Musketeers come to battle Eagles
Photo By: Demario CullarsJunior second baseman Brent Pugh (13) slides into second base in Tuesday night’s game against Georgia Institute of Technology. GSU fell 11-4 to the Yellow Jackets.
February 28, 2013
This weekend the Georgia Southern University baseball team is set to play against the struggling Xavier University Musketeers (2-4) in a three-game series at home.
So far this season the Eagles have proven to be a team that can compete with teams from bigger conferences by winning the series against the University of Georgia and finishing the series against Indiana University tied at 1-1. Xavier, despite its record, will be another test for GSU.
The Musketeers’ offense has been struggling as the team has yet to hit a homerun this season. Senior first basemen T.D. Davis has hit two homeruns in one game for the Eagles this season.
Junior first basemen and outfielder Brian Bruening is the catalyst for the Musketeers’ offense with a batting average of .400, 10 hits and five runs scored.
However, the Musketeers do have one thing going for them, they are 2-0 against lefty starting pitchers. Weekend starting pitcher for GSU, freshman Jason Richman, is a lefty and has one win against the Bulldogs and one loss against the Hoosiers.
If the pitching rotation can hold the Musketeers to a few runs, the Eagles offense led by Davis should be successful enough to pick up a win. The Musketeers are winless when scoring five runs or less.
GSU has been consistent this season in scoring runs, especially in the first inning. This will be a priority when facing the Musketeers. The Musketeers are also winless when their opponent scores first, the Eagles should look to jump out to an early lead.
Through six games this season, Davis is batting .500 with three homeruns and 11 RBI. Junior third basemen Ben Morgan is batting .385 with two homeruns and six RBI also through six games.
The starting rotation for the Musketeers has struggled. The only three pitchers that have started in games have an ERA over 2.00 and two have an ERA over 3.50.
GSU’s pitching staff has faced tougher competition offensively and prevailed, but they need to keep this Xavier team from getting hot and scoring runs.
The first pitch will be at 6 p.m. tomorrow as the Eagles and Musketeers kick off their weekend series.
