What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State improved to 4-2 in the Sun Belt (second place) with 5-2 win at UT Arlington.
* Nathan Bates (3-0) pitched seven shutout innings and Kevin Burgee earned his fourth save.
* Cam Sperry delivered a two-run, pinch-hit single in the eighth inning for two key insurance runs.
* Series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. ET
Arlington, Texas -- Nathan Bates pitched seven shutout innings to lead Georgia State to a 5-2 win at UT Arlington Friday at Clay Gould Ballpark. With the win, Georgia State (15-12) improved to 4-2 in the Sun Belt to move into second place in the league standings.
Bates, the 6-7 junior right-hander, allowed six hits and struck out five with three walks to improve to 3-0 on the season.
"Nathan was just a very difficult guy to hit tonight. He had all his pitches going," head coach Greg Frady said. "We think he's one of the best in the business on Friday night, and we need him to pitch like that, and he absolutely did tonight."
Bates began the game with a 1-0 lead to work after Ryan Blanton led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrific bunt and then scored on Caden Bailey's groundout.
"Taking the lead gave us confidence, and we played really well all night long," Frady said.
The Panthers added a run in the third, when Justin Jones and Bailey led off with back-to-back singles, and Matt Rose, returning from injury, plated Jones with a sacrifice fly. Rhett Harper's RBI-single in the sixth pushed the lead to 3-0.
The score remained 3-0 into the eighth inning, when Cam Sperry delivered a pinch-hit single to bring home two insurance runs.
Those runs proved important when the Mavericks loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth and then got run-scoring singles from Brady Cox and Christian Hollie to pull within 5-2 before Wayne Wages recorded the final two outs of the inning.
Kevin Burgee pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his fourth save of the season and the 12th of his career, to move into second place in Georgia State history.
UTA starter Chad Nack (2-2) pitched seven innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits.
The Panthers earned their third Sun Belt road win, equalling their total for all of last season, their first in the league. Georgia State also snapped a four-game losing streak in which the Panthers were playing without Rose and his eight home runs (third in the nation).
"It made a major different," Frady said of having Rose back. "Matt Rose just brings a confidence, a calmness and a consistency to our lineup that lets everybody just be themselves."
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
ing five runs on 11 hits.
