Richmond, Va. - The Georgia State baseball team opened a key three-game series with first-place VCU on Friday night with a 7-3 win at The Diamond. The Panthers pitching staff combined to strike out 17 Ram batters, just one shy of the school's all-time single game mark of 18, while senior Bradley Logan had a school-record night at the plate.
Logan went 2-for-4 to tie the school's all-time hits record of 267, which he now shares with Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas, set when his career ended in 2008. The senior third baseman also set a new career mark for at bats, moving ahead of Rochon-Salvas with 789 in his three-plus seasons at State. The Augusta, Ga. native already owns five all-time marks and is on pace to play in the most games in a Panther uniform before he graduates in May.
Juniors Aidan Francis and Jeremy Gazerro, along with sophomore Justin Malone, combined to keep VCU off the base paths with the 17 strikeouts, just one shy of the school record set on 14 years to the day against Furman in 1996.
However, the win was what Logan, the pitching staff and the team wanted most. The Panthers began a stretch of three straight weekends facing three of the four teams currently ranked ahead of them in the CAA standings. In a change of format from previous seasons, only the top four teams will qualify for the conference championship in Wilmington at the end of May.
With the win, State improved to 22-17 on the season and 6-4 in conference action. VCU, which led the CAA by 1.5 games entering the evening, fell to 22-16 overall and 11-2 in the conference. The Panthers have now won eight straight against the Rams dating back to 2007.
"I have to give a ton of credit to our pitching staff tonight," commented head coach Greg Frady. "Aidan Francis, Jeremy Gazerro and Justin Malone combined to strike out 17 batters, while only walking two, and that is an incredible accomplishment and I am very proud of their efforts."
The Panthers struck in the top of the first, quickly getting to reigning CAA Pitcher of the Week Seth Cutler-Voltz for a pair of runs.
Logan collected his first hit of the night, a single through the left side, scoring redshirt-junior Brett Maxwell to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. A batter later, junior Ryan Fleming singled to right field, scoring senior Carl Moniz from third to give State a two-run lead.
State continued to cause problems for Cutler-Voltz in the second, while multiple Ram errors proved costly.
VCU quickly recorded two outs in the top of the second, before three straight singles by Malone, junior Mark Micowski and Maxwell loaded the bases. An error by VCU's shortstop allowed Moniz to reach first base and score Malone, giving State an early 3-0 lead.
Logan followed with a double to left center to tie the all-time hits record, scoring Maxwell and Micowski to give Francis a 5-0 lead. The 59th double is Logan's ongoing school record.
Micowski finished the game 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored, while Maxwell went 2-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored.
Another VCU error in the top of the fourth led to two more Panther runs. Moniz singled deep in the hole at shortstop, scoring Maxwell, who reached on an error by the Rams right fielder. A fourth Ram error led to Maxwell scoring on an error by Cutler-Voltz.
Moniz added a pair of hits in three at bats for the Panthers. The Laval, Quebec native helped the top three in the Panthers batting order go a combined 7-for-12 with six runs scored.
VCU scored its first run on a single to center by John Lenherr in the bottom of the sixth, before adding a pair on the bottom of the ninth.
Francis (3-3) earned the win after pitching 5.2 innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just one run, while striking out a season-high eight batters. It was just one year ago when Francis made his first collegiate start, facing the same Rams and nearly pitching a complete game to earn CAA Pitcher of the Week honors.
Junior Jeremy Gazerro relieved Francis and pitched 2.1 innings of two-hit shutout relief, striking out six. The Calhoun, Ga. native has been unstoppable over the last 10 days, pitching 11.2 innings of relief, allowing just four hits and striking out 13.
Panther closer Justin Malone pitched the ninth to lead the Panthers to their eighth victory in the last 10 games. Malone recorded strikeouts for all three outs.
Cutler-Voltz (5-3) pitched 8.0 innings for the Rams and took the loss, allowing 12 hits and seven runs, only one of which was earned, while striking out four.
Joe Van Meter led VCU at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a run scored.
The two teams are scheduled to return to the field at 4 p.m. on Saturday, barring inclement weather that is heading for the east coast. The series finale is set for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Live stats of all three games can be found by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com.
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