ATLANTA – Chloe Nadler and Bailee Richardson each homered and Georgia State nearly overcame a five-run deficit before falling 9-8 to California Baptist at Bob Heck Field on Thursday evening.

Nadler, a junior infielder from Boca Raton, Fla., went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate including her solo home run in the fourth inning.  Richardson went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs on her homer in the first.  Both Nadler and Richardson lead Georgia State (4-8) with three home runs each.

Emily Brown went 2-for-4 with one RBI, and Jackie Gonzalez drove in a run on a double in the fourth inning.

GSU jumped out front first as Emily Brown legged out a bunt single and Ashton Schroyer walked to lead off the first inning.  Then after Jaycee Goodwin popped out to shortstop, Richardson cranked her three-run blast over the left-field wall to put the Panthers up 3-0.

The lead was short-lived as California Baptist (5-6) tied the game on a three-run homer by Karmyna Becerra in the second, and then capitalized on an error and a pass ball in the third to score four unearned runs on four hits and take a 7-3 lead.

CBU added another run in the fourth before Chloe Nadler sparked the Panthers' rally in the home-half with her solo-blast to make it 8-4.  Then after a 30 minute rain delay, Carolyn Deady singled to left field and scored on a two-out double by Jackie Gonzalez, who then advanced to third on a base-hit by Chloe Middlebrooks, who advanced to second.  A wild pitch allowed Gonzalez to score and moved Middlebrooks to third before Emily Brown drove her home with a base hit up the middle past the glove of the diving shortstop to make it 8-7.

The Lancers added one more run in the fifth before GSU responded with another run in the home half of the inning.  With two outs and runners on first and third, Maya Montague came on to pinch run at first base and drew a rundown that allowed Bailee Richardson to scamper home from third and score on catcher's obstruction to make it 9-8.

GSU had a chance to tie the game, putting runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh, but couldn't bring the tying run home.  Chloe Middlebrooks reached and advanced to second on an error in the sixth and advanced to third on an infield single by Ashton Schroyer but was gunned out at home trying to stretch the tying-run across on the same play.

Then in the seventh, Jaycee Goodwin reached on an error, and after Bailee Richardson struck out, Nadler capped her 4-for-4 perfomance with a single up the middle to put runners on first and second, But Carolyn Deady and Emma Yanes each struck out to end the rally.

One highlight for Georgia State was Emily Hodnett, who pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to finish the game and keep it close.

Panther starter Hallie Adams (0-3) recorded a season-high five strikeouts but took the loss after allowing seven runs, three earned in 2.2 innings.

Morgan McConnell (1-3) earned the win for California Baptist and Alyssa Argomaniz pitched the final 3.1 innings to earn the save.

Georgia State will face Northern Iowa at 3 p.m. and Tennessee State at 5:30 p.m. on Day One of the Panther Invitational at Bob Heck Field on Friday, Feb. 24.