GEORGIA STATE (15-12, 7-2 SBC) at GEORGIA (22-6, 4-5 SEC)
Tuesday, April 2 | 5 p.m. | Foley Field

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LEADING OFF
> Coming off a series win over James Madison, Georgia State makes a midweek trip to Georgia Tuesday for a 5 p.m. game at Foley Field.

> Georgia State has won seven of its last 10 games, including three straight Sun Belt series with a sweep at South Alabama, followed by series wins over ULM and James Madison.

> After winning their first three Sun Belt series for the first time since joining the league in 2014, the Panthers are in second place in the conference standings, one game behind Louisiana. GSU's 7-2 start matches the best in program history; the Panthers also started 7-2 in 2015 and 2022.

> Third baseman Will Mize is the Panthers' top hitter, leading the team with a .333 average, eight homers and 27 RBI. He hit two homers in the JMU series.

> Outfielder Michael Maginnis has been the Panthers top hitter in Sun Belt games, hitting .438 with a .550 on-base pct. and 11 RBI. Jesse Donohoe leads the team with three homers 16 RBI in nine conference games. 

> Georgia State has hit 42 homers on the season to rank No. 44 in Division I. Three Panthers have five or more homers: Will Mize (8), Ryan Dyal (7) and Luke Boynton (5) 

> Boynton has moved up to No. 7 in GSU history with 33 career homers, while Mize is tied for 15th with 25.

> Under fifth-year head coach Brad Stromdahl, Georgia State recorded back-to-back 30-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, a first for the program since four in a row from 2008-2011, when Stromdahl was a GSU assistant coach. The Panthers were 30-29 in 2023, including a 16-14 mark in the Sun Belt.

> 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). In his 12th season as a head coach, Stromdahl is 430-216.

THE ELDER STATESMAN 
> The veteran of the GSU squad as a fifth-year senior, third baseman Will Mize picked up his 200th career hit vs. ULM.

> Mize is the 13th player in GSU history to record at least 200 career hits, 100 RBI and 100 runs scored.

> Mize hit .308 with nine homers and 49 RBI in 2023. He has a .305 career average, 25 homers (tied for 15th in GSU history) and 131 RBI in 190 career games for the Panthers (169 starts).

SERIES NOTES
> Right-hander Dylan Matela (0-0, 4.15) will make his second start of the season at Georgia. After missing the 2023 season due to injury, he made his first start at Georgia Tech and pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk with four strikeouts.  

> Georgia won the first meeting this season 15-0 in Atlanta on Feb. 20, but the Panthers captured the last meeting in Athens, winning 9-7 last season. Luke Boynton hit two homers and Will Mize homered and drove in four runs for GSU. Brady Jones pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save.

> Georgia State also won back-to-back games over the Bulldogs in 2013 (10-7 in Atlanta) and 2014 (3-1 in Athens). Other recent wins by the Panthers over SEC foes include wins at Vanderbilt (2021) and Ole MIss (2014 and 2017.)

> Georgia holds a 47-9 lead in the series.

> Georgia assistant coach Brock Bennett spent three years on the GSU staff in 2016-17 and 2019.

THREE STRAIGHT SUN BELT SERIES WINS
> Georgia State opened Sun Belt play with a sweep at South Alabama. GSU rallied in each of the first two games before winning 11-1 in Game 3 behind five home runs and an outstanding start by Baley Coleman. On Friday, the Panthers trailed 3-0 in the fifth inning before a five-and-half hour weather delay, then scored eight runs after the resumption to win 8-3. In Game 2, GSU fell behind 7-1 after four but scored seven in the fifth inning en route to the 10-7 victory. 

> The Panthers scored 34 runs in the ULM series, including 13-4 and 11-3 wins in Games 2 and 3. GSU got strong starts from Quin McManmon and Baley Coleman on the mound and production at the plate from Jesse Dohonoe (2 HR, 7 RBI), Michael Maginnis (. 500 avg., .643 OB%, 5 RBI) and JoJo Jackson (.600 avg., ,714 OB%, 3 RBI). 

> After dropping Game 1 to James Madison, GSU won 7-2 in Game 2 with strong pitching by Rob Evans and Brady Jones. The Panthers trailed 7-4 after 5 innings in Game 3 before rallying to win 8-7 on 2-run homers by Will Mize in the sixth and Dylan Strickland in the seventh.