John Ducey pitched six hitless innings helping Georgia Southern complete a sweep of the New Jersey Insitute of Technology, 17-2 Sunday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles (8-2 overall) won their seventh straight while NJIT fell to 0-3.
Georgia Southern, off to its best start since 1981 (9-1), out-scored the
Highlanders 56-7 in the sweep, winning 34-1 Friday night and 5-4 on
Saturday afternoon.
Ducey (2-0) hit a batter in the third, and walked a batter in the fourth
and sixth inning but no one advanced past first base. He threw 73 pitches, 44 for strikes, fanning six batters.
In the seventh, Burt Barto came on in relief. Chris Shehan made a diving stop on Austin
DeRogatis’ shot down the third base line. He got up in time to throw him
out, preserving the no-hitter. However, during the next at-bat Kwesi
Mitchell broke up the bid with a double to left field. Mike Turner lined
a RBI single to erase the shutout.
“Sure I thought about it (the no-hitter), going through the game you know what’s going on. You are the one throwing the game and as a pitcher you know the situations you’re in. I wanted to go out every inning and throw just like the last inning and try to keep in rhythm,” said Ducey. “We knew we could not take this team for granted, we wanted to keep playing hard.”
Mike Economos put the Eagles on the scoreboard to start
the second inning. The senior right fielder skied a shot against the wind down the left field line, crossing over the foul pole for his third home run of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Jeremy Beckham drew a one-out walk in the third. Matt Miller hit a shot into the left field gap. Beckham scored for a 2-0 lead, but Miller was nailed trying to stretch his team-leading eighth double into a triple.
Georgia Southern sent 13 batters to the plate during an 8-run fourth
inning to blow the game wide open. Jeremiah Parker lined a leadoff single. Brian Pierce
dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but pitcher Matt Melody could not field the ball which put both runners aboard. They advanced on a wild pitch then scored on Beckham’s 2-run single. That chased Melody for relief pitcher Bobby Wyrwa.
Later in the inning, all with two outs, A.J. Wirnsberger hit a 2-run single and Shehan lined a RBI double. During his second at-bat of inning, Parker ripped a 2-run double. Phillip Porter lined a RBI single to cap the scoring.
The long layoff did not affect Ducey as the senior right-hander got a
groundout and two strikeouts during a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
“I did my best to stay loose between innings, I didn’t get tired or cold at all. It made it a lot easier to pitch with that big of a lead. Our hitters went out and did a great job,” stated Ducey.
Miller drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, eventually scoring on no hits. He took second on a balk, third base on a flyout and scored on a groundout by Wirnsberger for an 11-0 lead.
After NJIT scored in the seventh, GS responded with four of its own. Griffin Benedict delivered a RBI single, then Shehan followed with a run-scoring double. Third baseman Turner could not get a clean throw to first on Will Southwell’s grounder, allowing two more runs to cross the plate.
In the eighth, Chris Hollis lined a RBI triple, then Shehan tied the GS record hitting his third double of the game, another RBI. Shehan, becoming the third Eagle in the last eight days to tie the single-game doubles record, drove in a game-high three runs.
Southern out-hit the Highlanders 18-6, led by Shehan’s 3-hit effort and two hits apiece froEagles scored two runs. Wirnsberger joined Shehan with three RBI of his own.
Six different NJIT players accounted for the six hits. Of the 27 base hits GS was tagged for on the weekend, Mitchell’s double was the only extra-base hit allowed by the Eagles pitching staff.
Melody (0-1) was charged for five runs (three earned) on seven hits in 3.1 innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Georgia Southern travels to Kennesaw State Tuesday, first
pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
Georgia Southern, off to its best start since 1981 (9-1), out-scored the
Highlanders 56-7 in the sweep, winning 34-1 Friday night and 5-4 on
Saturday afternoon.
Ducey (2-0) hit a batter in the third, and walked a batter in the fourth
and sixth inning but no one advanced past first base. He threw 73 pitches, 44 for strikes, fanning six batters.
In the seventh, Burt Barto came on in relief. Chris Shehan made a diving stop on Austin
DeRogatis’ shot down the third base line. He got up in time to throw him
out, preserving the no-hitter. However, during the next at-bat Kwesi
Mitchell broke up the bid with a double to left field. Mike Turner lined
a RBI single to erase the shutout.
“Sure I thought about it (the no-hitter), going through the game you know what’s going on. You are the one throwing the game and as a pitcher you know the situations you’re in. I wanted to go out every inning and throw just like the last inning and try to keep in rhythm,” said Ducey. “We knew we could not take this team for granted, we wanted to keep playing hard.”
Mike Economos put the Eagles on the scoreboard to start
the second inning. The senior right fielder skied a shot against the wind down the left field line, crossing over the foul pole for his third home run of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Jeremy Beckham drew a one-out walk in the third. Matt Miller hit a shot into the left field gap. Beckham scored for a 2-0 lead, but Miller was nailed trying to stretch his team-leading eighth double into a triple.
Georgia Southern sent 13 batters to the plate during an 8-run fourth
inning to blow the game wide open. Jeremiah Parker lined a leadoff single. Brian Pierce
dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but pitcher Matt Melody could not field the ball which put both runners aboard. They advanced on a wild pitch then scored on Beckham’s 2-run single. That chased Melody for relief pitcher Bobby Wyrwa.
Later in the inning, all with two outs, A.J. Wirnsberger hit a 2-run single and Shehan lined a RBI double. During his second at-bat of inning, Parker ripped a 2-run double. Phillip Porter lined a RBI single to cap the scoring.
The long layoff did not affect Ducey as the senior right-hander got a
groundout and two strikeouts during a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
“I did my best to stay loose between innings, I didn’t get tired or cold at all. It made it a lot easier to pitch with that big of a lead. Our hitters went out and did a great job,” stated Ducey.
Miller drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, eventually scoring on no hits. He took second on a balk, third base on a flyout and scored on a groundout by Wirnsberger for an 11-0 lead.
After NJIT scored in the seventh, GS responded with four of its own. Griffin Benedict delivered a RBI single, then Shehan followed with a run-scoring double. Third baseman Turner could not get a clean throw to first on Will Southwell’s grounder, allowing two more runs to cross the plate.
In the eighth, Chris Hollis lined a RBI triple, then Shehan tied the GS record hitting his third double of the game, another RBI. Shehan, becoming the third Eagle in the last eight days to tie the single-game doubles record, drove in a game-high three runs.
Southern out-hit the Highlanders 18-6, led by Shehan’s 3-hit effort and two hits apiece froEagles scored two runs. Wirnsberger joined Shehan with three RBI of his own.
Six different NJIT players accounted for the six hits. Of the 27 base hits GS was tagged for on the weekend, Mitchell’s double was the only extra-base hit allowed by the Eagles pitching staff.
Melody (0-1) was charged for five runs (three earned) on seven hits in 3.1 innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Georgia Southern travels to Kennesaw State Tuesday, first
pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
