Williamsburg, Va.- Mark Micowski and Georgia State rallied with five unanswered runs but could not erase a six-run deficit in falling at William & Mary on Friday night, 8-7, evening the teams' Colonial Athletic Association series at Plumeri Park.
Trailing 8-2 after six innings, GSU (34-17, 14-12 CAA) scored twice in the seventh inning and three times in the ninth, but William & Mary reliever Brett Koehler induced a groundout by pinch hitter Drew Shields with the tying run on second base to end the game.
Micowski went 3-for-5?Friday night, singling and scoring in both the seventh and ninth to trigger a Panther rally that came up just one run shy.
The Tribe improved to 24-26, 14-12 in conference play with the win, as?Georgia State and William & Mary are now tied in fifth place in the CAA with four conference games remaining. The league's top four teams will qualify for the season-ending CAA Tournament in Wilmington, N.C., in two weeks. Saturday's crucial series finale between the Panthers and Tribe at Plumeri Park has been moved up to 12 p.m. with inclement weather expected later in the day.
The Panthers took an early 1-0 lead Friday, scoring in the second inning off Tribe starter Logan Billbrough. Brandon Williams led off the inning with a double down the right field line, then moved to third on Ryan Fleming's flyout to center. Three batters later, with runners on the corners, Shane Hammond smacked a two-out single into center field to plate Williams for the game's opening tally.
The Tribe struck with four runs in the bottom of the second off Panther starter Charley Olson, thanks to two RBI singles, an RBI groundout and a fielding error by GSU challenging a stolen base attempt at third.
Micowski got the Panthers back on the board in the third inning, making it 4-2 with a leadoff homer to right field, his fifth of the season.
Both teams went scoreless in the fourth and fifth frames.
In his second inning of work in relief of Olson, Panther lefty Aidan Francis yielded home run by Jonathan Slattery in the sixth that made it 5-2, Tribe. William & Mary plated three more runs in the inning on two RBI singles and an RBI double, making it 8-2.
Georgia State would get the?comeback started?in the seventh with two runs against Billbrough. With the bases loaded and one out, Williams hit a grounder to short, but as the Tribe forced an out and second and tried to turn a double play, a high throw sailed over the first baseman's head to plate Condotta scoring from third and Micowski from second.
GSU pitchers Jeremy Gazerro and Sam Agnew-Wieland then teamed up to keep the Tribe off the board in the seventh and eighth innings, setting up the ninth inning push for GSU.
Condotta began the final frame by drawing a leadoff walk. After Micowski singled to left field, Maxwell blasted a double into left center that scored Condotta, making it 8-5. Koehler then entered the game to pitch for the Tribe, walking Lind to load the bases. After Williams struck out, Fleming lifted a ball to right field that plated Micowksi on a sacrifice fly. The Panthers were able to push a second run across on the play as an errant throw to third base went past Ryan Lindemuth, sending Maxwell?home to make it 8-7. Shields then came off the bench to pinch hit with the tying run, Lind, at second base, but grounded back to Koehler to end the game.
Billbrough (7-2) picked up the win, tossing 141 pitches over eight innings, while Olson (5-4) suffered the defeat for GSU.
The loss was just the third in 13 games for the Panthers against the Tribe under head coach Greg Frady.
Maxwell and Williams each finished the day 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
GeorgiaStateSports.com will be at Plumeri Park during Saturday's series finale for a live game blog, beginning at 11:45 am ET.
