GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Georgia Southern Eagles rallied from an early deficit with a three-run fifth inning and got good pitching from starter Sam Howard to take the season opener 8-4 at UNC Greensboro Thursday night.
    The win was the Eagles' first in Greensboro since 2009 and their eighth-straight victory.
    Howard (5-2) allowed just three runs on four hits and struck out seven batters over six innings to earn the win. The sophomore lefthander struck out the side in the first inning and faced the minimum in three others. Howard kept the UNCG (12-13, 1-6) lead to just one run before #22 Georgia Southern (18-7, 9-1) rallied to take the lead in the fifth.
    Justin Hess came on in relief in the seventh inning and left two runners stranded after a run scored on a Christian Wolfe single. Hess (4) earned his fourth save of the season after allowing one run. The senior righthander bounced back after allowing a solo home run to Trevor Edwards in the eighth inning to retire the final six batters. Hess struck out six batters over three innings.
    Spartan starter Max Povse struck out nine Eagles but was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs over five innings. Povse (1-1) pitched well through the first four innings but allowed five-straight hitters to reach after a single from Stryker Brown. Brown scored the inning's first run on a Chase Griffin's hard hit ball off the pitcher bounced out into left field. Griffin later scored on a wild pitch, and Robbie Dodds plated the final run with a double.
    GSU out-hit UNCG nine to seven and took advantage of four errors. Chase Griffin was one of three Eagles with two hits and drove in two runs. Ben Morgan walked twice, doubled, scored a run and recorded an RBI. Benigo Marrero was the only Spartan with more than one hit and finished with two singles.
    Tyler Avera grounded out to short stop to score a run in the second inning after Brent Pugh's sacrifice bunt moved two runners into scoring position. Povse left Arthur Owens stranded at second base after striking out Kyle Streicher to end the frame.

UNCG took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the second inning after sending eight batters to the plate. After giving up a RBI single to Zach Leach and a sacrifice fly to T.J. Spina, Howard got out of a bases loading jam after coaxing a pair of ground balls.

The Eagles extended their lead to 7-3 in the eighth inning. Tyler Avera led off the frame with a single and later scored on Morgan's double. Griffin plated Morgan with a hard hit single into left field.

Georgia Southern tacked on a run in the ninth inning to keep their lead at four runs headed into the bottom of the ninth. Owens drew a lead off walk and the run scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Scooter Williams.

The Southern Conference series continues tomorrow at 6 p.m. Coming off a stellar start against Davidson, Jason Richman will take the mound against senior lefthander Corey Taylor.