Panthers Fall 11-1 at ULM, Drop Series

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Panthers Fall 11-6 to Kennesaw State in Home Finale

ATLANTA -- Georgia State fell 11-6 to Kennesaw State Wednesday at the GSU Baseball Complex as the Owls rallied for nine runs in the eighth and ninth innings to win their 13th straight game.

Georgia State (23-26) led 6-2 after seven, but the Owls (27-20) scored five runs in the eighth to take a 7-6 lead and then tacked on four more runs in the ninth.

Nic Wilson, Chad Prain, James Clements and Zach Moon drove in runs to help the Panthers to their 6-2 lead.

"We played very well in every area for seven innings - pitching, hitting, defense, execution. We just did not pitch well in the eighth and ninth," head coach Greg Frady said.

Sophomore left-hander Wayne Wages gave the Panthers a solid start, allowing two runs in four innings of work. With a key conference series this weekend and the Panthers planning to use a number of pitchers tonight, Wages gave way to the bullpen, and relievers Kevin Burgee, Ben Burns and Connor Stanley shut out the Owls over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Garrett Ford and then Jerry Stuckey (3-4) ran into trouble in the eighth, allowing five runs and surrenduring the lead before the Panthers turned an inning-ending double play.

"Hunter Cash came and got the ground ball. Greg Bowder made a really outstanding play and Chad Prain did a good job turning it over. That got out of the inning only down one run," Frady said.

But the Owls put the game out of reach with four more runs in the top of the ninth off three GSU pitchers.

"We knew we were going to run a lot of pitchers out there tonight and everyone has to do their job. Well, you the game to the eighth inning with a 6-2 lead and you feel pretty good position, but it just didn't work out tonight."

James Connell (5-3) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn the win for Kennesaw State, and Justin McCalvin threw the final two innings for his 10th save.

Georgia State got on the board first with two runs in the second inning. Matt Rose, who had two hits on the night, led off with a single and came around to score when shortstop Kal Simmons misplayed a ball hit by Greg Bowder. With two outs, Bowder stole second and moved to third on the catcher's errant throw, and then Prain drove him in with a bunt single to third.

After KSU tied the game in the top of the fourth, the Panthers regained the lead on Clements' RBI-single. GSU added two more runs in the fifth. Wilson belted a double to the left field to score Chase Raffield and then scored from second when Simmons dropped a pop-up by Caden Bailey.

Moon extended the Panthers' advantage to 6-2 with a two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth.

GSU turned two double plays in the game, and center fielder Chris Triplett threw out a runner at the plate.

Georgia State now travels to UL Monroe for a crucial Sun Belt series against the team with which the Panthers are tied in the league standings.

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