ATHENS, Ga. ? After taking a 4-0 lead, the Georgia State baseball saw No. 7 Georgia tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Jonathan Kolowich delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to score pinch runner Matt Van Horn and give the Panthers a 5-4 lead. Gordon Beckham was the hero for Georgia, belting a three-run homer over the trees in left field to give the Bulldogs a 7-5 win.
The Bulldogs clawed away at the Panther lead in the fifth, as Matt Cerione scooted home from third on Matt Olson's sacrifice fly to left. Georgia chipped away at the State lead with a solo homer from Poythress, as the Panthers held onto a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the eighth with runners on the corners and two outs, Georgia knotted the game up with a pinch-hit single from Adam Fuller.
Patience at the plate paid off for Georgia State (18-16) in the third inning against Georgia starter Justin Grimm, as the Panthers pushed across four runs on four hits. Mike McCree walked to lead off the inning and Jonathan Kolowich singled, and the duo moved up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt from Nick Hogan.
With two outs, Chase Childers dropped a single down the left field line to bring home two runs and give State the lead. Bradley Logan followed Childers' single with one of his own to right and swiped second with Marc Mimeault at the plate. A pitch later, Mimeault delivered a single to center field that brought in two more runs and gave the Panthers a 4-0 lead.
Georgia (25-12) got a run back in the fourth after Rich Poythress led off the frame with a single against State starter Kenny Camp. John Locklear relieved Camp after the leadoff hit and gave up a single to Bryce Massanari, but got out of the jam with a 4-6-3 double play. Locklear ended the inning with a groundout, preserving a 4-1 Panther lead.
“I thought our offense played very hard against a good Georgia pitching staff. We found ways to score and I'm very happy with that big third inning,” said head coach Greg Frady.
“We knew this five-game stretch was going to be tough, but we put ourselves in a position to win each game. We just didn't come out on the winning side of the equation,” Frady added about playing CAA leader UNC Wilmington between road games against Auburn and Georgia.
Childers and Kolowich led the Panthers at the plate, going 2-for-3. Childers and Mimeault each drove in two runs for State.
Georgia State returns to action this weekend, opening a 15-game homestand with a doubleheader against N.C. Central on Saturday, April 19, at 2 p.m.
NOTES: Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas got hit by a pitch for the 19th time in his career, moving into a three-way tie for third place in school history ... Rochon-Salvas stole his 36th career base in the fifth, moving into a tie with Jonathan Paden (1997-00) for fifth place in Panther history.
