Georgia Southern, who had two potential solo home runs robbed by Elon earlier in the game, fell short in its ninth inning rally losing 5-4 Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles (17-17,1-6) lost their fourth straight at home.
The ninth inning rally started when Kyle Blackburn drew a one-out walk, his third walk in the game matching a personal-high. Griffin Benedict walked off Tom Porter to bring the tying run to the plate. Two batters later Brian Pierce reached on an infield single to load the bases with two outs.
Matt Miller pushed the count full before drawing a walk to bring home one run. That chased Porter for Daniel Britt. Jeremy Beckham reached on a single deep in the hole at
shortstop, scoring another run. But on the play pinch-runner David Richardson tried scoring from second base. Jordy Snider threw home to Drew Davis in time to tag him out and end the game.
Brian Wilkerson (4-5) allowed four runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. After a rocky third inning he settled down and struck out a season-high nine batters, including six straight at one point.
Game two of the series is set for this afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
Soccer Devils pick up region road win
Erick Quiterio’s goal in the 16th minute proved to be the game-winner as Statesboro beat Wayne County 2-1 Thursday in Jesup.
Thomas Eisenhart opened the scoring with a goal eight minutes in and then Josh Rich, Keith Hardee, Matt Conner, and Graden Bozeman held off WCHS for SHS (5-6-3). Jake Lanier had seven saves.
The Blue Devils travel to Greenbrier at Tuesday.
GSU’s Track and Field results
Friday marked the second and final day of competition for four Eagles at the 80th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, but it was also the opening day of the Florida Relays for ten Georgia Southern track members.
On day one of the Texas Relays, juniors Carla Ballard and Amber Wilson took the track for Georgia Southern, competing in the preliminary round of the 400m Hurdles. Though neither of them qualified for finals, Wilson clocked in at 1:02.19 while Ballard was slightly faster, achieving a career best of 1:02.10, the third fastest time in school history.
Then on Friday, senior Nicole Brown competed in the Long Jump, advancing to finals and finishing sixth of 16 overall, with a distance of 18’6.5”.
In the 400m relay, Ballard, Brown and Wilson were joined by newcomer Shauntel Jennings in achieving a 2006-07 best time of 3:50.86, just 0.17 seconds shy of entering GSU’s record books.
Meanwhile, GSU started off strong at the Florida Relays with senior Emily Greeson dominating the shot put. With a distance 46’2.5”, Greeson claimed first place and achieved a career best mark that is just 0.75” shy of tying the school record.
Continuing Greeson’s success, sophomore Jasmine Lightning posted a height of 5’2.25” in the high jump, finishing in fourth place.
Senior Rashedah Arnold and sophomore Kristin Olson also competed for the Eagles, clocking in at 55.42 in the 400m and 1:03.64 in the 400Mm hurdles, respectively.
Today will be the final day of competition for both the Texas Relays and the Florida Relays. Although no Eagles will be competing in the events scheduled in Austin, five GSU track members will be battling in four events in Gainesville: Discus, Javelin, Triple Jump and Steeplechase. Events are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. For a complete schedule and live results, please visit www.gatorzone.com
Blythe named Assistant AD
Georgia Southern Athletics Director Sam Baker announced the hiring of Jeff Blythe as Assistant Athletics Director in charge of Business Operations. Blythe begins his duties on Monday.
Blythe will be responsible for the fiscal operations of the Georgia Southern Athletics Department and its 15 varsity sports. He will also oversee the ticket office operations. Blythe replaces Lacy Needham who resigned last month.
For the past three years he served as the Assistant Business Manager, Ticket Manager and Director of Summer Camps at Elon University. He oversaw all ticket operations including managing and implementing the computer programs, in addition to the hiring, training and supervising of the ticket department staff.
Blythe also supervised the budgets for all 17 varsity sports, as well as the athletic training, marketing, sports information and Phoenix Club departments.
A 2002 graduate of the University of North Carolina, Blythe worked as a student manager for the men’s basketball team during his freshman year. He worked as a student assistant in the Exercise and Sport Science Department and eventually worked his way up to a faculty assistant following graduation.
He served as a graduate assistant and adjunct instructor while working towards his Master’s degree in Sport Management from Appalachian State.
The ninth inning rally started when Kyle Blackburn drew a one-out walk, his third walk in the game matching a personal-high. Griffin Benedict walked off Tom Porter to bring the tying run to the plate. Two batters later Brian Pierce reached on an infield single to load the bases with two outs.
Matt Miller pushed the count full before drawing a walk to bring home one run. That chased Porter for Daniel Britt. Jeremy Beckham reached on a single deep in the hole at
shortstop, scoring another run. But on the play pinch-runner David Richardson tried scoring from second base. Jordy Snider threw home to Drew Davis in time to tag him out and end the game.
Brian Wilkerson (4-5) allowed four runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. After a rocky third inning he settled down and struck out a season-high nine batters, including six straight at one point.
Game two of the series is set for this afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
Soccer Devils pick up region road win
Erick Quiterio’s goal in the 16th minute proved to be the game-winner as Statesboro beat Wayne County 2-1 Thursday in Jesup.
Thomas Eisenhart opened the scoring with a goal eight minutes in and then Josh Rich, Keith Hardee, Matt Conner, and Graden Bozeman held off WCHS for SHS (5-6-3). Jake Lanier had seven saves.
The Blue Devils travel to Greenbrier at Tuesday.
GSU’s Track and Field results
Friday marked the second and final day of competition for four Eagles at the 80th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, but it was also the opening day of the Florida Relays for ten Georgia Southern track members.
On day one of the Texas Relays, juniors Carla Ballard and Amber Wilson took the track for Georgia Southern, competing in the preliminary round of the 400m Hurdles. Though neither of them qualified for finals, Wilson clocked in at 1:02.19 while Ballard was slightly faster, achieving a career best of 1:02.10, the third fastest time in school history.
Then on Friday, senior Nicole Brown competed in the Long Jump, advancing to finals and finishing sixth of 16 overall, with a distance of 18’6.5”.
In the 400m relay, Ballard, Brown and Wilson were joined by newcomer Shauntel Jennings in achieving a 2006-07 best time of 3:50.86, just 0.17 seconds shy of entering GSU’s record books.
Meanwhile, GSU started off strong at the Florida Relays with senior Emily Greeson dominating the shot put. With a distance 46’2.5”, Greeson claimed first place and achieved a career best mark that is just 0.75” shy of tying the school record.
Continuing Greeson’s success, sophomore Jasmine Lightning posted a height of 5’2.25” in the high jump, finishing in fourth place.
Senior Rashedah Arnold and sophomore Kristin Olson also competed for the Eagles, clocking in at 55.42 in the 400m and 1:03.64 in the 400Mm hurdles, respectively.
Today will be the final day of competition for both the Texas Relays and the Florida Relays. Although no Eagles will be competing in the events scheduled in Austin, five GSU track members will be battling in four events in Gainesville: Discus, Javelin, Triple Jump and Steeplechase. Events are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. For a complete schedule and live results, please visit www.gatorzone.com
Blythe named Assistant AD
Georgia Southern Athletics Director Sam Baker announced the hiring of Jeff Blythe as Assistant Athletics Director in charge of Business Operations. Blythe begins his duties on Monday.
Blythe will be responsible for the fiscal operations of the Georgia Southern Athletics Department and its 15 varsity sports. He will also oversee the ticket office operations. Blythe replaces Lacy Needham who resigned last month.
For the past three years he served as the Assistant Business Manager, Ticket Manager and Director of Summer Camps at Elon University. He oversaw all ticket operations including managing and implementing the computer programs, in addition to the hiring, training and supervising of the ticket department staff.
Blythe also supervised the budgets for all 17 varsity sports, as well as the athletic training, marketing, sports information and Phoenix Club departments.
A 2002 graduate of the University of North Carolina, Blythe worked as a student manager for the men’s basketball team during his freshman year. He worked as a student assistant in the Exercise and Sport Science Department and eventually worked his way up to a faculty assistant following graduation.
He served as a graduate assistant and adjunct instructor while working towards his Master’s degree in Sport Management from Appalachian State.
