ATLANTA - Rob Lind and Ryan Fleming homered and freshman pitcher Sam Agnew-Wieland earned his first collegiate victory as Georgia State defeated Mercer, 9-4, Tuesday at the Field at Panthersville.
The Panthers improved to 23-8 overall on the season as they clinched the season series over Mercer, having already won earlier this season in Macon. GSU also improved to 4-0 this season against in-state opponents. Mercer dips to 21-10 overall with the loss.
"It was a great win," head coach Greg Frady said. "We controlled the game from a pitching standpoint and built a great offensive game."
The Bears picked up two runs quickly off Agnew-Wieland in the first, but the Marietta, Ga., native settled quickly and allowed just one more run over the next four innings, scattering five hits, striking out three and walking one to earn his first win.
"Sam just pitched magnificently for his first college win," head coach Greg Frady. "He was awesome. Even though he gave up two in the first, it could have been more and he pitched his way out of a bit of a jam. He just pitched beautifully."
GSU's bats provided suppport with 13 hits and five walks to lead to the nine runs. This marked the 16th time in the past 17 games that the Panthers have had 10 or more hits. For Fleming, his two hits were his 9th home run of the season and 8th double to up his season slugging percentage to an eye-popping .701.
The Panthers picked up Agnew-Wieland with a run in the second inning- Rob Lind's fourth home run of the season - and three more runs in the third on the bats of Ryan Fleming and Carter Sackett.
After Brandon Williams flied out to start the third, Fleming hit his third home run in as many games to tie the score at two. Carter Sackett drove in Drew Shields on a sacrifice fly three batters later to give the Panthers the lead, then Lind made the score 4-2 by scoring on a passed ball later in the inning with the bases loaded.
GSU provided an additional run of support for Agnew-Wieland in the fourth inning when Shields singled home Fleming, who had doubled, to make it 5-2.
The Panthers extended the lead to 7-2 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Theo Asher and an RBI single from Bryan Condotta.
Agnew-Wieland was relieved in the sixth inning as senior lefty Wes Grant came in to throw three shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out two Mercer batters.
With the score 7-3 in the eighth, the Panthers tacked on two more as Shields singled home Mark Micowski and Williams to pad the lead.
Though not a save situation, junior Tyler Claburn came in to preserve the win for GSU by pitching the ninth, allowing the last Mercer run in the process for a 9-4 final.
Mercer starter Bronson Gagner lasted only 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit and one earned run, but walked three batters and hit another. Reliever David Teasley (5-3) took the loss by allowing three runs, one earned, on three hits over 1.1 innings.
"It was a great win for our team tonight," said Grant. "After a couple of tough losses this weekend, this was a great way to get ready (again) for conference play."
With the win, GSU also improved to 18-3 at home this season and has won three of the last four games now in the Mercer series. The first strike of the evening was thrown by Mike Hurst, the longtime Panther head coach, who threw out the first pitch pre-game.
The Panthers (5-4 CAA) travel to Harrisonburg, Va., this weekend for a three-game set with Colonial Athletic Association co-leader James Madison (20-9, 10-5 CAA). Friday's game one is slated for 6:30 p.m.
