Georgia Southern Extra: Eagles leave Yale Golf Course with berth in NCAA men's finals
For the second time in three NCAA men's golf championships, Georgia Southern will be in the finals.
The Eagles grabbed the fifth and last qualifying spot in the New Haven (Connecticut) Regional on Wednesday to advance to the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club on May 27-June 1 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The other four teams to qualify for the finals are region winner and 17th-ranked Wake Forest (26-under-par 814), No. 5 North Carolina (19-under 821), No. 8 Texas Tech (16-under 824) and No. 39 North Florida (-16).
Ranked the No. 49 team in the country by Golfstat, Georgia Southern finished at 6-under after carding a 6-over on Wednesday at par-70, 6,766-yard Yale Golf Course. Their team score of 834 ties the program's lowest at a regional, matching the total to finish fourth in the Stanford Regional in 2019. It's the 16th time the Eagles have advanced to the NCAA finals.
Senior Mason Williams, ranked 58th, led the Eagles by tying for sixth overall at 5-under (65-68-72--205), including a 2-over on Wednesday.
Senior Ben Carr, ranked 47th, tied for 15th at 2-under (71-67-70--208) with an even-par effort Wednesday.
Carr was averaging 70.30 for 30 rounds this season, with Williams at 71.48 for 21 rounds.
North Carolina's Austin Greaser, the No. 73 player in the country, won at 10-under.
Teams outside the top five were: T6. Virginia, Illinois -2, 8. Seton Hall +8, 9. UCF +14, 10. Charlotte +17, 11. Mississippi State +20, 12. N.C. State +29, 13. Yale +39, 14. Sacred Heart +73.
Illinois is ranked 20th, Charlotte 31st and N.C. State 27th.
This is the Eagles' fifth appearance in the NCAA Championships under head coach Carter Collins and the 10th in Collins' 15 seasons on the GS coaching staff.
GS: 270-278-286—834 (-6), 5th
Mason Williams: 65-68-72—205 (-5), T6
Ben Carr: 71-67-70—208 (-2), T15
Brantley Baker: 69-72-70—211 (+1), T29
Hogan Ingram: 70-71-74—215 (+5), T43
Wilson Andress: 66-75-75=216 (+6), T45
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Former SSU standout joins Eagles
Head women's basketball coach Anita Howard on Wednesday announced three transfers who will join the Eagles for the 2022-23 campaign, with one player very familiar to Savannah State women's basketball fans.
Le'Andrea Gillis, a 5-foot-10 guard from Adrian by way of SSU; 6-0 forward D'Shara "Shy" Booker (Charlotte, N.C./Austin Peay State); and 6-3 forward Diamond Stokes (Chicago/Wright State) will suit up for the Eagles this fall.
They join a squad that went 18-10 last season — the best campaign for GS women's basketball in more than a decade.
Gillis played for four seasons at SSU and will join GS as a graduate transfer. A two-time All-SIAC honoree for the Tigers, Gillis scored 1,120 points over four seasons. She led the team in scoring as a sophomore in 2019-20 (18.1 ppg) while averaging 5.9 rebounds per game. She played in only seven games in 2020-21 in a season impacted by the pandemic but averaged 15.1 ppg.
Last season as a senior, Gillis played in 30 games, averaged 14.3 points and hit 66 of 159 3-pointers (42%) while also making 83% from the foul line.
"Lee is a true sniper with great size who will stretch defenses in the Sun Belt Conference," Howard said in a press release. "Her efficiency from the 3-point line at 42% will open up opportunities for our post players. As a grad transfer who led her team in scoring, she has experience on the perimeter. Coming off of a 27-3 season, Lee knows how to win. It's always great to have in-state players stay home and excel."
Booker spent four years at Austin Peay State, seeing action in three. After redshirting her freshman year, Booker played in 27 games as a sophomore in 2019-20, averaging 4.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
She started 11 of 21 games as a junior, averaging 8.7 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 60% from the field. During her redshirt junior season in 2021-22, she averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 64.2% from the field.
"She's a tough, physical presence who will serve as an enforcer for us in the paint," Howard said. "Shooting 66% from the field, she has an innate ability to finish around the rim. Shy is a veteran that has postseason experience who will bring her winning ways to Statesboro."
Stokes played two seasons at Wright State. She appeared in 24 games as a freshman in 2020-21, averaging 5.2 minutes, 1.0 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. She played in 22 games as a sophomore in 2021-22, making five starts and averaging 5.4 points and 4.1 rebounds.
A two-time Chicago city champion while playing for Simeon High, Stokes hit the game-winning shot to help secure the 2020 state championship for the Wolverines.
"Diamond will shine bright for us in the post," Howard said. "She brings length and athleticism to our interior and rebounds with the best of them. Her exceptional footwork and ability to alter and block shots will add to our defensive efforts. She truly embodies that blue-collar mentality, having played for a tough Toi Baylor program out of Chicago."
BASEBALL
Eagles' offense is soaring
The Eagles baseball team has been scoring in bunches, with at least 10 runs in six of their last eight games.
On Tuesday night at J.I. Clements Stadium, GS tallied two nine-run innings in beating Mercer 21-7 for a season sweep of the Bears.
Mercer (38-14) actually led 5-2 in the sixth before GS (35-17) plated nine runs in bottom of the inning for an 11-5 advantage.
The Eagles scored 19 unanswered runs between the bottom of the sixth and bottom of the eighth, when another nine went up on the scoreboard.
GS recorded a season-high 22 hits in win No. 35. The last time the Eagles won 35 games in the regular season ws in 2019.
Georgia Southern will host its final regular-season series with a three-game Sun Belt Conference series against UT-Arlington, beginning on Thursday, May 19. First pitch for the first game is 6:30 p.m.
WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Carter steps down after eight seasons
Women's track and field coach Kelly Carter will step down to pursue other professional opportunities, Georgia Southern Director of Athletics Jared Benko announced Monday.
"I appreciate the effort of Kelly and his staff over the past eight seasons with our track and field program and want to thank him for leading the Eagles," Benko said in a press release. "A national search will begin immediately and we are confident that there will be significant interest in our position."
The athletics department said it would not make further comments on the search for the next head coach until the process is complete.
Ten of the Eagle student-athletes who competed in the meet were underclassmen. No Eagles were selected to All-Sun Belt Conference teams announced Wednesday.
"We had a year with some ups and downs," Carter said in a press release following the conclusion May 14 of the Sun Belt Outdoor Championship in Lafayette, Louisiana.
"We made progress towards many of our goals but fell short on some of them. Our youngsters gained tremendous experience at this championship conference level, and that will help us as we continue to work to get better. I'm proud of how we gave our all both this weekend and this season and look forward to the years to come."
Carter was in his eighth season at the helm of the Eagles track and field program. A three-time All-American and All-SEC selection at Auburn University, he has more than 22 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level as well as serving as a coach for the U.S. Paralympic Games.
For more coverage of Georgia Southern athletics, go to https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/college/georgia-southern/
Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern men golf ncaa championship finals out of new haven
