What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State fell at Auburn, 4-2.
* The Panthers had the tying run at the plate in the ninth in Matt Rose, who fly ball to the deepest part of the park was caught at the wall.
* Sun Belt-leading GSU hosts ULM Friday through Sunday.
Auburn, Ala. --- Georgia State fell 4-2 at Auburn Wednesday night at Plainsman Park, but not before the Panthers had a chance to tie the game in the ninth inning.
Trailing by two, Justin Jones led off the ninth with a single, and then with one out, Matt Rose, who leads the Sun Belt Conference with nine home runs, came to the plate. Rose hit a long fly ball to the deepest park of the park, but left fielder Jackson Burgeen made a great leaping catch right at the wall.
The Panthers (19-15) had one more chance after Joey Roach singled to put runners at first and second with two outs, but Sam Few flew out to Burgreen to end the game.
Roach was 2-for-3 with a double, while Few and Jones drove in the Panthers' runs.
Roach led off the second inning with a double to left field, and then Few followed with double down the third base line to tie the game at 1-1. After Cam Sperry singled, the Panthers had first and third with no outs, but Sperry was caught stealing and then Trae Sweeting hit into an inning-ending double play.
Jones gave Georgia State a 2-1 with a sacrifice fly that scored Levy, who led off the third with a double.
Auburn regained the lead with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
"We had some opportunities, but it didn't happen here tonight. I'm not happy with that, but I like where we are and we just need to keep playing good baseball," head coach Greg Frady said. "Offensively, we kept coming, but we just couldn't get the ball to fall. The Matt Rose ball, if it is all left of where it was, it's either off the wall or out of the park."
GSU used seven pitchers in the game, and relievers Garrett Ford, Connor Stanley, Wayne Wages, Alex Hegner, Clayton Payne and Kevin Burgee combined to allow just one run on three hits over the final five innings. Starter Marc-Andre Habeck (3-5) scattered three runs on eight hits in four innings.
Levy, the senior second baseman, made several sparkling defensive plays to keep the Panthers close.
Georgia State, leading the Sun Belt Conference with an 8-3 mark, hosts UL Monroe in a key conference weekend series, beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex. Call 404-413-4020 for tickets.
