Elian Merejo homered and five Georgia State pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts as the Panthers knocked off No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt 4-2 Friday at Hawkins Field, the highest ranked team that GSU has ever defeated.
 
The baseball team's victory also equals the highest-ranked win for any Georgia State team in any sport. The softball and men's soccer teams have also knocked off a No. 2 team.
 
"It was an unbelievably competitive game," head coach Brad Stromdahl said. "Tip of the cap to our guys for getting it done. It shows that we can compete with anyone in the country, but we have to get back to work tomorrow."
 
Merejo's two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning provided crucial insurance runs, giving the Panthers (3-3) a 4-1 lead going into the ninth inning. Vanderbilt (3-1) brought the tying run to the plate, but reliever Chad Treadway got the final two outs for his first save.
 
Georgia State jumped in front with a run in the second inning as Merejo led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch. After a sacrifice bunt by Josh Smith, Dalton Pearson gave GSU the 1-0 with a sacrifice fly. That was just the third run allowed by the Commodores all season.
 
But Vanderbilt answered with a run in the bottom of the frame.
 
With the game tied at 1-1 after four, Pearson led off the fifth with a single up the middle and then stole second. With one out, catcher Tanner Gallman hit a drive to left and just missed a home run, settling for a double off the wall to score Pearson with the go-ahead run.
 
GSU starter Ryan Watson (1-0) turned in a strong outing as the sophomore righty pitched five innings and allowed just one run on four hits while striking out seven. He earned his ninth career victory.
 
"Thirteen strikeouts combined by our staff, awesome job behind us by the fielders and great job by Elian to add those insurance runs," Watson said. "This gives us a lot of confidence, which should help us the rest of the weekend."
 
Trailing by one, Vanderbilt loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh inning off reliever Cameron Jones. But the Panthers worked out of the jam as third baseman Kalen Puckett fielded a ground ball, stepped on the bag and then threw home for the double play. Then Chandler Dawson relieved Jones and induced an in inning-ending groundout.
 
Pearson, the freshman outfielder from John's Creek High School, was 3-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.
 
Opening the season with 14 straight games against ranked teams and 18 consecutive games against Power 5 teams, Georgia State has defeated three nationally-ranked foes in the first six games.
 
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. Please note that first pitch has been moved up by one hour.