Junior Will Palmer came within an out of a shutout as the Georgia State baseball team's hopes for making the Colonial Athletic Association Championships got a big lift with a 7-1 victory over Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon in Norfolk, Va.
Palmer was matched up with the CAA's leader in earned run average in Anthony Shawler and rose to the challenge. Palmer gave up just two hits in 8.2 innings before giving up a triple to Shawler and a single to Tyler Belcher to allow ODU to avoid the shutout.
The game was scoreless through the first six innings, with both starters rising to the occasion. In the seventh, Kenny Camp helped the Panthers break through. After a leadoff walk to freshman Bradley Logan, the redshirt junior launched a two-run homer out to left field to give Palmer and the Panthers all the runs they would need.
State (24-27, 13-13) then took advantage of a pair of ODU errors to score five unearned runs over the last two innings. In the eighth, sophomore Matt Van Horn reached on an infield hit, stole second, then advanced to third on a throwing error. After a walk to senior Aeden McQueary, sophomore Chase Childers laid down a perfect bunt, scoring Van Horn and allowing the shortstop to reach first himself, giving State a 3-0 edge.
In the ninth, the Panthers broke the game open by scoring four runs with two men out. With Camp on first after reaching on a throwing error, Eric Suttle doubled down the line in left for his third hit of the afternoon. After a pitching change and an intentional walk to Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas, the bases were loaded for Van Horn. While a wild pitch would score Camp from third, Van Horn's bases-clearing double down the line in right scored Suttle and Rochon-Salvas to make it 6-0. McQueary would finish the scoring with State's third double of the inning, scoring Van Horn to give the Panthers a 7-0 margin.
Palmer was dominant for State. The hurler went the distance for the first complete game effort of the season for Georgia State. He allowed only four hits and the one run that scored with two outs in the ninth. He improved to 6-5 on the season, while lowering his ERA to 4.67, the best of any Georgia State starter.
Shawler (9-2) went 7.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits. He walked three and struck out seven. Ross Fetterly gave up three unearned runs in 1.1 innings of work, while Matt Walls gave up a run in one-third of an inning.
Old Dominion remained in a tie for first in the CAA thanks to Virginia Commonwealth losing to Delaware. The Monarchs are now 30-20 overall and 16-9 in the CAA.
The two teams will meet tomorrow in the rubber game of the series. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
