STATESBORO, Ga. – As West Virginia’s young pitchers suffered a batch of growing pains Sunday, the lineup was in no position to pick up the slack during a 15-2 loss at Georgia Southern.
West Virginia (3-3) got solo homers from Taylor Munden and Jackson Cramer, but Georgia Southern (5-2) racked up 13 hits to win the rubber game of the weekend series.
Second baseman Kent Rollins homered and drove in six runs for the Eagles.
Aaron Mizell put Georgia Southern up in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run to right-center off Chad Donato (1-1), who allowed five runs, only two earned, on six hits in four innings. Once the game got out of hand, nine pitchers saw action in relief for the Mountaineers.
“Mizell’s home run that gave him the early lead was big,” said GSU coach Rodney Hennon. “Overall we played a complete game for all nine innings.”
Georgia Southern pushed its lead to 3-0 in the second after a West Virginia error allowed Spencer Duffie to score on a sacrifice fly.
After Munden’s second homer in two days cut the deficit to 3-1 the Eagles responded with two unearned runs in the fourth, including an RBI single by Rollins.
After Cramer’s blast made it 5-2 in the top of the sixth, Georgia Southern put the game out of reach with five runs on four hits in the bottom half. All the runs were charged to Blake Smith, highlighted by Rollins’ two-run triple.
Rollins added a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh off Seth Jordan.
Freshman left-hander Connor Simmons (1-0) went five innings for Georgia Southern, allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
“He did a nice job throwing strikes,” Hennon said. “I thought he responded well after giving up the first home run. He continued to run the ball in there for strikes and let his defense work.”
West Virginia returns to action next weekend at the Chanticleer Classic. The Mountaineers will play in a doubleheader on Friday against Kent State at noon and Coastal Carolina at 4 p.m. West Virginia’s following two games will be against Ball State on Saturday at 3 p.m. and against Illinois on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.