren’t there.
“You’re not going to hit every day and score a lot of runs in bunches every game,” said Georgia Southern coach Rodney Hennon. “There are spurts where the hitting comes and goes, and the one constant that you want to have is pitching and defense. The consistency there is what’s given us a chance this year. We’re going to keep taking the same approach offensively.”
This week, the Eagles head to Kennesaw State for a Wednesday doubleheader before returning to SoCon play in a three-game home stand against the Furman Paladins.
The Eagles hosted Kennesaw State on March 24, coming away with a 4-2 win. Georgia Southern will look to get the bats going on the road, where they are 8-8 on the season. The Owls (23-16) took two out of three from Mercer after dropping a road contest to Georgia 11-7 last week.
The Citadel series served as a reminder to the Eagles that at this point in the season, nobody should be taken lightly. In the home series with the Paladins (19-22, 7-14), the Eagles won’t be the only team playing for something.
“When you get to this point in the year, everybody has something to play for,” said Hennon. “Whether it be playing for a regular season championship or playing to get into the tournament, every weekend is important. They’re all big, and our kids understand that.”
The Eagles are still eying their preseason goals, too.
“This team set out a number of goals before the season started, and one of the goals is to win the regular season championship,” Hennon said. “That goal is still attainable. Obviously we would need a little help, but we just need to take care of our business and take it one day at a time.”
Elon is still in the SoCon driver’s seat. The Phoenix host East Carolina today before hosting Wofford for a three-game SoCon series starting Friday. The Terriers enter the week on a four-game losing streak.
Third-place Western Carolina — who trails GSU by a half game — took two of three from Furman last weekend. The Catamounts play mid-week games against Charlotte and Tennessee Tech before traveling to last-place UNC Greensboro for three this weekend. The Citadel hosts Samford and Charleston hosts Davidson to round out weekend play in the SoCon.
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404.
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