What You Need to Know:
* First-place Georgia State (11-3 Sun Belt) completed a three-game sweep of ULM with a 9-0 victory Sunday.
* Seven pitchers combined for GSU's first shutout since 2013.
* Matt Rose hit his Sun Belt-leading 11th home run, and Joey Roach hit his seventh.
* Next home game is Tuesday vs. Mercer at 6 p.m.
ATLANTA -- Matt Rose and Joey Roach homered and seven pitchers combined for the shutout as Sun Belt-leading Georgia State completed a three-game sweep of UL Monroe with a 9-0 victory Sunday at the GSU Baseball Complex. The Panthers improved to 11-3 in the conference.
On a designated staff day, Nathan Bates, Alex Hegner, Wayne Wages, Connor Stanley, Clayton Payne, Garrett Ford and Will White allowed just six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in the Panthers' first shutout since 2013 vs. Northeastern. Ford was the starting pitcher that day.
Bates, the Panthers' No. 1 starter, pitched today after starting Friday's game that was suspended after just two innings. The junior right-hander tossed three innings, allowing three hits and striking out four, to improve to 4-0 on the season.
"We knew today would be a staff situation because of the rainout Friday night. Bates go through three innings in 41 pitches, which was perfect, and then our bullpen came in and did such a wonderful job," head coach Greg Frady said.
Georgia State got on the board with a three-run second inning off ULM (17-18, 5-10 Sun Belt) starter Weston Mason (0-1), including a sacrifice fly by Ryan Blanton and an RBI-single by Caden Bailey. Two more runs came home in the third on David Levy's run-scoring single and Blanton's RBI-double as GSU led 5-0 after three.
Then Rose led off the fourth with his Sun Belt-leading 11th home run of the season and second of the weekend, a towering blast to left field. Roach followed with his bomb to right field, his seventh homer and league-leading 35th RBI of the season.
Justin Jones added a two-run single in the seventh.
"We played just beautifully all day long," Frady said. "I'm the first one to say there's a long way to go, but I'm so happy for our team to have the conference lead at the halfway point.
Georgia State hosts Mercer Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex.
