STATESBORO, Ga. (WSAV) – The Georgia Southern baseball team gave itself a chance to pull off a comeback, but Tennessee held on to deal the surging Eagles a 5-3 loss in the season opener Friday night.
Trailing 5-0 and held hitless through six innings, the Eales’ offense injected some energy into the crowd at J.I. Clements Stadium with a three-run seventh inning. Noah Ledford got the scoring started for Georgia Southern with a solo home run and the Eagles pushed across two more before the Volunteers buckled down — allowed just one baserunner over the final two innings to secure the win.
Georgia Southern (0-1) saw an incredible performance from star pitcher Tyler Owens in relief. It took Owens just 4 1/3 innings to strike out 10 Tennessee batters. The Eagles will get a rematch with the Volunteers at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The two teams will wrap up the 3-game series in Statesboro Sunday afternoon with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
WSAV sports anchor Andrew Goldstein walks you through the highlights from Statesboro.