ATLANTA --Georgia State fell to UT Arlington 14-6 in the opening game of their Sun Belt Conference series Friday at the GSU Baseball Complex as the Mavericks took the lead on a seventh-inning grand slam.

Brandon Bell led Georgia State with four hits and two runs batted in. Terrell Frazier homered, and Josh Smith also drove in two runs for GSU (7-15, 2-2 Sun Belt), which entered the ninth inning down just 7-6 before UTA (13-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) scored seven in the top of the ninth.

After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, Georgia State fought back to tie the game on Frazier's solo home run, then took a 5-3 lead with two runs in the fifth. Griffin Cheney led off with a double to the left field corner and Elian Merejo singled to put runners at the corners with no outs. Bell ripped a single to center field to score Cheney and put the Panthers ahead. After a bunt moved up the runners, Smith delivered a sacrifice fly for a 5-3 advantage.

After allowing a 3-run homer in the first inning, GSU starter Hunter Gaddis (1-2) settled down and shut down the Mavericks, including eight strikeouts, until the seventh inning. He got the first two outs in the seventh before UTA managed a bloop double that dropped into shallow right center between three fielders. He walked the next two batters before departing, and then UTA's Josh Minjarez hit the go-ahead grand slam, putting the Mavericks up 7-5.

Georgia State scored one in the bottom of the seventh as Smith drew a bases-loaded walk. The Panthers still had the bases loaded with no outs but an inning-ending line drive double play derailed the rally. GSU had more baserunners in the eighth and ninth, but both innings also ended with double plays.

Bell, the senior right fielder, went 4-for-5 with RBI singles in the third and fifth. Catcher Dalton Davies drove in the Panthers' first run with a second-inning single. Cheney and Merejo added two hits each. 

Game 2 of the series is Saturday at 2 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex.