February 24, 2010 Alex Brown

d.alex.brown@gmail.com

    It worked out well that the first really nice weekend we have had in quite a while coincided with opening weekend for the baseball Eagles—if only the outcome of the series had been as nice for the Eagle Nation.
    First pitch of Georgia Southern’s conference title defense was thrown Friday night. Excitement was in the air at J.I. Clements Stadium as the Eagles entered the 2010 season with high expectations once again. Coach Hennon and his squad no longer want to be satisfied with merely making it to a regional. The ultimate goal is set much higher: Omaha.
    Apparently Tennessee Tech missed that memo. The Golden Eagles—defending conference champs in their own right—came to Statesboro and took two out of three from Georgia Southern on opening weekend. Tech rode a strong pitching performance to take the first game by a score of 5-2. Georgia Southern’s offense came to life in game two putting up a seven spot in the eighth to win a 16-9 offensive battle. In Sunday’s rubber game, Southern jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two innings, but the bullpen could not hold the lead in the late innings and Tech took the series with a 12-9 win.
    Georgia Southern had little time to think about that series because #6 Georgia Tech came to town Tuesday and Wednesday. Due to deadlines, we’ll cover that series along with this weekend’s series with Holy Cross next week.
    Meanwhile, basketball season is reaching its climax as both the men and women are prepping for tournament time. Both teams would love to be playing their best ball of the year going into the SoCon tournament next weekend—and that may very well be what is happening.
    The men were within an eyelash of sending first-place Wofford home from Hanner with a loss Saturday afternoon. The guys were coming off a win over Furman last Wednesday and came back from a 12 point second half deficit to take the Terriers to overtime before eventually falling 82-76.
    On Monday, Southern traveled to Samford and picked up its first road win in over a year by defeating the Bulldogs 83-77. The Eagles were led by Antonio Hanson’s 27 points which included a career high seven three pointers. After winning two of their last three, the Eagles now stand just one game behind Furman for the fifth spot in the South division.
    Georgia Southern’s final two games are against Elon and UNC Greensboro—the two bottom teams in the SoCon North division. So maybe, just maybe, the schedule is setting up for the Eagles to pick up some momentum going into what CY calls the “Third Season” of the year.
    The Eagles will play their final home game Thursday night against Elon with the senior night ceremony to be held before the game. Southern will wrap up its regular season Monday night at Greensboro.
    The Lady Eagles are in a little better shape than the guys on paper. They defeated Wofford in convincing fashion Saturday afternoon and moved themselves into a tie with Davidson for that all-important fifth spot in the standings. Needless to say, the Lady Eagles’ trip to Davidson Monday night was a huge game for both teams.
    Southern trailed by five at halftime, but outscored Davidson 40-24 in the second half to bring home a win and put themselves in the driver’s seat for the first round bye.
    Saturday is senior day against Appalachian State at Hanner. The formula is simple for the Lady Eagles: win and enjoy the first round bye.
    The calendar turns to March next week. And that means just one thing in the college basketball world: Madness. Fasten your seatbelts. This will be fun.

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