Panthers Host No. 19 Coastal Carolina

GEORGIA STATE (14-11, 4-2) vs. #19 COASTAL CAROLINA (15-7, 4-2)
March 31-April 2 | GSU Baseball Complex

Coming off a midweek win over Georgia Tech, Georgia State hosts No. 19 Coastal Carolina in a Sun Belt Conference series that opens Friday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex.

Friday, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

LEADING OFF
> Georgia State and Coastal Carolina are part of a four-way tie, along with Georgia Southern and App State, for third place in the Sun Belt entering the weekend.

> The Panthers are coming off a 12-11, 14-inning walk-off win over Georgia Tech Tuesday at Coolray Field, marking the third straight year that Georgia State has knocked off Tech. Will Mize drove in the tying run with a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, and shortstop Matt Ruiz scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Mize, Dylan Strickland and Max Ryerson homered for GSU.

> Georgia State is tied for sixth in Division I with 55 home runs, led by Dylan Strickland with 10, JoJo Jackson, Luke Boynton and Max Ryerson with seven each and Will Mize with six.

> The Panthers also rank in the top 20 nationally in scoring (14th), batting average (18th), slugging (12th) and on-base percentage (20th).

> Dylan Strickland was named National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball and Sun Belt Conference POTW on March 20 after going 7-for-14 with five homers, 10 RBI and nine runs scored in four games. He hit all five homers in the Troy sweep.

> Strickland hit five homers in a span of seven plate appearances over Games 2 and 3 vs. Troy. After homering twice in his last three at-bats in Game 2, he tied the Georgia State record with three home runs in his first four at-bats in the series finale.

> Fourth-year head coach Brad Stromdahl is one win from 400 career victories. Stromdahl (399-186 overall) 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 his last two years (2018-19).

> Former Major League pitcher Chad Bell is in his first season as the Panthers' pitching coach. Bell played 10 seasons of professional baseball, reaching the Majors with the Detroit Tigers in 2017-18.

> Panther alum Hunter Gaddis (GSU 2017-19) has made the Opening Day roster for the Cleveland Guards, and the right-hander is scheduled to make a start on the mound Friday. He was a fifth-round draft pick out of Georgia State in 2019.

WHO'S HOT
> Dylan Strickland is hitting .316 with 10 homers and 26 RBI. He is fifth in the Sun Belt and No. 18 in the nation in homers. Strickland also ranks second in the Sun Belt in batting average, second in slugging (.844) and eighth in on-base percentage (.489). His OPS of 1.333 is second.

> Preseason All-American Max Ryerson has homered in three straight games. In Tuesday's win over Georgia Tech, hit a 2-run homer to put GSU ahead 7-6 in the sixth inning and then an RBI single for 9-8 lead in the eighth. Ryerson also hit the game-tying, 2-run homer in the top of the ninth in Sunday's loss at App State as well as a solo homer in Saturday's win.

> Ryerson is second on the team and seventh in the Sun Belt in batting average at .395, along with seven homers and 20 RBI. His .518 on-base percentage is No. 3 in the Sun Belt.

> Cameron Jones is second in the Sun Belt and No. 11 in Division I in stolen bases (18).

> Luke Boynton hit three homers in the Clemson series and is tied for second on the team with seven. The junior first baseman has 19 career homers.

> Third baseman Will Mize is hitting .337 with six homers and a team-leading 28 RBI. On Sunday at App State, he drove in five runs in the first two innings with a 2-run homer and a 3-run double. In the win over Tech, his RBI-single tied the game in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings.

> Shortstop Matt Ruiz had four hits, three RBI and four runs scored in the win over Georgia Tech. He had a solo homer in the second, run-scoring double in the third, and an RBI groundout in the eighth. In the 14th, he singled with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and then scored the winning run on wild pitch.

> Sophomore outfielder JoJo Jackson is hitting .310 with seven homers and 23 RBI. He is second in the Sun Belt with 22 walks.

SERIES NOTES
> Georgia State swept last year's series at Coastal Carolina, winning 14-8, 7-6 and 5-4.

> Ryan Watson, now Georgia State's Saturday starter, was in the bullpen last season and saved the Saturday and Sunday one-run wins.

> In 2021, GSU won the series opener 2-1 but Coastal came back to win the series. In the Friday win, Will Mize homered and Cameron Jones pitched six innings and allowed just one run on two hits with six strikeouts but did not figure in the decision.

> Coastal Carolina leads the series 9-6.

GEORGIA STATE vs. RANKED TEAMS
> Since the start of the 2021 season, Georgia State has knocked off five ranked teams, all ranked No. 15 or higher. Three of the five wins were on the road.

> Georgia State's last win over a ranked team was a 6-1 victory at No. 15 Clemson on March 15, 2022.

> The Panthers have played 26 games vs. ranked teams since 2021.

> GSU earned four wins over ranked foes in 2021: No. 14 West Virginia twice, 7-6 (10) and 20-4 (home); No. 2 Vanderbilt, 4-2 (away) for the highest-ranked win in program history; and No. 10 Georgia Tech, 10-1 (away).

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Players Mentioned

#22 Hunter Gaddis: RHP; 6' 6"; Junior; R/R

#25 Ryan Watson: RHP; 6' 2"; Freshman; R/R

#3 Luke Boynton: INF; 6' 5"; Junior; R/R

#42 JoJo Jackson: OF; 6' 2"; Sophomore; S/L

#1 Cameron Jones: LHP/OF; 6' 1"; Junior; R/L

#14 Will Mize: INF; 6' 2"; Junior; R/R

#23 Max Ryerson: OF; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#10 Dylan Strickland: INF; 5' 11"; Junior; R/R

#21 Matt Ruiz: INF; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#22 Hunter Gaddis
: 6' 6"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#25 Ryan Watson
: 6' 2"; Freshman; R/R
: RHP

#3 Luke Boynton
: 6' 5"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#42 JoJo Jackson
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; S/L
: OF

#1 Cameron Jones
: 6' 1"; Junior; R/L
: LHP/OF

#14 Will Mize
: 6' 2"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#23 Max Ryerson
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: OF

#10 Dylan Strickland
: 5' 11"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#21 Matt Ruiz
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: INF