GEORGIA STATE (7-22, 3-3 Sun Belt) vs. MERCER (16-11)
Tuesday, April 6, 6 p.m.  |  OrthoGeorgia Park, Macon, Ga. 

COVERAGE: ESPN+

PROBABLE PITCHERS
GSU RHP Dylan Matela (0-4, 7.30) vs. MU RHP Jackson Kelley (2-3, 4.20)

LEADING OFF
> Coming off a series win over Georgia Southern, Georgia State travels to Mercer for a Tuesday game at 6 p.m. at OrthoGeorgia Park on ESPN+. This is the second of four scheduled meetings between the two schools and the Panthers' ninth-straight game against an in-state foe.

> After a tough loss in Game 1 of the Georgia Southern series, the Panthers bounced back with a 7-6, 10-inning victory on Blaine Marchman's walk-off single. In Game 3, Georgia State scored two runs in the seventh inning, including Will Mize's go-ahead, RBI-double, to clinch the series with a 3-2 victory.

> Elian Merejo had four hits and four RBI in the back-to-back victories over Georgia Southern. In Friday's walk-off win, Merejo went 3-for-5, including two doubles, and drove in two runs. In Saturday's series-clinching 3-2 victory, Merejo drove in two of the Panthers' three runs, including his team-leading fifth home run.

> Reliever Dawson Sweatt earned back-to-back wins over Georgia Southern. In Friday's walk-off win, Sweatt pitched a scoreless 10th inning to allow the Panthers to win it in the bottom half. Then in the deciding Game 3, Sweatt entered the contest with Georgia State down by one, runners at second and third and two outs and immediately induced an inning-ending groundout. He finished the game, allowing no runs and one hit in 3.1 innings, to seal the win after the Panthers took the lead in the seventh.

> Second baseman Griffin Cheney is scheduled to start his 100th straight game against Mercer. In starting Georgia State's last 99 games, including starts at shortstop and third base, he has failed to reach base only 11 times.

> Facing the nation's toughest non-conference schedule, the Panthers opened the season with 18 straight games against Power 5 opponents, including 14 nationally-ranked foes.

> Georgia State played its first 14 games against ranked foes, including four victories:
No. 14 West Virginia twice, 7-6 (10) and 20-4 (home)
No. 2 Vanderbilt, 4-2 (away)
No. 10 Georgia Tech, 10-1 (away)

> Freshman right-hander Mason Patel was named Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week after leading GSU to a win at No. 10 Georgia Tech (March 3). He pitched six scoreless inning and allowed just four hits while striking out eight, the most strikeouts for a GSU freshman since 2013. Backing the strong pitching effort in the win at Tech were Will Mize (2-for-4, 2-run HR, 2B, 3 RBI) and Kyle Riesselmann (2-run HR, 3 RBI). 

> The Panthers earned a Friday night, 4-2 victory at No. 2 Vanderbilt (Feb. 26), the highest-ranked team GSU has ever beaten. Previously, the highest ranked team GSU had ever defeated was No. 3 Georgia Tech in 2010, 10-1. 

> Georgia State opened the season with a four-game series split against No. 14 West Virginia. After falling 5-3 in 10 innings on Opening Day, Georgia State swept the Saturday doubleheader with a 7-6 walk-off win on Elian Merejo's two-out single in the 10th, and then a 20-4 victory in the nightcap. GSU then held WVU to just three hits in the series finale, but the Mountaineers managed a 3-2 victory.

> The Panthers' 20-4 win in Game 3 of the WVU series represents the most runs GSU has ever scored against a ranked foe. Georgia State jumped on the Mountaineers with an 11-run first inning and never looked back.

> Second-year head coach Brad Stromdahl took over the Georgia State program in 2020 after seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia Gwinnett, where he started the program from scratch in 2013 and compiled a record of 328-104. He led the Grizzlies to the Avista-NAIA World Series three times, including his last two years (2018-19). Before going to Georgia Gwinnett in November 2011, Stromdahl spent five seasons (2007-11) as an assistant coach at Georgia State.

SERIES VS. MERCER
> Two weeks ago in Atlanta, Griffin Cheney's  2-out RBI single gave Georgia State a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning, but Mercer scored three runs in the ninth. GSU brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after singles by Josh Smith and Kyle Riesselmann, but Mercer held on for the 5-3 win.

> The two schools are also scheduled to play April 21 at Mercer and May 11 at GSU.

> Mercer leads the series 70-51, but the teams have split the last 10 meetings.

> Mercer is Georgia State's most frequent opponent as the two schools have played 121 times since 1967. Every year that GSU has fielded a baseball team, it has played Mercer at least once.