GEORGIA STATE (2-3) at No. 2 VANDERBILT (3-0)
 
THE SERIES (Hawkins Field, Nashville, Tenn.)
Friday, 5:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, 3 p.m. ET
Sunday DH, 1 p.m. ET
 
COVERAGE: SECN+
Audio & Live Statistics on GeorgiaStateSports.com & GSU Athletics app
 
LEADING OFF
> Georgia State (2-3) continues its very challenging season-opening stretch with a trip to No. 2 Vanderbilt (3-0) for a four-game series, including single games Friday and Saturday and a doubleheader Sunday, all airing on SECN+.
 
> Ranked No. 2 (NCBWA, CB), Vanderbilt equals the highest ranked team GSU has ever faced. The Panthers played a No. 2 Georgia Tech team in 2010, while the highest ranked team GSU has ever defeated was No. 3 Georgia Tech in 2010, 10-1.
 
> Georgia State opened the season with a four-game series split against No. 14 West Virginia and then fell 6-2 to No. 7 Georgia.
 
> Before this season, Georgia State had never played more than three straight games against ranked opponents, but the Panthers are in a stretch of 14 straight games against teams that are currently ranked.
 
> In its second season under head coach Brad Stromdahl, GSU earned its first wins over a ranked team since 2018 (at No. 16 Coastal Carolina) against West Virginia and defeated a ranked opponent in consecutive games for the first time ever.
 
> After falling 5-3 in 10 innings on Opening Day, Georgia State swept the Saturday doubleheader with a 7-6 walk-off win in 10 innings and then a 20-4 victory in the nightcap. GSU then held WVU to just three hits in the series finale, but the Mountaineers managed a 3-2 victory.
 
> Senior Elian Merejo delivered the walk-off with a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th.
 
> The Panthers' 20-4 win in Game 3 of the WVU series represents the most runs GSU has ever scored against a ranked foe. Georgia State jumped on the Mountaineers with an 11-run first inning and never looked back.
 
> Shortstop Will Mize is the Panthers' leading hitter at .444. The second-year freshman 8-for-15 with two doubles, a homer and four RBI in the WVU series, including a double and a two-run homer in the 11-run first inning.
 
> The Panthers return a total of 24 letterwinners from a year ago, including all nine starting position players and every pitcher who started a game or recorded a decision or save in 2020.
 
> Facing likely the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, Georgia State opened the season with five straight home games, all against ranked, Power 5 opponents, and now faces 13 straight road games, all against SEC and ACC foes.
 
> Second-year head coach Brad Stromdahl took over the Georgia State program in 2020 after seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia Gwinnett, where he started the program from scratch in 2013 and compiled a record of 328-104. He led the Grizzlies to the Avista-NAIA World Series three times, including the last two years. Before going to Georgia Gwinnett in November 2011, Stromdahl spent five seasons (2007-11) as an assistant coach at Georgia State.
 
SERIES NOTES
> Georgia State is facing Vanderbilt for the first time since 1967, when the two teams split a pair of games. Vandy won 2-1 and then GSU won 8-5 to even the series at 1-1.
 
> The Panthers' last win over an SEC team was at Ole Miss in 2017, 2-0 in 11 innings. GSU also has recent SEC wins against Georgia (3-1 2013 and 10-7 2014) and at Ole Miss (6-4 in 2014).
 
> GSU has one player from the state of Tennessee in true freshman pitcher Mason Patel from Knoxville (The Webb School).
 
> Georgia State and Vanderbilt have an upcoming home-and-home series in football in 2024 (Atlanta) and 2025 (Nashville).