Panthers Travel to Kennesaw State Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Baseball 3/30/2014 4:21:00 PM None

Panthers Drop Series Finale to Troy 13-9

ATLANTA -- Troy used an eight-run fifth inning to earn a 13-9 victory over Georgia State Sunday at the GSU Baseball Complex, salvaging the final game of the Sun Belt Conference series. GSU won the series 2-1.

Chase Raffield hit a three-run home run for the Panthers (14-15, 3-6 Sun Belt), and Chad Prain had four hits and three runs batted in.

Raffield's homer, a three-run blast to right field by the left-handed hitter, highlighted Georgia State's six-run fourth inning that put the Panthers ahead 8-2.

With the game tied at 2-2, James Clements led off the Panthers' half of the fourth with a single and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice. Prain delivered a single to center field, his third hit and third RBI of the day, to score Clements. With two outs, Matt Rose singled home Prain, and then Nic Wilson followed with a single to put two runners on for Raffield's sixth homer of the season. Wilson extended his current hitting streak to eight game.

Chris Triplett then doubled and scored on Joey Roach's single up the middle for the 8-2 advantage.

But Troy (15-13, 4-4 Sun Belt) immediately answered off GSU starter Andrew Fessler, who allowed two unearned runs and struck out seven through the first four innings before the decisive fifth. The first five Troy batters reached base on four hits and a walk to chase Fessler. Clay Holcomb's second hit of the inning tied the game at 8-8 off reliever Tyler McClure (2-3), and then Garrett Pitts' two-run double put the Trojans ahead 10-8. Pitts was 4-for-5 with four RBI on the day, and Ali Knowles contributed three RBI off the bench.

"Today was very disappointing, but I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we won the series, which is the most important thing," GSU head coach Greg Frady said. "Any team is hard to sweep, and Troy is not going to quit. We just didn't do enough to win this baseball game.

"We did some good things today and that should not be lost, but when you are up 8-2, you think you are in a very good postion to win. We just did not pitch well today, and we didn't play good defense."

Troy reliever Andrew McGowan (2-2) pitched the final 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on four hits to earn the victory.

Prain singled in his first four at-bats, including a two-run single in the second inning. Roach and Zach Moon had two hits each for the Panthers.

Georgia State returns to action Wednesday when the Panthers play at Georgia Tech in a 6 p.m. contest at Russ Chandler Stadium on the Tech campus. The game will air on ESPN3, with radio coverage on 1340 the Fan 3.

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