Heavy rain early in the week forced the Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament to wipe out two days of play and turn the event into a single elimination tournament.
Georgia Southern was originally scheduled to play its first game on Wednesday. The Eagles finally took the field for the first time Friday night against UL Lafayette and left the field early Saturday morning with a 7-6 win in 11 innings and at least one more game added to the season.
Logan Baldwin launched a grand slam to give the Eagles (37-20) a 6-5 lead in the top of the ninth. The Ragin’ Cajuns (35-21-1) rallied to force extra innings, but Jordan Wren put the Eagles back in front with an RBI double in the eleventh and Seth Shuman closed the door in the bottom half to clinch the Eagles’ most dramatic win of the season.
“Our guys hung in there and I was proud of their collective effort as a team,” GS coach Rodney Hennon said. “We missed a chance to score and made some mistakes early. That kind of took the wind out of our sails, but we kept fighting. We got a lead and gave it back, but we stayed tough until the end.”
Trailing UL Lafayette 5-1 in the ninth inning and with preseason All-American closer Dylan Moore on the mound, the Eagles made their last stand. Moore walked Mason McWhorter on four pitches and followed by allowing a single to Mitchell Golden. C.J. Brazil drew another walk and Moore was lifted.
“We did a good job of taking our walks,” Hennon said. “The past year or two, that’s been an issue. But we were patient and made them work.”
Colten Schmidt came in from the bullpen to try and stop the bleeding, but Evan McDonald shot an RBI single into left to make it 5-2. Steven Curry went down on strikes and Schmidt notched a pair of strikes on Baldwin before the Eagles’ senior outfielder blasted off with the biggest hit of his career.
In 29 regular season games, no Eagle had cleared the 24-foot tall “Blue Monster” in right field. That streak still stands, but the Eagles are fine with slaying the monster in the postseason.
“I was just trying to get the bat on the ball and do something with it,” Baldwin said. “I got a slider that was up and just turned on it.”
But the drama was far from over.
Armed with a 6-5 lead, Jacob Condra-Bogan tried to seal the win in the bottom of the ninth.
Condra-Bogan had sailed through the seventh and eighth innings, but allowed a walk and a single with one out. A fielder’s choice and an intentional walk left the Eagles needing just one out for a win while UL Lafayette had the tying and winning runs in scoring position.
Condra-Bogan coaxed a grounder out of Alex Pinero, but a bad hop sent the ball past Eagle shortstop McDonald and trickling into center. That brought in the tying run, but McDonald hustled to the ball and threw home, nailing Jam Williams to force extra innings.
Both teams went quietly in the tenth, with Seth Shuman entering the game to pitch for Georgia Southern in the bottom half of the frame.
The final rally of the night started after 12:30 a.m. as the 11th inning rolled around.
Baldwin was once again right in the middle of things, singling to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt by C.J. Ballard and an intentional walk issued to Ryan Cleveland put runners on first and second as Jevin Huval relieved Evan Guillory.
Jordan Wren greeted Huval with a line drive RBI double to right center and even though he was able to limit any further scoring, Georgia Southern had once again taken the lead.
Shuman finally brought an end to the night in the bottom of the 11th. The freshman induced a lazy fly ball before striking out the final two ULL batters to end the game.
With the win, the Eagles live to fight at least one more day.
Heavy rain earlier in the week forced the Sun Belt to change the tournament to a single-elimination format. And with RPI numbers that don’t usually lead to at-large bids into the NCAA regionals, both Georgia Southern and UL Lafayette knew that a loss on Friday likely meant the end of its season.
For much of the night, it looked like the Eagles would be the team to bow out early.
Georgia Southern starter Evan Challenger allowed an RBI single in the first inning and watched as ULL catcher Handsome Monica scorched a high fastball over the wall in left center for a 3-0 lead in the second. With Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Gunner Leger on the mound, the Ragin’ Cajuns were feeling confident.
Georgia Southern finally dented the scoreboard in the fourth when Tyler Martin homered to center. The Eagles loaded the bases with one out in the next frame, but Leger struck out Curry and got Cleveland to ground out to end the threat.
“He’s a tough cookie,” Hennon said of Leger. “He’s a great competitor. We knew that we had our work cut out.”
The hole only got deeper in the middle innings.
Landon Hughes and Connor Simmons - usually featured at the back end of the Eagles’ bullpen - worked through the fifth without any more trouble, but Brad Anchak sent a Chase Cohen offering deep into the night to make it 4-1 in the sixth. The Cajuns pieced together another run off of Cohen when Brenn Conrad laced an RBI single to right.
Anthony Paesano recorded the final out of the sixth before Condra-Bogan took over in the seventh as the Eagles used a total of seven pitchers on the night.
“Things are always a little different in tournament play,” Hennon said. “Especially in an elimination game, you have to have a plan of what to do if you have to get your starter early. The main thing is to survive and advance..
As for the pitching availability for the semifinal and a possible championship game on Sunday?
“We’ll have to look at where we are, but I think it will be all hands on deck.”
Georgia Southern now faces Texas State - which won a play-in game on Thursday before upsetting top seed and defending national champion Coastal Carolina Friday. The Eagles and Bobcats are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. Before that matchup, South Alabama and Arkansas State will take part in the first semifinal.
