FULLERTON, Calif. ? Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) tied a career-high hitting two home runs but Gonzaga scored eight unanswered runs during the middle innings as Georgia Southern dropped its NCAA Fullerton Regional opener 19-10 on Friday (May 29). The 29th-ranked Eagles fell to 42-16 overall.

Georgia Southern will play at 5 p.m. Eastern against the loser of the #3 Cal State Fullerton-Utah game on Saturday (May 30).

The 19th-ranked Bulldogs took advantage of early wildness from Chris Mederos (Valdosta/Gordon College), using five singles, three hit batters and an error to score seven runs ? five unearned ? in the first inning. A 2-run single by Drew Heid, his second hit of the inning, chased Mederos. Colin Snow (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) struck out Tyson Van Winkle to end the inning.

In the second, Kyle Blackburn (Marietta/Walton) drew a walk then A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bryant) narrowly missed a home run but settled for a double. Eric Phillips (Carrollton/Carrollton) brought home a run on a groundout. Matt Fields uncorked a pitch that got past catcher Van Winkle to bring home Wirnsberger and cut the deficit to 7-2.

The Zags got a run back on a one-out RBI triple by Evan Wells in the third inning but Snow was able to strand him at third. In the Eagles’ half the bats erupted. Matt Fields, the reigning West Coast Conference ?Pitcher of the Year’, had given up just three home runs all year. The Eagles surpassed that total in the third.

Benedict and Blackburn hit solo homers. Wirnsberger drew a walk then Phillips launched a 2-run shot to left field. Two batters after Brian Pierce (Roswell/Roswell) hit a double, Ty Wright (Montrose/ABAC) hit a 2-run shot to tie the game.

Reedy Berg entered the game and blanked the Eagles as the Zags offense started using the long ball. Anthony Synegal hit a solo home run in the fourth, two errors led to a run in the fifth for a 10-8 lead. Mark Castellitto and Ryan Wiegand each hit a 3-run homer in the sixth and seventh inning, respectively, to go ahead by eight runs.

Pierce lined a two-out RBI single in the seventh, matching a season-high of three hits. Benedict hit a one-out solo shot in the eighth, his second solo shot of the game. Gonzaga scored two more runs in the ninth for the final margin.

It was the first time since 2007 the Eagles allowed that many runs in a game, and first time since the 1957 NCAA Regional they allowed that many in postseason play.

For the fifth time in his career and third times this year Benedict hit two homers in a game. He finished 4-for-5 (a triple shy of the cycle) and finished with 11 total bases. He scored twice and drove in two.

Pierce finished 3-for-5 at the plate. Wright and Phillips had two hits apiece.

Mederos was charged for seven runs (two earned) on five hits in two-thirds of an inning. In his 15 previous starts this year the junior right-hander had gone at least five innings in every start. Snow (4-3) was charged for two runs on three hits in 3.2 innings. He walked one and struck out two.

Fields allowed eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits in 2.2 innings. Reedy Berg (4-4) was charged for two runs on six hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out six.

Van Winkle and Castellitto had three hits apiece as the Bulldogs out-hit the Eagles 18-15.

Southern Miss 17, No. 22 Elon 15

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Bennett Davis homered three times and drove in four runs while Chase Austin drove in five runs, but it was not enough as the second-seeded and 22nd-ranked Elon Phoenix fell to the third-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles by a 17-15 margin in the first game of the Atlanta Regional of the 2009 NCAA Baseball Championship.  The Phoenix, which erased an early 8-0 deficit, fell to 40-17 on the year.  Southern Miss is now 36-23.
 
Davis became just the fourth player to ever homer three times in a NCAA Regional game in the history of the NCAA.  The two squads also combined for 71 total bases, the fourth-highest total ever in a NCAA Regional game.

“Our offense did everything it could to win that game for us, everything," said Elon skipper Mike Kennedy.  "We got a lead in the ninth, and we finally got to the other side and we can’t stop them.

"Pitching and defense wins ballgames. If you never believed in that, all you had to do was watch tonight ? 15 runs, a ton of offense and we’re leaving not feeling too good about ourselves right now. All the hype has been on us as an offensive club, what we do, hit home runs. To win something like this and put yourself in position to play for a championship in a regional, you have to pitch and play defense, and we didn’t do either one today."  
 
Southern Miss threatened in the first when Bo Davis singled and James Ewing walked to start the inning.  Tom Porter then got Kameron Brunty to fly out to center before Neal Pritchard made a diving stop of a ball up the middle and the Phoenix was able to turn two to end the inning.
 
After Michael Ewing was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the second, Joey Archer ripped a double to the gap in left-center, scoring Ewing from first with the first run of the game.  With two outs, Taylor Walker was plunked to put two men aboard.  Davis followed by sending a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left for his 11th homer of the year as the Golden Eagles grabbed a 4-0 lead.  With Ewing on second after a single and wild pitch, Brunty went deep to right for his sixth homer of the year.  Corey Stevens made it back-to-back homers as he sent the first pitch out to left for his eighth of the year.  The lead reached 8-0 when Archer singled home Ewing.
 
The Phoenix got on the board with one out in the bottom of the second when Davis ripped his 15th homer of the year, a solo shot to right-center.   Mike Melillo followed with a liner up the middle for a single before heading to third on Justin Hilt’s bouncing single over the first baseman.  Elon could manage no more, however, as Dallas Tarleton grounded into a double play to end the inning.
 
Pritchard started the Elon third with a walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a ground out.  Chase Austin’s single up the middle plated Pritchard as the Phoenix inched closer.
 
With Davis and Hilt aboard after being hit by pitches, Tarleton grounded a one-out single through the right side to plate Davis as Elon closed to within 8-3.  After a ground out moved both runners up, Harry Austin lined a single to right to drive home both Hilt and Tarleton and the Phoenix deficit was then just three runs at 8-5.  Cory Harrilchak drew a four-pitch walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Austin, but he was retired to end the frame.
 
Archer hit his 10th homer of the year with one out in the top of the fifth, a solo shot down the left field line.
 
With one away in the bottom of the fifth, Elon got that run back when Davis went deep for the second time on the day.  His second shot was his 16th of the year and went out to left.
 
After reaching on a bunt single and Harrilchak walked with two outs, Austin officially erased the Phoenix deficit by belting his 23rd homer of the year over the wall in left to tie the game at nine.
 
The Southern Miss seventh began with Brunty singling through the left side.  Stevens followed with a single in the same spot that allowed Brunty to take third while an error let Stevens move to second.  Tyler Koelling followed by bouncing a ball to short that was booted and Brunty scored the go-ahead run.  Koelling took second on a wild pitch before Archer hit a flair to right to score Stevens and move Koelling to third.  The first out was recorded when Archer was erased on a fielder's choice that let Vollmuth reach and scored Koelling.
 
Davis struck again leading off the bottom of the seventh.  He sent a 1-2 pitch over the wall in right for homer number 17 on the year.  It is the first three-homer game of Davis' Elon career and the second three-homer game for the Phoenix this season.
 
With one down in the bottom of the eighth, Harry Austin reached on an infield single.  Harrilchak then drove him home with a triple down the right field line as Elon pulled with a run at 12-11. Austin  then evened the score again, this time with a sacrifice fly to right-center. Pat Irvine’s double down the right field line extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 games before Davis bounced a ball through the left side to give the Phoenix its first lead of the day as Irvine raced home from second.
 
After retiring the first hitter in the top of the ninth, Thomas Girdwood walked the next two hitters.  Pinch-hitter Adam Doleac then tied the game with a double to center.  The Golden Eagles moved back in front on a passed ball.  Pinch-hitter Kyle Maxie then put Southern Miss up 16-13 with a two-run bomb to right.  Southern Miss added another to its total when Davis went deep again with a solo shot to left with two outs.
 
Tarleton singled up the middle to start the bottom of the ninth and rode home on Pritchard's two-run homer to right, his 10th of the year.  With the homer, Pritchard became the eighth Phoenix player to reach double digits in that category.  Harry Austin allowed the tying run to come to the plate with his fourth single of the game.  He moved to second on a ground out and was stranded at third when Irvine struck out to end the game.
 
Girdwood (0-3) was charged with the loss after allowing four runs in just a third of an inning.
 
Picking up the win was Collin Cargill (4-3) who surrendered three runs on five hits in an inning and two-thirds.  Elon roughed up Southern Miss starter Todd McInnis, the 2009 Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, for five runs on six hits in three and two-thirds innings.
 
All nine Elon players in the lineup had at least one hit.  Austin tied a career-high with four hits, going 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.  Davis finished 4-for-4 with four runs scored and four RBI while Chase Austin was 2-for-5 with a run and five RBI.  With his five RBI, Austin tied Elon's single-season record with 82 RBI set by Davis last season.  Irvine's eighth inning double was the 135th of the year for the team, equalling the school record mark set a year ago.
 
Archer's 4-for-4, three-run, four-RBI performance led the Golden Eagles.  Davis also added four RBI and scored twicde in a 3-for-5 day.
 
The Phoenix will now take on Georgia State game at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.