MACON, Ga. ? The Georgia State baseball team pounded out 12 runs against Mercer, but needed some strong pitching down the stretch to hold off a Bear rally. The Panthers prevailed 12-8 in non-conference action Wednesday night. Jonathan Kolowich and Theo Asher each collected three hits while Nick Hogan scored three runs. Drew Grant pitched 5.2 innings and gave up three runs to earn the win.
Mercer (9-15) jumped on the board quickly in the second as Mike Armstrong hit a solo home run to right center off State starter Drew Grant, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead.
Georgia State (15-8) answered back with back-to-back singles from Theo Asher and Jonathan Kolowich to start the third. Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas singled to right field and brought in two runs. Chase Childers drove in another run with a groundout to second base while Bradley Logan's single to left completed the scoring to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead off Bear starter Scott Patterson (0-2).
The Panthers tacked on an insurance run in the fifth after Nick Hogan reached on an attempted bunt single that the Bear first baseman dropped while attempting to tag him. Chase Childers later drove in Hogan with a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Panthers a 5-1 lead.
State tacked on three runs in the sixth off a pair of Mercer relievers. Kolowich brought in the first run with a single to center field off MU reliever Lath Guyer. A wild pitch from Dan April brought in Asher, and Hogan singled through the left side to give State an 8-1 lead.
After some initial wildness, Grant (3-2) settled down and quickly worked through the Mercer lineup until running into problems in the sixth. Grant issued a leadoff walk to Tyler Brown, who scored on a sac fly from Billy Shaughnessy. John Moreland drove in the second Mercer run of the frame with a single to center before John Locklear came to the mound. Locklear limited the damage when he got Casey Stuart to hit a grounder to first that Asher snagged and converted to end the inning with State leading 8-3.
State extended its lead in the seventh. Mike McCree drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk, and Hogan drove in two more with a single to right field, bringing in two more runs. Mercer answered back in the bottom of the frame. After Billy Shaughnessy drove in the first Bear run with a sac fly, John Moreland hit a grand slam to right center off Locklear to close the deficit to 11-8.
State added an insurance run in the ninth, as David Ferrer closed the door in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning after Zach Chastain recorded the last out of the seventh and worked a quick eighth inning.
Hogan scored three runs and went 2-for-5 while McCree drove in two runs. Asher went 3-for-4 and scored four times while Kolowich went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a double.
“It feels good to bounce back after last night's loss and play some good baseball,” said head coach Greg Frady. “So many players played well for us tonight that it's difficult to pick a star of the game.
“You have to give credit to Drew Grant who gave us a strong start. You need those in midweek games if you want to have a winning season,” added Frady.
“Theo Asher made three outstanding defensive plays that were the turning points in the game. Jonathan Kolowich had a big game offensively, and Zach Chastain is another freshman who did an excellent job tonight in his own role.”
Georgia State returns to action this weekend with a three-game series against Colonial Athletic Association rival Northeastern.
NOTES: Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas scored his 138th career run in the third inning to become the all-time leader in school history, surpassing Jay Langston (1997-99) and Josh Vandiver (1999-02) ... Rochon-Salvas executed his 12th career sacrifice hit in the fifth, moving into tie for seventh in Panther history with Jonathan Paden (1997-00) and Nick McEntyre (2005-06).
