Baseball Takes 4-Game Winning Streak to No. 5 Vanderbilt

GEORGIA STATE (24-21, 11-10) at #5 VANDERBILT (32-11, 16-5)
Tuesday, May 2, 7 p.m. ET | Nashville, Tenn.

WATCH: SECN+

LEADING OFF
> Winners of four in a row, Georgia State travels to No. 5 Vanderbilt Tuesday for a 7 p.m. ET game on SECN+.

> Georgia State is making its second trip to Vanderbilt in the last three seasons. In a weekend series in 2021, the Panthers knocked off then No. 2 Vanderbilt 4-2 in the Friday opener, marking the highest-ranked opponent that GSU has ever beaten. The Commodores won the remaining three games.

> That win at Vanderbilt is one of Georgia State's five wins over ranked teams since 2021. The Panthers also defeated No. 14 West Virginia twice (2012), No. 10 Georgia Tech (2021) and No. 15 Clemson (2022).

> This will be GSU's second-straight midweek game at an SEC foe after winning 9-7 at Georgia last Tuesday. Luke Boynton hit two homers and Will Mize homered and drove in four runs. Freshman Brady Jones pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out Georgia standout Charlie Condon with the tying run at second base to end the game and earn his third save.

> After sweeping Marshall over the weekend, Georgia State is in a five-way tie for sixth place In the crowded Sun Belt standings.

> Georgia State is No. 6 in Division I with a school-record 89 home runs, led by Luke Boynton with 14, Max Ryerson with 13, and JoJo Jackson and Dylan Strickland with 11 each. The Panthers have already broken the previous school record of 82, set in 2010. GSU hit 75 homers in 2022, giving them 164 over the last two seasons.

> GSU also ranks in the top three in the Sun Belt in batting average, scoring, on-base percentage, slugging and stolen bases.

> Max Ryerson is second the Sun Belt in batting average at .407 and on-base percentage at .525 (No. 18 in D1). He has 13 homers and 37 RBI, and his OPS is 1.246. He is tied for 10th among active D1 players with 44 career home runs, including 35 the last two seasons at GSU fifth in school history).

> Friday starter Ryan Watson has won three straight starts to improve to 5-1 and earn his 18th career victory, good for fourth in GSU history. The super senior right-hander also ranks third in Panther annals with 12 career saves. He is Georgia State's career leader in combined wins (18) and saves (12) with 30.

> Fourth-year head coach Brad Stromdahl earned his 400th career victory vs. James Madison on April 8. Stromdahl (409-196 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 pro ball, reaching the Majors with the Detroit Tigers in 2017-18.

WHO'S HOT
> Cameron Jones leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 3 in Division I in stolen bases with 32. That is the second-highest season figure in program history, two behind the school record (34 by Jimmy Fowlkes, 1980)

> Jones has been hot at the plate, hitting .531 (17-for-32) for his last 10 games with eight RBI, 11 runs scored and a .516 on-base percentage.

> Max Ryerson has also been hot for his last eight games with a .464 average (13-for-28), a .615 on-base percentage, four homers and 10 RBI.

> Luke Boynton hit two homers in last week's win at Georgia, and then followed with another blast against Marshall, giving him a team-high 14 on the season. He hit three homers in the Clemson series and two in the Coastal Carolina series, and he hit a grand slam in the Friday win over Arkansas State. The junior first baseman has 26 career homers, tied for 10th in GSU history.

> 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.

> Strickland hit the game-tying grand slam in the seventh inning in Saturday's 7-6 win over Marshall, in which the Panthers rallied from a 6-0 deficit with a seven-run seventh.

> On the season, Strickland is hitting .331 with 11 homers and 34 RBI.

> Third baseman Will Mize homered and drove in four runs in last week's win at Georgia, and then he hit the go-ahead, solo homer in the fourth inning of the 5-1, sweep-clinching win over Marshall. He is hitting .322 with eight home runs and a team-leading 40 RBI.

> Shortstop Matt Ruiz, the transfer from USF, has 18 extra base hits: 10 doubles, two triples and six homers. He is hitting .301 with 37 RBI.

> Sophomore outfielder JoJo Jackson went 6-for-10 with two homers and six RBI in the sweep of Marshall. He hit two homers in the Friday win, drove in the Panthers' first run to start their seven-run rally in the seventh inning of Game 2 and then had an RBI-single in Game 3. For the season, he is hitting .323 with 11 homers and 35 RBI. He leads the team with 32 walks.

> Freshman closer Brady Jones saved two games last week. In the 9-7 win at Georgia, he struck out Charlie Condon, one of the top hitters in the SEC, with the tying run at second base to end the game. Then he saved the Panthers' 7-6 win over Marshall by pitching scoreless eighth and ninth innings with three strikeouts. He has four saves on the season.

> Seventeen different Panthers have hit at least one homer, including three freshmen-- Michael Maginnis, Colin Hynek and Jaden Anderson--whose first career hit was a home run. Seven players have six or more homers.

SERIES VS. VANDERBILT
> Vanderbilt leads the series 4-2.

> In a weekend series in 2021, the Panthers knocked off then No. 2 Vanderbilt 4-2 in the Friday opener, marking the highest-ranked opponent that GSU has ever beaten. The Commodores won the remaining three games.

> In the 4-2 win, starting pitcher Ryan Watson threw five strong innings (1 run, 4 hits, 7 strikeouts) and Elian Merejo provided key insurance runs with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning. Vandy put the tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Chad Treadway recorded the final two outs for the save.

> Before the series in 2021, the only previous meetings were in 1967, when the two teams split a pair of games. Vandy won 2-1 and then GSU won 8-5.

> Georgia State's other recent wins over SEC teams include Georgia (2013, 2014 and 2023) and Ole Miss (2014 and 2017).

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Players Mentioned

#18 Elian Merejo: C; 6' 0"; Junior; R/R

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

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

#22 Colin Hynek: C; 6' 1"; Redshirt Freshman; 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

#20 Chad Treadway: RHP; 6' 0"; Junior; L/R

#11 Brady Jones: INF/RHP; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

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

Players Mentioned

#18 Elian Merejo
: 6' 0"; Junior; R/R
: C

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

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

#22 Colin Hynek
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Freshman; R/R
: C

#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

#20 Chad Treadway
: 6' 0"; Junior; L/R
: RHP

#11 Brady Jones
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: INF/RHP

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