GEORGIA STATE (22-24, 10-11) at MARSHALL (13-31, 6-15)
May 3-5 | Jack Cook Field, Huntington, W. Va. 

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

LEADING OFF
> Coming off a come-from-behind victory at Mercer, Georgia State makes its first ever trip to Marshall for a Sun Belt Conference series that opens Friday at 6 p.m.

> In Wednesday's 14-11 win at Mercer, the Panthers trailed 8-1 after three innings and 11-9 after eight before scoring five runs in the ninth. Will MIze hit a 2-run homer to tie the game, and with two outs, Matt Ruiz hit a pinch-hit, 3-run homer for the lead. 

> Third baseman Will Mize is the Panthers' top hitter on the season at .350 on a Sun Belt-leading 70 hits. He leads the team with 45 RBI and is tied for the GSU lead with 11 homers. Mize extended his hitting streak to 15 games by going 4-for-5 at Mercer, including the game-tying, 2-run homer in the ninth inning.

> Brennan Hudson was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on April 15. The sophomore catcher-first baseman hit .571 with an eye-popping 1.914 OPS, including a walk-off homer. He was 8-for-14 on the week with three homers, six RBI and nine runs scored. He also drew five walks for a .700 on-base percentage in the four games.

> Hudson (.310/9/25) is fourth in the Sun Belt with a .493 on-base percentage, including a team-leading 32 walks, and fourth in the league with an OPS of 1.103.

> Outfielder JoJo Jackson has five homers, 11 RBI and 15 runs scored in the last seven games while hitting .481 in that stretch.

> Outfielder Michael Maginnis is hitting .331 with nine homers and 38 RBI. He is fifth in the Sun Belt with 19 stolen bases.

> Georgia State leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 30 in Division I with 77 home runs. Will Mize and Ryan Dyal are tied for the team lead with 11 homers, while JoJo Jackson has 10, Michael Maginnis and Brennan Hudson are at nine, Luke Boynton has eight and Jesse Donohoe six.

> The Panthers have hit 262 homers since the start of the 2022 season (1.62 per game) 

GSU'S TOP SEASON HOME RUN TOTALS
110    2023 (59 games)    No. 14 in D1
82    2010 (58 games)
77    2000 (59 games)
77    2024 (46 games)    No. 30 in D1
75    2022 (57 games)
74    2009 (61 games)

> Three current Panthers rank in the Top 20 in school history in career homers. Luke Boynton has moved up to No. 6 with 36 career homers. Will Mize is 11th with 28, and JoJo Jackson has climbed into the Top 20 with 25.

> Georgia State scored 46 runs, including 12 homers, both program records for a Sun Belt Conference series, to take two of three games from Southern Miss. Brennan Hudson (8-11, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 2.345 OPS) and outfielder Michael Maginnis (7-14, 3 HR, 8 RBI) combined for six home runs and 14 RBI in the three games. Maximus Martin (7-for-13, six runs scored) and Ryan Dyal (5-for-11, two homers, seven RBI) also had big series.

> 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 437-228.

THE ELDER STATESMAN 
> The veteran of the GSU squad as a fifth-year senior, third baseman Will Mize is the 13th player in GSU history to record at least 200 career hits, 100 RBI and 100 runs scored. 

> Mize has a .312 career batting average and is climbing Georgia State's career lists in numerous offensive categories:
Hits: 239 (8th)
HR: 28 (11th)
2B: 49 (6th)
RBI: 149 (7th)
Total Bases: 374 (5th)
At-Bats: 765 (7th)
Games: 209 (T-8th)
Games Started: 188

SERIES NOTES
> Georgia State holds a 4-0 lead in the series, including a sweep last season in Atlanta, 17-9, 7-6 and 5-1.

> In the 7-6 win in Game 2, the Panthers trailed 6-0 before scoring seven runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by Dylan Strickland's game-tying grand slam.

> The Panthers are playing at Marshall for the first time this weekend.