What You Need to Know:
* Ryan Blanton homered twice in the fifth inning with a solo blast and a grand slam.
* Blanton had five RBI in the Panthers nine-run fifth inning.
* He is just the second Panther to homer twice in an inning.
ATLANTA -- Ryan Blanton hit a solo home run and a grand slam in a nine-run fifth inning as Georgia State downed Kennesaw State 13-3 Tuesday at the GSU Baseball Complex.
Blanton, who had three hits and five RBI in the game, is just the second player in Georgia State history to homer twice in the same inning. Josh Vandiver accomplished the feat against Alabama State in 2000.
Georgia State won for the sixth time in its last eight games to improve to 10-6 on the season. Kennesaw State dropped to 8-6.
The game was tied at 3-3 when Blanton, the sophomore center fielder from Parkview High School, led off the bottom of the fifth inning by smacking the 1-0 pitch from reliever Kendall Hawkins over the right field fence.
After one out, eight consecutive Panthers reached base, beginning with Caden Bailey's single to right. Matt Rose walked and Joey Roach was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Trae Sweeting singled to center field to bring home Bailey.
Then KSU pitchers hit three consecutive batters. Hawkins plunked Cam Sperry and was relieved by Tony Dibrell, who hit Justin Jones and David Levy to put the Panthers ahead 8-3.
That brought Blanton back to the plate, and he crushed Dibrell's first pitch over the wall in right field for his third homer of the season and first career grand slam.
The Panthers' leadoff hitter said that he had never before had two homers in a game at any level, let alone two in an inning.
"I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit," Blanton said. "My second at-bat, the pitcher was struggling to command the zone. I just got a pitch that I liked, and I was blessed that it went over the fence. We all did our part today, as you can see. It was just a great day all the way around because Kennesaw State is a really good team."
Cam Sperry and David Levy added two RBI apiece for the Panthers, while Bailey and Sweeting each had two hits.
"That was a great job offensively, highlighted of course by Ryan Blanton's huge day, but everyone in the batting order really made contributions," head coach Greg Frady said. "Anytime you put up double-digit runs, a lot is going well. We played all three phases pretty well today.
"Ryan is doing a great job in our leadoff spot," Frady continued. "As hot as he is, we're going to leave him right where he is and let him keep doing his thing."
Georgia State starter Marc-Andre Habeck (3-1) earned his third victory of the season with five innings of work, allowing three runs but just one earned on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. Once the Panthers took the 12-3 lead, seven relievers finished the game.
"This was a tough matchup for Marc in the early part of the game, but Marc is a survivor and a competitor," Frady said. "He fought really hard to pitch us through five and put us in position to win. I'm really proud of him for that."
Georgia State opens Sun Belt Conference play this weekend at Arkansas State, beginning Friday at 7 p.m.
