ARLINGTON -- Georgia State suffered a pair of heart-breaking defeats Sunday as UT Arlington won 12-10 in 10 innings and then 6-5, both on walk-off home runs, as the teams completed Saturday's game and then played Game 3 of their Sun Belt Conference series.
The Panthers (11-9, 0-3 Sun Belt) were swept in the series and have lost five straight games.
Junior catcher Nick Gatewood went 7-for-11 with a homer and three RBI in the two games, while senior shortstop Justin Jones had five hits, including three doubles, and two RBI, and senior second baseman Will Kilgore added three hits with two doubles.
Georgia State returns home to host Georgia Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex on PantherVision.
GAME 1: UT Arlington 12, Georgia State 10 (10)
In the resumption of a game that was suspended Saturday, UT Arlington rallied for five runs in the eighth inning and then won 12-10 on a walk-off home run in the 10th inning in Game 2 of the Sun Belt Conference series against Georgia State.
Nick Gatewood had a homer, four hits and three RBI, and Justin Jones went 4-for-6 with three doubles and two RBI for the Panthers.
When the game began Saturday, Georgia State jumped in front with four runs in the first two innings. Justin Jones and Nick Gatewood led off the game with singles and then Brandon Bell walked to load in the bases. Jack Thompson's single to right field brought home the first run, and then another run scored on a double play.
The Panthers added two more in the second. Texas native Romero Greer started a two-out rally with a single and moved to third on Jones' double down the left field line. Then Nick Gatewood singled off the pitcher to score one, and Jones came home when the first baseman threw wildly to first, giving GSU a 4-0 lead after two.
Jones and Gatewood teamed up again as the Panthers put four more on the board in the fourth. Luke Leonard drew a one-out walk, Greer singled and then Jones delivered another double, this one to right center, to score two. Then Gatewood smashed a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, over the right field fence, and Georgia State led 8-0.
But UTA got answered with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, including a three-run homer by Will Olson. That chased starter Jake Rogers, but Brandon Baker came on to limit the damage.
The Mavs threatened again in the sixth, but Bryan White relieved Baker with runners at first and third and one out. The senior righty picked off Zac Cook at first base for the second out and then got R.J. Williams to fly out to end the inning.
Georgia State added an insurance run in the seventh on an error to take a 9-4 lead, and White retired the Mavs in the bottom of the frame, with help from the Panthers' NCAA-leading 24th double play of the season.
Greer stepped into the box to lead off the eighth when the lightning siren pulled the teams off the field at 4:36 p.m. local time.
Play resumed Sunday morning, and UT Arlington scored five runs, but only one of them earned, and took a 10-9 lead on Noah Vaughan's two-run home run.
The Panthers managed to tie the game in ninth on Luke Leonard's bases-loaded walk, but UTA won the game in the 10th on a two-run homer by Will Olson, his second of the game.
GAME 2: UT Arlington 6, Georgia State 5
After Georgia State took a one-run lead in the top of the ninth inning, UT Arlington's Noah Vaughan hit a walk-off, two-run homer to give the Mavericks a 6-5 victory and a sweep of the Sun Belt Conference series at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Panthers trailed 2-0 early but took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth, when UTA tied the game on run-scoring singles by Josh Minjarez and Aaron Funk.
GSU managed a run in the top of the ninth without benefit of a hit as Jack Thompson led off with a walk and scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Luke Leonard for a 5-4 lead.
After allowing two runs in the first, Georgia State starter Jordan Lee shut out the Mavericks into the seventh inning. In 6-1/3 innings he allowed just one earned run on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts but was not involved in the decision.
The Panthers scored one in the second on Will Kilgore's RBI-double, and then tied the game in the third on a run-scoring single by Brandon Bell. Georgia State took its first lead in the sixth on a a double-play grounder, and then added an insurance run on Romero Greer's RBI-single in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead.
Kilgore went 3-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and two walks in the game, while Nick Gatewood had three of the Panthers 12 hits. But GSU stranded 12 in the game.
