Box Score STATESBORO, Ga. -- The opening game of a three-game Southern Conference series between the Elon Phoenix and Georgia Southern Eagles ended with GSU claiming a 15-4 victory on Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.

Elon (22-22, 14-8 SoCon) was the first to get on the board as an Alex Swim ground out scored Quinn Bower who had reached on an infield single to begin the game.

Georgia Southern (22-19, 11-11) came back with two runs in the last of the first thanks to a two-RBI double off the bat of Tyler Avera.

The Phoenix quickly tied it at two when Chris King drove his third home run of the season over the fence in left field in the second only to see the Eagles strike for four runs in the bottom of the second.  The Eagles got two-RBI doubles from both Kyle Streicher and Robbie Dodds.

GSU would go on to score in each of the first five innings to build a 15-2 lead before Elon scored one in the eighth on a Joey Tomko sacrifice fly and one in the ninth on a Bower double.

Dylan Clark (5-4) took the loss after he surrendered six runs in an inning-plus before leaving with an undisclosed injury.  Brandon Kacer threw the final three innings for the maroon and gold and did not allow a run on just one hit.  He fanned five.

The win went to Justin Hess who allowed two runs on six hits in 6.1 innings of work.

Bower and Chris Bresnahan both had two-hit games for the Phoenix.

Elon will look to get back in the win column on Saturday as the two teams will face off in game two of the series at 2:30 p.m.