Spartanburg, S.C.- Senior Joey Wood had two hits and an RBI but the Georgia State baseball team scored just once in a 4-1 loss to USC Upstate Wednesday at Harley Park in Spartanburg, S.C.
Six-foot-nine Upstate pitcher David Palladino (2-0) outdueled Panthers' six-foot-seven starter Max Schmitz (1-1) with seven strikeouts over 7.0 innings to win the battle of massive freshmen. Schmitz went 5.0 innings, making the longest appearance of his young career, but took the loss after allowing two runs (one unearned) on three hits with one strikeout.
GSU fell to 5-4 on the season, Wednesday's three-run loss tying for the largest margin of defeat after an early season of close finishes. Upstate improved to 7-1 with the win.
Wood had two of the Panthers' five hits off Palladino, a 13th-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer.
After the Spartans took a 1-0 lead thanks to two Panther errors in the first, Mark Hogan doubled to center field in the second, continuing his hot start. Wood then drove Hogan in to tie the game with a single to left.
It was all the scoring the Panthers would do on the day however, as Caden Bailey, Jonathan Kolowich and Joel Van Asch added singles but GSU did not cross the plate again.
The Spartans took a 2-1 lead on a wild pitch in the bottom of the second inning then added two runs off Panther reliever Hunter Cash in the sixth.
Panther sophomore Travis Lee tossed one shutout inning in his first career outing, while freshman T.J. Sullivan pitched a perfect eighth to keep GSU within striking distance.
Upstate reliever Chad Sobotka earned his third save of the year by shutting down the Panthers in the ninth.
Georgia State remains on the road this week, traveling to the Bright House Invitational in DeLand, Fla. The Panthers will face Southern Illinois (4-3), Penn (0-0) and host #19 Stetson (7-1) Friday through Sunday.
