GEORGIA STATE (24-22, 11-10) at TEXAS STATE (30-16, 12-9)
May 5-7, San Marcos, Texas

Georgia State has won four of its last five games entering this weekend's series at Texas State, beginning Friday at 7 p.m. ET at Bobcat Field. After sweeping Marshall last weekend, Georgia State is in a five-way tie for sixth place In the crowded Sun Belt standings. The Panthers are one game behind fourth-place Texas State (12-9).

SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, April 5, 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 6, 3:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 7, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

LEADING OFF
> Georgia State is No. 6 in Division I with a school-record 91 home runs, led by Luke Boynton and Max Ryerson with 14 each, 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 166 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 in the Sun Belt in batting average at .400 and on-base percentage at .526 (No. 18 in D1). He has 14 homers and 38 RBI, and his OPS is 1.236. He is tied for ninth among active D1 players with 45 career home runs.

> 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 and tied for 23rd among active D1 pitchers. 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 (409-197 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).

WHO'S HOT
> Max Ryerson has seven homers in his last 12 games with 17 RBI and a .422 average. 

> 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, Jimmy Fowlkes, 1980).

> Jones stole four bases in Game 1 at James Madison, coming within one of the school record of five, set by Henry Reese vs. Samford in 1985. 

> Jones has been hot at the plate, hitting .500 (18-for-36) for his last 11 games with nine RBI, 11 runs scored and a .516 on-base percentage.

> 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, he is hitting .325 with 11 homers and 35 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 .327 with eight home runs and a team-leading 40 RBI.

> Shortstop Matt Ruiz, the transfer from USF, has 20 extra base hits: 10 doubles, three triples and seven homers. He is hitting .304 with 38 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.

SERIES NOTES
> Georgia State and Texas State are playing their ninth series since both schools joined the Sun Belt Conference for the 2014 season, but this is the sixth time that the Panthers are playing at San Marcos.

> On their last trip to Texas State in 2021, the Panthers swept the Bobcats, 7-4, 9-4 and 7-5.

> Last season, Texas State swept the series in three one-run games, 8-7, 5-4, and 4-3, in Atlanta.

> Texas State leads the series 16-8, but Georgia State is 7-8 against the Bobcats in San Marcos.

SINCE THE START OF 2022 SEASON:
> Georgia State has hit 166 home runs.

> Max Ryerson has 36 home runs, 100 RBI and 87 runs scored while hitting .360.

> Luke Boynton has 26 home runs, 75 RBI and a .305 batting average.

> Cameron Jones is hitting .359 with 44 stolen bases and 80 runs scored. He also has three wins, five saves and a 2.91 ERA on the mound over the last two seasons.