The Eagles (32-23, 16-11) concluded their regular season Saturday, falling at Furman to drop the series 2-1. Prior to this weekend, GSU had won four-straight SoCon series, most recently a home sweep of UNCG just over a week ago.
Wednesday’s game will begin at either 5 p.m. or 8 p.m., depending on whether or not The Citadel beats Wofford in the opening round Tuesday. Because the Bulldogs are the tournament’s host, game times are adjusted to allow them to play at 8 p.m. as long as they remain in the winner’s bracket.
The Eagles are in the same bracket as top-seed Elon, the SoCon’s regular-season champ which took all three games from GSU in early April.
The College of Charleston earned the second seed, followed by No. 3 Furman, Georgia Southern, UNCG, Appalachian State, Western Carolina, The Citadel, defending tournament champion Wofford and tenth-seeded Davidson.
The championship game of the double-elimination tournament is slated for Sunday at 2 p.m. It will be televised by Sportsouth on tape delay later that day. The winner earns the league’s automatic bid to an NCAA Regional.
Georgia Southern’s last appearance in the title game came in 2005, and the Eagles are looking for their first Regional trip since 2002.
Five Eagles named All-SoCon
GSU junior outfielder Chris Shehan led the league in batting average (.434), hits (92), runs scored (79) and on-base percentage (.554) but was beat out by College of Charleston third baseman Jeremie Tice for league player of the year honors in a vote by SoCon coaches. Shehan was second in the conference in slugging percentage (.816) and fourth in home runs (20) and RBIs (70).
Tice led the league in slugging percentage (.849) and RBIs (79) and ranked second in batting average (.410) and home runs (22).
Shehan and Eagle designated hitter Ty Wright were named to the All-SoCon first team Monday while three GSU players earned second-team honors – catcher Griffin Benedict, outfielder David Richardson and third baseman A.J. Wirnsberger. It was the first All-SoCon award for all five GSU players.
Elon took home pitcher of the year (Steven Hensley), freshman of the year (Thomas Girdwood) and coach of the year (Mike Kennedy) honors.
Wright featured in SI
Wright drew national exposure this week as he was featured in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated. The magazine acknowledged Wright for hitting for the cycle in last month’s sweep of Wofford.
Wright became the second Eagle this season to accomplish the feat in consecutive innings, recording a single in first inning, a two-run home run in second, a RBI triple in the third and a two-run double in fourth. He finished 5-for-5 with five RBIs.Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
2008 SoCon Baseball Tournament
Charleston, S.C.
May 20 (Tuesday)
Opening Round
No. 7 Western Carolina vs. No. 10 Davidson 12:00 p.m.
No. 8 The Citadel vs. No. 9 Wofford 3:30 p.m.
May 21 (Wednesday)
First Round
Game 1: Western Carolina/Davidson winner vs. No. 2 Charleston 10:00 a.m.
Game 2: No. 6 Appalachian State vs. No. 3 Furman 1:00 p.m.
Game 3: The Citadel/Wofford winner vs. No. 1 Elon 5:00 or 8:00 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 UNC Greensboro vs. No. 4 Georgia Southern 5:00 or 8:00 p.m.
May 22 (Thursday)
Second Round
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 10:00 a.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 1:00 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 5:00 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 8:00 p.m.
May 23 (Friday)
Quarterfinals
Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 5 3:00 p.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 6 6:30 p.m.
May 24 (Saturday)
Semifinals
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9 10:00 a.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 1:00 p.m.
Game 13: Loser Game 11 vs. Winner Game 11 (if necessary) 5:00 p.m.
Game 14: Loser Game 12 vs. Winner Game 12 (if necessary) 8:00 p.m.
May 25 (Sunday)
SoCon Tournament Championship 2:00 p.m.
