ATLANTA- Old Dominion right fielder Nathan Hartman threw out Georgia State pinch runner Wes Grant at home plate to seal a 4-3 win for the Monarchs on Sunday afternoon at the Field at Panthersville.
GSU fell to 27-11 on the season, 8-7 in Colonial Athletic Association play. ODU improved to 19-18 overall and 11-7 in the CAA. Phil McCarthy (5-4) picked up the win, while Nick Squeglia (3-2) allowed just one unearned run, but took the loss.
"It was a hard one to lose," head coach Greg Frady said. "It was a very hard fought game. We thought the last two innings were going to be very difficult and they turned out to be."
The Monarchs took a 2-0 lead in the third inning off Panther starter Justin Malone after an RBI single by Joshua Wright and an RBI double by Christopher Baker.
Nate Hartman homered in the fourth inning to give ODU a 3-0 lead.
Georgia State rallied to tie the game with three runs in the fifth off McCarthy. Bryan Condotta led off the inning with a single and scored two batters later on Brett Maxwell's RBI single. Rob Lind singled and stole second, inducing a wild throw from ODU catcher Edgar Hernandez that scored Maxwell. Lind then scored from third to tie the game on a dropped third strike to Brandon Williams, advancing when the Monarchs threw to first to put Williams away.
The game remained tied, 3-3, until the eighth inning, when Joey Burney's sharp liner to right field popped out of the glove of Ryan Fleming, allowing Wright to score from second base with two outs for a 4-3 ODU advantage.
GSU would threaten in the ninth inning off Monarchs closer Adam Wisniewski, beginning with Carter Sackett's leadoff single. Grant entered to pinch run for Sackett after he reached second on a failed pickoff attempt by Wisniewski. After Condotta walked, Mark Micowski's sacrifice bunt moved the runners over to second and third base with one out. Maxwell then flied out to shallow right field and Hartman delivered a strike to home plate to get a tagging Grant for the game's final out.
The save was the tenth of the season for Wisniewski.
"Conference baseball is hard," said Frady. "You have to do the little things in close games, and today we didn't do enough of the little things to win the game."
The Panthers return to action Tuesday, hosting Kennesaw State at the Field at Panthersville at 6 p.m.
