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Head Coach Greg Frady
Junior Rob Lind
Sophomore Nick Squeglia
ATLANTA - Junior Rob Lind belted an 11th inning walk-off home run to give the Georgia State baseball team a 5-4 win and sweep of George Mason on Sunday afternoon. Lind gave the Panthers their second straight walk-off win and third straight CAA series without a loss.
Lind's ninth home run of the season gave the Panthers a school record-tying 77 home runs this season.
With the win, Georgia State improved to 27-17-1 overall and 10-4-1 in the CAA. The Patriots dropped to 27-15 overall and 10-8 in conference action. The Panthers are 13-2-1 over their last 16 games and with UNC Wilmington's win over VCU on Sunday, moved ahead of the Rams into second place in the CAA standings.
"We knew that today was going to be a close game," commented head coach Greg Frady. "I knew that George Mason would fight extremely hard as they are a traditional winning organization. They had more wins coming into the weekend than any other team in the conference, but I thought we grinded it out and found a way to win. Things are just working in our favor right now."
On Saturday, junior Ryan Fleming gave the Panthers a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to secure the series win.
For the third straight game in the series, George Mason struck first. Jeremy Haas led off the top of the third with a double to left center. Two batters later, Nick Allen placed a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Haas from third and give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore Brandon Williams tied the game with a single to right center, scoring senior Bradley Logan to tie the game. Logan led off the inning by reaching on an error by shortstop Brig Tison who had to replace All-CAA shortstop Ryan Soares who had been injured earlier in the game.
Two batters later, junior Shane Hammond singled up the middle, scoring sophomore Daniel Blaustein to give State a 2-1 lead.
Nick Allen responded for George Mason with a single to right field in the top of the fifth, scoring Tison from second to tie the game, 2-2.
Mason added another in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead. Chris Cook singled through the right side, scoring Josh Steinberg, who had doubled to right center with two outs.
The Panthers tied the game in the bottom half of the inning when, with two outs, Brig Tison's second error allowed Shane Hammond's ground ball to score Williams and tie the game 3-3.
Shane Davis gave the Patriots a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh with a double to left field, scoring Mark Hill, before being caught in a run-down between second and third.
Williams responded in the bottom of eighth with a one-out triple and scored two batters later as Hammond lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game 4-4, which eventually led the game to extra innings.
Williams finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Hammond drove in a pair.
Panther starter Ryan Moore lasted 7.0 innings, allowing 11 hits, but only four runs, while striking out seven. The senior did not factor into the decision.
Sophomore Nick Squeglia relieved Moore and went 3.0 innings, allowing just three hits, before giving way to Gazerro (5-2) who pitched the 11th to earn the win.
Kris Mengle (3-2) took the loss for the Patriots, pitching the 10th inning and giving up Lind's home run in the 11th. Patriot starter Chris O'Grady lasted 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and three runs, none of which were earned.
Mark Hill led George Mason at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a run scored.
The Panthers will take the week off for final exams, before returning to the field next Saturday. State will travel to the coast to face UNC Wilmington in the first rematch since the CAA Championship Game last May. First pitch in Saturday's doubleheader is set for 1 p.m.
Tickets for the Panthers remaining six home games can be purchased by calling 1-866-GA-STATE or by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com. Live stats of all Panther games are provided via GeorgiaStateSports.com.
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