Inclement weather forced Georgia Southern University and the University of Georgia to

postpone Friday night’s game and play a doubleheader on Saturday to start the 2014 season.

And boy did the Eagles start the season with a bang. They beat the Bulldogs 9-3 to start the

afternoon.

However, the damage that GSU did to UGA in game one, UGA reciprocated in the form of an 11-

3 beat down of the Eagles in game two.

Junior LHP Sam Howard got the nod to throw against UGA for the first game. Howard is a

veteran starter with two years of experience – and he showed it today.

The lefty from Cartersville, Ga. threw five scoreless innings. He gave up only three hits and a

walk en route to his first win of the year while striking out seven. The Bulldogs had no answer to

Howard offensively.

GSU on the other hand, had plenty of answers on offense. The Bulldogs pulled their starter,

sophomore RHP Sean McLaughlin, midway through the second inning due to a serious case of

getting shelled. GSU struck for four runs in the top of the second inning. McLaughlin gave up

four earned runs on four hits before getting yanked after 1.2 innings. The Dawgs were never

able to recover.

Junior catcher Chase Griffin, senior LF Stryker Brown and freshman SS Dalton Busby led the way

past UGA. Griffin, who had somewhat of a down year last season after showing exceptional

promise his freshman year, went 3-5 with three RBI and a run. He roped two doubles and was

one of two players to record three hits in the game.

Brown was the other. He was 3-5 with three RBI and a run as well. Busby shined for the first

time in an Eagle uniform going 2-5 with two RBI hitting out of the nine-hole.

But whatever the Eagles had working for them in game one, was not available for game two.

UGA set the tone in the late-afternoon by putting up five runs in the first inning before adding

two runs in the second and two more in the fourth.

The Eagles had only five hits and four errors throughout the game.

UGA starting LHP Ryan Lawlor pitched six innings, gave up three runs, and paved the way for his

team to handle GSU in the second game of their season.

The Bulldogs controlled the game from start to finish.

The rubber match to decide the winner of this series will be played tomorrow at 1 p.m.