GEORGIA STATE (16-16, 7-5) vs. SOUTHERN MISS (21-12, 8-4)
April 12-14 | GSU Baseball Complex
THE SERIES
Friday, April 12, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, April 13, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, April 14, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
LEADING OFF
> Coming off a midweek win at Jacksonville State, Georgia State hosts Southern Miss in a three-game set beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex. The Eagles are tied for second place in the Sun Belt, one game ahead of GSU.
> In Wednesday's 8-5 win, the Panthers jumped in front with six runs in the first inning, but the story was reliever
Davis Chastain, who came on with bases loaded and no outs in the seventh inning and proceeded to strike out seven of the final nine batters to preserve the 8-5 lead. He needed just 33 pitches to throw three hitless, scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.
> Third baseman
Will Mize is the Panthers' top hitter at .336 while leading the team with eight homers and 30 RBI. He was 4-for-4 in Wednesday's win at Jacksonville State.
> First baseman
Luke Boynton is hitting .310 along with seven home runs and 17 RBI in 20 games. After missing three weeks due to injury, Boynton returned to the lineup last the weekend and promptly hit two home runs at Georgia Southern.
> Outfielder
Michael Maginnis has been the Panthers' hottest hitter, hitting .404 with 16 RBI, 17 runs scored and nine stolen bases over the last 15 games. On the season, Maginnis is hitting .316 with a team-leading 13 stolen bases on 15 attempts.
>
Luke Boynton has moved up to No. 6 in GSU history with 35 career homers, while
Will Mize is tied for 15th with 25.
> Georgia State won its first three Sun Belt series for the first time since joining the league in 2014, opening with a sweep at South Alabama for the first time ever, followed by series wins against ULM and James Madison before stumbling at Georgia Southern.
> Under fifth-year head coach
Brad Stromdahl, Georgia State recorded back-to-back 30-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, a first for the program since four in a row from 2008-2011, when Stromdahl was a GSU assistant coach. The Panthers were 30-29 in 2023, including a 16-14 mark in the Sun Belt.
> 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 his last two years (2018-19). In his 12th season as a head coach, Stromdahl is 431-220.
THE ELDER STATESMAN
> The veteran of the GSU squad as a fifth-year senior, third baseman
Will Mize picked up his 200th career hit vs. ULM.
> Mize is the 13th player in GSU history to record at least 200 career hits, 100 RBI and 100 runs scored. He has a .306 career average, 25 homers (tied for 15th in GSU history), 215hits (9th), 134 RBI (8th) and 111 runs scored in 195 career games for the Panthers (174 starts).
> Mize hit .308 with nine homers and 49 RBI in 2023.
SERIES NOTES
> Georgia State and Southern Miss are meeting for the first time since 1980, when the two schools split a two-game series in Hattiesburg. GSU won the first game 4-2, and then Southern Miss took Game 2 14-8. The teams did not meet last season in the Golden Eagles' first year in the Sun Belt.
