Georgia Southern Extra: Eagles take next step with ceremony Thursday for Convocation Center
Georgia Southern will host a groundbreaking ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, May 26, for the 95,000-square-foot Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center.
The center is named in honor of the late Senator Jack Hill and his wife of 46 years, Ruth Ann Hill. Both are Georgia Southern graduates.
The Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center, serving as the signature building on Georgia Southern’s south campus in Statesboro, will be the largest event venue space between Savannah and Macon.
The center will be a multi-story complex that fills two university needs:
1. Approximately 7,000 square feet of additional instructional space for the Waters College of Health Professions, specifically for the sports and exercise psychology and sports management programs.
2. A multipurpose arena that can be utilized for large-scale events such as commencement ceremonies, speakers, concerts, job fairs and other university and community assemblies. The arena will be the new home court for Georgia Southern Eagles NCAA women's and men's basketball games, replacing Hanner Fieldhouse.
The total construction cost is estimated at just more than $50 million, while the total project budget is set at $64.46 million. Funding for the project comes from a combination of state and privately raised funds.
Some site work has already begun but construction will not begin in earnest until this fall with a construction completion target of late 2024.
The Convocation Center site on the southwest side of the intersection of Lanier Drive and Veterans Memorial Parkway (U.S. 301 Bypass, Statesboro).
FOOTBALL
Schools announce GS at Nevada in 2024
As previously reported, Georgia Southern and Nevada will play a non-conference football game on Sept. 7, 2024 in Reno. The two schools made the announcement Tuesday.
The game replaces a previously scheduled contest for the Eagles in 2024 at BYU.
The two squads have played twice previously with the Eagles winning both times. In 1986, GS downed Nevada 48-38 in Statesboro in a NCAA semifinal en route to a national title, and then claimed the 1990 NCAA Division I-AA Championship with a 36-13 win in Reno.
BYU and Georgia Southern mutually agreed to cancel the 2024 game, with GS Director of Athletics Jared Benko signing a memorandum Jan. 13, 2022, and BYU AD Thomas Holmoe signing on May 10. The Savannah Morning News viewed digital copies of the contracts and memorandum provided by Georgia Southern University.
Nevada has guaranteed Georgia Southern, as the visiting team, $100,000 — the same amount BYU was due to pay GS before that game was canceled. The agreement was signed April 28 by Chris Davis, Georgia Southern Deputy Athletics Director, and by a Nevada administrator on May 3.
Below is the announced future non-conference schedule for Georgia Southern for the next three seasons.
Sept. 3 — Morgan State (Paulson Stadium, Statesboro)
Sept. 10 — at Nebraska (Lincoln)
Sept. 17 — at UAB (Birmingham, Alabama)
Sept. 24 — Ball State (Paulson)
Sept. 2 — The Citadel (Paulson)
Sept. 9 — UAB (Paulson)
Sept. 16 — at Wisconsin (Madison)
Sept. 23 — at Ball State (Muncie, Indiana)
Aug. 31 — Boise State (Paulson)
Sept. 7 — at Nevada (Reno, Nevada)
Sept. 21 — at Ole Miss (Oxford)
BASEBALL
Sun Belt honors for Eagles players
Four Eagles were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference teams announced Monday. Jesse Sherrill and Noah Ledford were named the first team, while Jason Swan and Jay Thompson were named second team.
Sherrill, named at second base, transferred from Kennesaw State prior to the 2022 season and when the voting was announced led the Eagles in batting average with .358, good for eighth in the SBC.
As on Monday, he was tied for the lead for the Eagles in HBP with 17, and was second in the SBC in total HBP, just behind Troy's Jesse Hall. Sherrill also had 33 walks this season, which led the GS team and rounded out the top 10 in the conference.
Ledford claimed the first team spot at designated hitter. Ledford had a hot end of the season, which led him to finish the season as the RBI leader in the conference with 67.
In conference, Ledford had the third-most homers with 15, third with 134 total bases, tied for fourth with Jason Swan in doubles with 17, sixth in OPS with 1.076, seventh in hits with 70, seventh with a slugging percentage of .647, and 13th in walks with 31.
Ledford ended the regular season with a spectacular weekend, knocking three home runs, including a grand slam, and batting in 12 runners in just two games.
Jason Swan, a first baseman, led the Eagles with 71 hits on the season, and was third on the team with a .329 batting average. His 71 hits tied him for fifth in the conference with Louisiana's Carson Roccaforte. He was also tied for first on the team in doubles with 17, and was second on the team in stolen bases with 11. Swan led the Sun Belt in putouts with 439.
Jay Thompson rounds out the Eagles in the postseason awards as a second-team member at relief pitcher. Thompson was a dominant force out of the bullpen for the Eagles, appearing in 33 contests, which is the second-most nationally.
Thompson had a 3.86 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP this season, and collected a team-leading six saves, which led the SBC. Thompson allowed batters to hit only .252 off of him and had 56 strikeouts this season, second-most on the team and good for 16th in the SBC.
In more honors, Ledford was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week after his performance in the four games from the previous week.
Ledford had a monster week to finish off the regular season, leading the Eagles to a 4-0 week with a .571 batting average and 1.357 slugging percentage, going 8-for-14 in the midweek against Mercer and the weekend series against UT-Arlington.
Ledford had five extra base hits, including three home runs. One of those home runs was a grand slam against UTA. Ledford ended the week with 12 RBI, 19 total bases, three walks, and one hit-by-pitch, earning an on-base percentage of .667.
MEN'S GOLF
Eagles in the NCAA Finals
The Georgia Southern men's golf team begins play Friday in the NCAA Championship Finals on May 27 to June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Eagles are paired with Utah and College of Charleston for the first two rounds at the par-70, 7,289-yard course. The teams tee off the 10th hole at 11 a.m. ET in the morning wave Friday and go off the first hole at 4:20 p.m. ET in the afternoon wave Saturday.
Ranked 44th in the country by Golfstat, Georgia Southern earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship, its 27th appearance, and finished fifth in the New Haven Regional to advance to the NCAA Finals.
According to the World Amateur Golf Rankings, the New Haven Regional was the most difficult of the six. The Eagles' 270 in the first round was the lowest in a regional in program history, and their final score of 834 tied the program's lowest at a regional (Stanford, 2019).
This will be Georgia Southern's 16th appearance in the NCAA finals. The NCAA went to a regional format in 1989, and this is the sixth time in program history the Eagles have advanced out of regionals. It's the second time Georgia Southern has advanced to the finals in the last three championships.
GS will play three rounds at Grayhawk Golf Club, and the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on those teams advance to a fourth round Monday. The individual medalist will be determined after Monday's fourth round, and the top eight teams advance to match play Tuesday.
This is the Eagles' third NCAA Finals appearance in 15 years with Carter Collins on the coaching staff and his second in his eight seasons with the title of head coach. It is the Eagles' fifth appearance in the NCAA Championship under Collins and the 10th in Collins' tenure on the coaching staff.
Ben Carr is the lone Eagle on the roster who played in the 2019 NCAA Finals, and the senior missed the cut (76-81-76--233).
Georgia Southern is one of 42 schools in the country and seven from non-power 5 conferences to have both its men's and women's golf programs earn a bid to the NCAA Championship. The Eagle women finished seventh in the Tallahassee Regional.
Georgia Southern will use the same lineup for the eighth straight event: seniors Wilson Andress, Ben Carr and Mason Williams will join freshmen Brantley Baker and Hogan Ingram in the lineup. Luke Dasher will serves as the sub.
Georgia Southern lineup (scoring average)
Ben Carr (33 rounds; 70.21)
Mason Williams (24; 71.08)
Brantley Baker (33; 72.94)
Wilson Andress (36; 73.03)
Hogan Ingram (36; 73.25)
Substitute: Luke Dasher (18; 74.56).
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 athletics news football schedule and baseball team
