ATLANTA- Freshman Alex Prescott smacked his first career home run but the Georgia State baseball team could not post its third straight rally Sunday, falling in their series finale with Northeastern at the GSU Baseball Complex, 13-4.
After dramatic comebacks of 11 and four runs over the first two games, GSU had 10 hits Sunday but could not overcome 17 from Northeastern as the Huskies scored all 13 runs over the final three innings of the game.
The three-game series featured 59 total runs on 86 combined hits. Both teams finished with double-digit hits in all three games.
GSU fell to 9-12 on the season and 2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association while NU improved to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in league play.
Drew Shields and Greg Bowder each had three hits at the top of the GSU lineup Sunday while Landon Bennett added two.
Panther starter Ben Marshall (1-2) struck out three and shut the Huskies out through the first six innings, but NU exploded for seven runs in the seventh and never gave up the lead.
Huskies lefty Kevin Ferguson (3-0) went 8.2 innings and struck out eight for the win.
"Ben gave us an excellent start through the first six innings but we seemed to hit a wall and the game really turned on a dime," said Panthers head coach Greg Frady.
Neither team scored through the first four innings, then the Panthers executed a suicide squeeze to score the first run of the game in the fifth. After Bennett doubled and moved to third, Roy Seltenrijch put down the sacrifice with Bennett charging home to make it 1-0.
Marshall kept the Huskies off the board until the seventh when the visitors belted seven hits- six singles and a triple- to jump out to a 7-1 lead.
The Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single from Shields and Bowder's infield hit that scored Seltenrijch from third but NU scored two unearned runs in the top of the eighth to make it 9-3.
Prescott then belted his first career homer in the bottom of the eighth for the Panthers, a pinch-hit solo shot that made it 9-4, but GSU did not score again on the day.
The Huskies added four more runs in their half of the ninth and Ferguson recorded all but the final out to pick up the win.
Bowder, who picked up his first career hit in Friday's stunning comeback, finished the series 7-for-12 at the plate with four RBIs.
"Greg's getting an opportunity to play and he's doing a super job," added Frady. "I'm really proud of him."
Shields and Caden Bailey added five hits apiece in the opening conference series while four different Panthers scored three times each.
"We learned that we're very competitive in our conference when we play well," Frady concluded about the series. "There's been a lot of talk about this being a young team and we're starting to learn from each other."
The Panthers hit the road Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game at Alabama State (7-15) before hosting CAA preseason favorite James Madison (5-14, 0-6) Friday through Sunday.
