STATESBORO - A.J. Wirnsberger and Chris Shehan combined for nine RBI in support of Kyle Kamppi's career-best performance as Georgia Southern defeated UNC Greensboro 14-2 Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
The Eagles improved to 29-20 overall and 13-9 in the Southern Conference.
Wirnsberger recorded his fourth career 2-home run game and Shehan added five RBI, including a home run of his own. Kamppi pitched a team season-high eight innings, bouncing back after the Spartans (30-21, 14-8) took an early lead.
During the second at-bat of the game Matt Gaski hit a solo home run. It didn't take Georgia Southern very long to take the lead and Kamppi made it hold up.
Ty Wright worked the count full then drew a leadoff walk. Phillip Porter executed a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners. Shehan hammered a 1-2 pitch off the trees in right field. He briefly took over the team lead hitting number 18 this year.
Griffin Benedict followed with his 11th homer of the season. Two batters later Wirnsberger rejoined Shehan for the team lead, hitting his 18th homer of the year for a 5-1 lead.
The Eagles plated another five runs in the second. Wright hit a RBI double, Shehan lined a RBI single then Wirnsberger hit his second home run in as many innings. A 3-run shot by the sophomore third baseman gave the Eagles a 10-1 advantage.
Wright and Porter hit back-to-back doubles with two down in the third to make it a 10-run game. The Eagles scored three more runs in the fifth without needing a base hit.
Former Lumpkin County standout David Richardson, who earlier in the game extended his hitting streak to 15 games, was hit by a pitch. Jeremy Beckham walked then Wright reached on a fielder's choice as second baseman Tim Carrier bobbled the grounder to load the bases. Porter walked then during Shehan's at-bat James White uncorked a wild pitch to bring home another run. Shehan capped off the scoring on a RBI groundout to make it 14-1.
Ricky Orton greeted relief pitcher Michael Hester in the ninth with a solo home run for the final margin.
Kamppi, making his first career Friday night start as an Eagle, improved to 5-3 allowing the one run on four hits. He struck out six and walked two.
"The key tonight was just working ahead in the counts, being aggressive and letting my defense work. I really wanted to go after the hitters tonight, and with that big of a lead it makes me want to work that much harder to get ahead in the count and keep putting zeros on the scoreboard," said Kamppi. "This is a great win for us. The remaining conference games we have are against teams ahead of us in the standings, so really we control our future."
Wirnsberger now has 19 home runs this year and Shehan is right behind with 18, the most by an Eagle since Tommy Peterman led the country with 26 homers during the 1996 campaign. They both tallied two hits apiece.
Porter finished with a team-high three hits. Wright added two hits and scored four runs as the first three batters combined for eight runs and eight RBI. The Eagles out-hit UNCG 13-5.
With 101 home runs this year, the Eagles not only extended their program record but moved into third place all-time in SoCon history, just 15 away from the record. GS also set a program record with 469 RBI this year. That RBI total currently stands sixth-highest by a SoCon team, and six shy of fourth place. The 140 doubles rank as the third-most by an Eagle squad in history. The 513 runs scored this season is five away from the program record and now ranks seventh-highest in the SoCon season record book.
UNCG starter Rob Gilliam (3-4) gave up 10 runs on nine hits in 1.2 innings. All five outs he recorded were on a strikeout. Orton finished with two of the team's five hits.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. Another edition of the Clements Tailgate will take place prior to the start of the game with free food for the fans in attendance.
Thursday
May 1st, 2025
2:24AM
