Despite holding James Madison scoreless over the final eight innings, the Georgia State baseball team fell to the Dukes 6-2 in the series opener on Friday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Va. Freshman Nick Squeglia threw 6.1 innings of relief, his longest career outing, shutting down JMU and give State a chance to comeback after a tough first inning.
The second place Panthers dropped to 26-16 and 8-5 in CAA play, while James Madison, one of the hottest teams in the conference right now and winners of eight of their last nine games, improved to 25-18 and 9-7, just a half game back of State.
James Madison got to Panther starter Robinson Polanco (3-1) early, as he suffered his first loss of the season. Polanco did not record an out, allowing five runs on just two hits, while walking three and hitting two Duke batters.
The Dukes would plate six runs in the bottom of the first, before Squeglia was able to get out of the inning.
The freshman would pitch into the seventh inning, scattering seven hits and allowing just one run, while striking out two, but the Panthers left eight runners on base, which was just too much to overcome.
Sophomore Theo Asher pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one.
State got on the board in the top of the third as Duke starter Turner Phelps (7-0) walked three of the first four batters of the inning. Senior Chase Childers followed with a sacrifice fly, that scored freshman Brandon Williams.
Phelps finished the game by pitching a complete game five-hitter, allowing just two runs, while striking out nine and walking five, throwing 134 pitches. Phelps is now a perfect 15-0 in his career with James Madison and is the all-time CAA winning percentage leader.
The Panthers got their only other run in the top of the sixth as senior Marc Mimeault doubled down the line, scoring Childers.
Senior Nick Hogan continued his hot bat, collecting a pair of hits.
With his third inning RBI, Childers moved into the top ten all-time in career RBI's, tying Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas with 122.
The Panthers and Dukes will continue their three game series on Saturday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. Live stats will be available via GeorgiaStateSports.com.
