Brookline, Mass. – Georgia State scored five runs in the eighth inning to take a 5-4 lead before falling at Northeastern, 6-5 in 13 innings, Friday afternoon at Friedman Diamond. The Huskies tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth and then won it in the 13th on a bases-loaded, walk-off single by Pete Castoldi.
Going extra innings for the fifth time in their last 10 games and playing their longest game since 2009, the Panthers lost for just the fourth time in 15 games but fell to 27-17, 6-10 in the CAA. Northeastern improved to 23-15, 8-8 in the CAA.
Trailing 4-0, Georgia State took the lead by scoring five runs in the eighth without hitting the ball out of the infield. Chad Prain led off the frame with a walk, and with one out, Josh Merrigan reached on a bunt single to third base off reliever Brad McLean. McLean then hit Nic Wilson to load the bases and was lifted for closer Dylan Maki.
Maki hit Caden Bailey to bring in one run, then walked pinch hitter Chase Raffield and hit Landon Anderson, pulling the Panthers within 4-3. With the bases still loaded and just one out, Matt Rose's groundout brought home Bailey with the tying run.
Then Mark Hogan, who played his high school baseball at nearby Lincoln-Sudbury High, gave the Panthers a 5-4 lead when he legged out an infield single to third base to score Raffield.
GSU reliever Ben Burns retired the Huskies in the bottom of the eighth, but with one out in the ninth, NU's speedy leadoff hitter Aaron Barbosa tripled to the right field corner. Rose relieved Burns, and allowed a fly ball to Brad Burcroff that was deep enough to score Barbosa with the tying run.
The Panthers had an excellent chance to score in the top of the 12th when Josh Merrigan led off with a double to the left field corner and moved to third on James Clements' groundout to the right side. But Bailey's line drive was right at the shortstop, and after an intentional walk to Raffield, Anderson struck out to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the 13th, Michael Foster and Will Dougherty reached on back-to-back singles and moved up on a wild pitch. After an intentional walk to John Putress, Castoldi delivered the game-winning single.
“It was a really hard fought game,” said GSU head coach Greg Frady, whose squad is playing short-handed due to injuries to second baseman Greg Bowder and catcher Scott Sarratt. “You can talk about things we might have done better, you can talk about players who aren't here, but at the end of the day, the group that we had played really hard for 13 innings and we just came up a little short. That's road baseball. It's been a challenge for this team to win on the road. Games like this only strengthen us, even though it's painful to go through."
Foster (1-0), who came on to pitch in the 12th, earned the victory with 1-2/3 innings of scoreless relief, including three strikeouts.
Rose (0-2) equaled his career-long outing with four innings and allowed one run on four hits with four strikeouts.
Neither starter figured in the decision. Northeastern starter James Mulry pitched seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits while striking out eight and walking four. Georgia State's Nathan Bates went 5-1/3 innings and gave up four runs, only two earned, on just three hits, but he walked four and struck out three.
“Our pitching staff did a great job,” said Frady. “Nathan Bates gave us a really good start that kept us in the game. Ben Burns was outstanding in relief, and Matt Rose was awesome.
"We just had a string where we couldn't get the one offensive situation to get us over the hump. We had a great rally in the eighth, the five-run inning to get back in the game, but we couldn't put anything else together to score runs in any other inning.
“It's disappointing, but we'll be ready to play tomorrow," Frady added.
The last time Georgia State played more than 12 innings was a 15-inning contest at William and Mary in 2009, which GSU lost, 9-8.
The three-game series continues with a 1 p.m. game Saturday. Sunday's series finale has been moved to an 11 a.m. start. Live video for both games is available at gonu.com.
