Eichhorn’s One-Hit Shutout Downs Troy in Game One

Friday, May 4

Statesboro, Ga.

5:30 PM

Troy University

31-15, 13-9

Georgia Southern

23-21, 13-8

Troy

Georgia Southern

Eichhorn’s One-Hit Shutout Downs Troy in Game One

5/4/2018 8:29:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Jace Sanders

STATESBORO – Brian Eichhorn's stellar outing on the mound for Georgia Southern was more than enough to drop Troy, 3-0, in the Sun Belt series opener Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.

Eichhorn (4-3) allowed three Trojan baserunners all night – a walk, an error and a hit – and struck out nine batters in his nine innings of work. Troy's (31-15, 13-9) lone hit came off the bat of Joey Denison, who led off the seventh with a single.

On the other side, Andrew Crane (4-4) took a tough loss in an outstanding performance of his own. Crane fanned eight and walked just one in seven innings of work but allowed two runs on six hits.

The Eagles (23-21, 13-8) benefitted from a Mason McWhorter solo homer in the second inning and added single runs in the third and eighth to take the opener – McWhorter led the squad with a 2-for-3 night at the plate.

Troy had not been shutout since Georgia Southern did it in Statesboro back in 2016. However, the Trojans still came away with the 2-1 series win then.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"You have to tip your hat to Eicchorn. That was quite a performance and we weren't able to match it. I'm not sure how many teams would have had success against a guy throwing that well on the mound. Baseball is an easy game; there's no secret formula. We have to score and keep them from scoring."

Notable
• Troy was shutout for the first time since March 20, 2016, at Georgia Southern. The one hit was the fewest by a Troy team since 2014.

• Drew Frederic saw his career-long and team-best 24-game reached base streak come to an end with an 0-for-4 performance. Joey Denison took over the top spot with an 18-game streak of his own.

• With the loss, the Trojans fell to 18-9 in Sun Belt openers under Mark Smartt with a 5-3 record this season.

On Deck
Troy will look to even the series with Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (CT). RHP Daren Osby (5-0, 4.27) will start on the mound for the Trojans in the matchup.