Last Saturday, in one of the most lopsided defeats since Sonny Corleone was shot down at the tollbooths, the Georgia Southern Eagles hit an NCAA record tying 14 home runs in route to a 26-8 victory over Columbia. Leading the charge against the Lions was junior outfielder Chris Shehan who went 4-6 in the game with two of GSU's historic homers.

Shehan and the Eagles' offensive explosion over the weekend was far from a aberration. Georgia Southern has tallied ten runs ten times so far this season, reaching the 15 run plateau in five of those contests. Shehan is batting .432 in nineteen games to date, with eight homeruns, seven doubles and a triple for a ridiculously absurd .878 slugging percentage. He has also walked 17 times and been hit by a pitch four times for a .558 on base percentage. The junior from Strasburg, Pennsylvania is also a perfect 10 for 10 in stolen base attempts.

Last season Shehan was among the Southern Conference leaders finished 10th in hits per game (1.37) and tied for fourth in doubles per game at 0.34. He led the 34-28 Eagles in batting average (.341), runs (59) and tied for the lead in doubles (21) Furthermore he was second on the team in RBI (50), home runs (10) and stolen bases (12).

Shehan was able to take time out of congratulating teammates at home plate to answer a couple of questions from Ping!Baseball:

PING!: What brought you down to Georgia Southern from Strasburg, PA?

Shehan: played for a summer team called the All-Star Baseball Academy. Our head coach was Mike Manning. Coach Manning and my current coaches (head coach Rodney Hennon, assistant coaches Mike Tidick and Jason Beverlin) were college teammates. Georgia Southern has had a nice connection over the years bringing down players from the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware area.

PING!: The Eagles' four games against Columbia was one of the most bizarre series I've ever seen with GSU tallying a bipolar amount of runs: five, then 26 with a fourteen homeruns, followed by just three and then another offensive outburst of 22. What on earth was going for such up and down results?

Shehan: Last year we had the same type of problems with consistency. One of our main goals this year is to take the same approach each day, that should make us more consistent. After each of the two losses I'm proud of the way we as a team bounced back.

PING!: When you were up 26-8 was there any fear that the Lions would score a
quick two touchdowns late and then go for two and tie the game?

Shehan: I have the utmost confidence in our offense and defensively we dropped back into a prevent defense and didn't give up the big bomb.

PING!: Would you rather be an All Star baseball player like Chipper Jones or a best selling music artist like Garth Brooks?

Shehan: Definitely Chipper Jones. I enjoy county music but it's every collegiate player's dream to make it to the big leagues and have a successful career much like Chipper has had.

PING!: Is there any significance to your wearing of the number 16?

Shehan: In high school I was actually 24, but when I got here a senior wore #24 and I was assigned #16. Being superstitious I didn't want to change numbers after my freshman year.

PING!: For the most part the Eagle team remained intact over the summer. With
a near .500 mark last season, how do you feel about GSU making run for the postseason this spring?

Shehan: As I said prior, after last year our focus is to be consistent throughout the year. If we can achieve that, then we should definitely have a shot at making a postseason run. We have all the pieces in place to do just that.

PING!: How about them Millersville Marauders (Chris' brother Jon is in his first year as head baseball coach for MU)? Are they gonna get it done this season?

Shehan: After a tough season last year I feel my brother has done a great job improving them as a whole and their future is looking very bright. As for this year I see a lot of improvements and possibly a run into the conference tournament. I think my brother Jon has done an outstanding job in his coaching career and I see them being a contender possibly this year and certainly in future years."

PING!: Honestly, what was the real reason behind the team's 14 home runs last Saturday? Loaded bats? HGH? Voodoo?

Shehan: We were upset we couldn't go on Spring Break, so we've been taking out our frustrations on the opposing pitchers!

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