Conway, S.C. – Coastal Carolina baseball fell to the Georgia Southern Eagles 9-2 in the series opener of the three-game Sun Belt Conference series on Thursday night at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C.

The loss drops Coastal to 23-15-1 overall and 8-7 in league play. With the win, the Eagles improve to 22-16 and 9-6 in the Sun Belt.

Making his first start since April 10, 2018, senior Matt Eardensohn (4-1) gave up three runs on seven hits, three walks and five strikeouts over 4.1 innings in the defeat. It was the first loss in Eardensohn’s two-year career on the mound at Coastal, putting his career record at 11-1 overall

Georgia Southern’s ace Seth Shuman (5-4) earned the win, as he held the Coastal offense to just one run on five hits, three walks and six strikeouts in 7.0-complete innings.

The Coastal offense struggled to get the big hit on the night, registering only five hits over the first eight innings of play.

Left-fielder Cameron Pearcey (2-for-4, RBI, BB) and third baseman Mike Koenig (2-for-3, 2B) had two hits apiece, while designated hitter Jake Wright (1-for-5, RBI) and first baseman Zach Biermann (1-for-3, BB) were the lone other two starters to register a base hit in the loss.

Off the bench, pinch hitters Morgan Hyde (1-for-1, run) and Turner Buis (1-for-1, 2B) each had a base hit in the bottom of the ninth.

The Eagles recorded 16 base hits and drove in nine RBIs in the win led by outfielders Mason McWhorter (3-for-6, HR, 2B, 3 RBIs, run) and Nolan Tressler (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) each hitting a home run and driving in multiple RBIs.

Georgia Southern jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second on a two-run home run by Tressler, only to see the Chanticleers get one run back in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out RBI single up the middle from Wright.

The Eagles answered with an RBI double from McWhorter in the top of the fourth to push its lead back out to two at 3-1 midway through the fourth inning.

CCU stranded two runners on in the bottom of the fourth and one Chant on base in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but couldn’t get that big hit to plate another run.

The Eagles, on the other hand, scored three runs in the eighth on a sacrifice fly and a two-run home run and three more in the ninth on five hits, including a solo home run to start the frame to blow the game open at 9-1.

Hyde and Buis came off the bench to pick up back-to-back pinch hits, a single and a double down the left field line, to put two runners on with one out in the bottom of the ninth. An infield hit off the glove of the pitcher by Pearcey would score Hyde from third before a ground out to second base ended the game with the final score at 9-2 in favor of the visiting Eagles.

Both teams left double-digit runners on base for the game, Georgia Southern with 11 and Coastal with 10, while both teams played strong defense in the field.

Coastal (23-15-1, 8-7 Sun Belt) and Georgia Southern (22-16, 9-7 Sun Belt) are scheduled to play game two of the three-game conference series tomorrow night, April 19, at 6 p.m. ET at Springs Brooks Stadium.