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Poole becomes GSU winningest softball coach
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    GREENSBORO, N.C.  — Two Georgia Southern pitchers held UNC Greensboro to one run and six hits over two games as the Eagles swept the Spartans 1-0 and 4-1 in a Southern Conference doubleheader Saturday at the UNCG Softball Stadium.
    The two wins make head coach Natalie Poole Georgia Southern’s all-time winningest head coach. In seven seasons she has a 202-207 overall record to surpass Bill Speith at the top of the list.
    “I was quite surprised; I didn’t know anything about it,” said Poole.
    GSU has now won five straight and improve to 27-22 overall and 7-4 in the SoCon. UNCG drops to 14-24 and 1-7.
    Senior Melissa Laliberte (Cobourg, Ontario, Canada) tossed a two-hit shutout in game one and freshman Megen Smith (Springfield, Ga.) gave up one run on four hits in game two. Laliberte (13-7) gets her league-leading 13th win of the season and lowers her ERA to a conference-best 1.55. The two hits she gave up matches her best over seven innings all season.
    Junior Michelle Beasley (Metter, Ga.) accounted for the only run in the opener with her fourth homer of the season, a solo shot in the third. Laliberte tallied six of her nine strikeouts after getting the lead and
allowed just two runners to second base all afternoon.
    Smith made just one mistake, a solo homer to Lyndsay Mouse in the fourth inning. She settled down after that and retired the next seven batters and nine of the next 10.
    The Eagles broke the game open with three runs in the seventh, taking advantage of an error and a wild pitch. The first three batters reached base and all scored. The final run came home on a Sam Russo (Snellville, Ga.) single.
    The series concludes today with a single game starting at 1 p.m.

SprintSouth runners come up big in Florida
    CLAIRMONT, Fla. — Three athletes in the SprintSouth AAU track and field program came in first or second Saturday at the Breakaway Invitational.
    Mahagony Lanier won both the 100-meters (12.93) and the 200m (27.15).
    Amber Houston won the 400m with a 68.79 and came in fifth in the 200m with a 30.17.
    Anthony Gardner placed second in the 200m with a 25.14 and fifth in the 400m with a 61.21.

GSU men lose to S.C. State
    The Georgia Southern men’s tennis team ended regular season play Friday afternoon at the Hanner Tennis Complex, dropping a tough 4-3 decision to South Carolina State. SCSU improved to 14-4, while the Eagles dropped to 8-12 overall, 4-5 in conference play, heading into the conference tournament.
    For the 11th time this season, Georgia Southern claimed the doubles point heading into singles action. The duo of Borja Malet and Joris De Weerdt captured an 8-0 victory over Radek Pivonka and Gabriel Meana at the one seed. Philip Prins and Gregory Bekkers helped clinch the team point with an 8-4 win over Jan Langer and David Grund at the three seed.
    The Bulldogs claimed five of six first sets over the Eagles to start off singles play. Capturing Georgia Southern’s two singles points were De Weerdt at the one seed and Bekkers at the three seed. De Weerdt handled Ivan Milivojevic in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, at the one spot, while Bekkers defeated Jan Langer in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, at the three hole.
    Next up for the Eagles is the Southern Conference Tournament to be held in Charleston, S.C. Play starts Thursday.