STATESBORO, Ga. (Interstat) — Georgia Southern plated four runs in the fifth inning to break a tie and defeat the College of Charleston 9-5 on Tuesday night at J. I. Clements Stadium.

The Eagles, who improved to 16-37, used a five-run first two innings to overcome an early deficit, then erupted in the decisive frame. The Cougars fell to 25-26.

College of Charleston struck first in the top of the first. With one out, Will LaCoste singled to shallow center and Ethan Plyler followed with a single through the right side, moving LaCoste to third. Nick Diaz then doubled down the left-field line, driving in both runners for a 2-0 lead.

Georgia Southern answered immediately in the bottom half. Jarrett Edwards singled, and Luke McCoy singled to put runners at first and second. Brady Christman tripled to left-center, scoring both to tie the game. Bryson Trammell then grounded out to short, driving in Christman to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

The Eagles added two more in the second inning. Sean Myers singled, and Michael Kisz singled to put runners on. After a pitching change, Caden Jordan sacrificed the runners into scoring position. A wild pitch scored Myers and moved Kisz to third. Edwards followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Kisz to make it 5-2.

College of Charleston chipped away. In the third, Tyler Johnson singled, moved to second on a Plyler single, and scored on a single to shallow center by Jackson Smith, cutting the deficit to 5-3. In the fifth, Diaz singled, advanced on a bunt single by pinch hitter Ben Berini, and scored on a single to shallow center by David Tippett, tying the game at 5.

The tie lasted only until the bottom of the fifth. McCoy singled, and Christman singled to put two on. Trammell then singled to center, scoring McCoy and sending Christman to third. Christman scored on the play when center fielder Holbrook made a throwing error, and Trammell advanced to second. Garrett White doubled to right, scoring Trammell for a 7-5 lead. After another pitching change, Jonathan Jamie doubled down the left-field line, scoring White to make it 8-5. The inning ended with the Cougars trailing 9-5.

College of Charleston managed one more run in the eighth on a Johnson groundout, but could not close the gap.

Key pitching performances included College of Charleston reliever Alex Lyon, who threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout, allowing no hits. Drew Medley added 2 1/3 scoreless frames with two strikeouts. For Georgia Southern, starter Brady Pendley worked 4 2/3 innings, surrendering six hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Jax Lewis closed the ninth with a scoreless inning.

Offensively, Christman went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Diaz was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Cougars. Plyler finished 3-for-5. Trammell drove in two runs for the Eagles.

The Cougars had 15 hits to the Eagles’ 11.

Georgia Southern won its second straight game after taking two of three from Georgia State over the weekend. College of Charleston had won three in a row before Tuesday’s loss.

The Interstat game simulator had projected a final score of College of Charleston 5, Georgia Southern 3, and Interstat’s ELO system gave the Cougars a 60.50 percent probability to win.