Panthers Fall 19-13 as Illinois Evens Series

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Panthers Fall 19-13 as Illinois Evens Series

ATLANTA -- Georgia State rallied from an 11-5 deficit to within one run after seven innings before falling to Illnois 19-13 Saturday at the GSU Baseball Complex.

Illinois' Reid Roper homered and drove in four runs and Ryan Nagle also knocked in four as the Illini (1-1) evened the series, which concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.

Georgia State (1-1) rallied to trail just 14-13 entering the eighth inning but surrendured five runs in the top of the ninth. The Panthers got homers from Caden Bailey, Matt Rose, Joey Roach and Chris Triplett but hurt themselves with four errors.

"The effort was there, but we didn't pitch well enough or play good enough defense to give ourselves a chance today," GSU head coach Greg Frady said. "Credit to Illinois for the way they played, especially after falling behind 5-0."

Georgia State jumped to a 5-0 lead with three first inning homers. Chad Prain led off the game with a single, and Bailey belted his first homer of the season and second of his career to right center. Rose followed with a solo blast, and Roach added a two-run bomb off the scoreboard in right field.

Illinois chipped away with single runs in the second and third innings before exploding for eight runs in the fourth aided by two GSU errors.

The Illini added a run in the sixth inning to move ahead 11-6 before Georgia State began its comeback. Ryan Blanton led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and moved to third on Prain's double. With one out, Rose delivered a two-run single through the left side. After a two-out walk by Chase Raffield, Triplett drove a 3-1 pitch to straight away center field for a three-run homer, his first of the season, pulling the Panthers within 11-10.

Illinois answered with three runs in the top of the seventh off reliever Garrett Ford for a 14-10 advantage.

But Georgia State rallied again in the bottom of the seventh. Blanton drove in Greg Bowder with an infield single and then scored on another RBI-single by Rose. The Panthers still had bases loaded with no outs when Nic Wilson struck out, and then Raffield grounded out to first, scoring Prain and pulling the Panthers within 14-13. After a two-out walk to Triplett, GSU had the bases loaded again with two outs. Roach, who had already homered once, drove the ball to the wall in right field, but Pat McInerney made the catch for the third out.

Georgia State failed to score in the eighth, and Illinois put the game away with five runs in the top of the ninth off three GSU relievers.

Illinois reliever Cody Sedlock (1-0) earned the win in relief, and Tyler Jay pitched the final two innings for his first save.

GSU starter Andrew Fessler was lifted in the fourth inning after allowing five runs on nine hits. He was relieved by Aidan McLaughlin (0-1), who took the loss.

Rose finished 3-for-6 with four RBI for Georgia State.

 

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