ATLANTA- Seniors Brandon Williams and Joey Wood homered as the Georgia State baseball team took a 5-3 lead into the eighth inning but three William & Mary runs over the final two frames handed GSU a 6-5 loss in the Colonial Athletic Association series finale Sunday at the GSU Baseball Complex.
All three games in the series were decided by one run as Tadd Bower's RBI double in the ninth inning Sunday proved to be the difference.
The Panthers fell to 16-21 on the year and 7-8 in CAA play with the defeat while the Tribe reclaimed sixth place in the conference by improving to 24-15, 9-9.
GSU took 7-6 and 1-0 victories in the first two games, winning two of three for the third time in as many home conference series this year.
Panther starter Max Schmitz went 5.2 innings, yielding three runs, two earned with a strikeout.
Wood added a single, picking up two of the Panthers' seven hits on offense. Five different players scored for GSU over the first five innings.
Three Panther errors were costly in the loss.
"It was another very hard-fought conference game," said Panthers head coach Greg Frady. "I thought we showed up and had a good idea of what the importance of the game was. We just couldn't get it closed out at the end. But I'm happy and proud of the way the guys played this weekend. We played three one-run games and got two of them."
The Panthers opened the scoring in the second inning. Caden Bailey's second sacrifice fly of the year brought home Landon Bennett for the game's first run.
Brandon Williams' team-leading seventh home run plunked off the left field pole to give GSU a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
William & Mary jumped back in front with three runs on two hits in the fourth inning and took advantage of a fielding error to claim a 3-2 lead.
Wood answered right back with his fourth home run of the season to start the bottom of the inning, a solo shot that tied it, 3-3. Later in the frame, the Panthers then pushed the go-ahead run across as Greg Bowder scored from second base on a fielding error at third.
Landon Bennett's RBI single in the fifth scored Kody Adams as GSU extended the lead to 5-3.
Jonathan Kolowich's diving grab saved at least one run to end the sixth as Chris Forsten had lined one into right with two aboard. But the Panthers would relinquish their lead in the eighth, when the Tribe tied the game against Jake Dyer on a RBI singles from Sean Aiken and Forsten that made it 5-5.
After GSU went down in order at the plate, Bower's ninth-inning double into the corner scored Ryan Lindemuth from first base as the Tribe pushed in front, 6-5.
"It's a residual effect of being a little bit thin in the bullpen and putting wear and tear on guys," Frady added. "Then asking them to come back twice is a little difficult."
Dyer (2-4) also tossed 42 pitches in earning the save in Friday's contest.
Tribe closer John Farrell (1-0) kept GSU scoreless in the ninth, firing his third scoreless inning to seal the win.
The Panthers return to action Tuesday, paying a visit to Russ Chandler Stadium for a 6 p.m. game with Georgia Tech (21-16).
GSU returns to CAA action Friday by beginning a three-game series at Towson (18-18, 9-6).
