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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