Richmond, Va.- Virginia native Justin Malone had his best stuff of the season, holding VCU scoreless through the first seven innings, but the Georgia State baseball team could not hold on to a late 3-0 lead in a 4-3 walk-off loss to the Rams Friday night at The Diamond in the teams' Colonial Athletic Association opener.
The Panthers scored once in the first inning and added runs in the seventh and eighth, but VCU scored twice in the eighth and twice more in the ninth to win the game on Landon Prentiss' pinch-hit RBI single.
Malone struck out six and did not walk a batter over 7.2 innings, his longest outing of the year. The Rams finally connected twice against the Panther senior in the eighth then belted three hits on Jake Dyer (3-5) in the deciding inning.
Landon Bennett and Scott Sarratt each drove in a run for the Panther offense.
GSU dropped to 19-27 and 10-12 in league play with the loss while VCU improved to 26-20, 12-13.
The Panthers had 11 hits on offense, led by Bennett, Jonathan Kolowich and Kody Adams with two each, and did not commit an error on defense.
"Justin pitched a heck of a game and we did a lot of things right but we just didn't get the result we wanted tonight," said head coach Greg Frady.
The Panthers struck first with three singles in the first inning to jump in front. Bennett singled up the middle on the first pitch of the game and scored two batters later on a groundout by Brandon Williams for a 1-0 GSU lead.
Neither team scored over the next five innings as Malone led Rams hitters Bill Cullen and Joey Cujas- two of the CAA's best- to an 0-for-8 night.
GSU finally added to its lead in the seventh. After Greg Bowder belted a leadoff single and advanced to second on a fielding error, Bennett knocked him in with a single through the left side as GSU doubled its lead.
A pair of singles to start the eighth inning put runners on the corners for the Panther offense, then Scott Sarratt's RBI groundout scored Kolowich for a 3-0 Panther lead.
VCU finally connected off Malone in the eighth as he went over 100 pitches (finishing with 115) for the seventh straight outing.
The Rams put men on second and third with a pair of one-out singles, and a groundout scored the runner from third for VCU's first tally of the evening. A double by Jordan Weymouth scored another run as the Rams came within one at 3-2, prompting GSU to bring in Dyer in relief. Dyer got Cujas, the Rams' RBI leader who entered the game hitting nearly .400, to fly out and preserve the lead.
GSU could not add to its lead in the top of the ninth, however, setting up the dramatics in the bottom of the inning.
Dyer retired the first batter, then Chris Ayers drew a one-out walk. Taylor Buran followed with a single as the Rams put the winning run aboard. Vimael Machin tied the game with a single back up the middle, and Prentiss' pinch-hit single down the left field line scored Buran for the game-winner.
In a season full of close finishes, Friday's loss was the Panthers' 14th one-run game of the year.
The Panthers will look to tie the series Saturday with game two at The Diamond at 3 p.m.
