ATLANTA, GA -- Behind a dominant one-hit performance on the mound and a balanced offensive attack, Georgia State secured the series victory with a 10-0 win over James Madison on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Baseball Complex.
The Panthers improve to 17-19 overall and 6-8 in Sun Belt play, clinching the series and putting themselves in position for a sweep on Sunday.
Georgia State's pitching staff delivered one of the best performances in program history, holding James Madison to just one hit in the contest, the sixth one-hitter in program history and the first since last season against Southern Miss.
Jake Hembree set the tone, tossing 7.0 shutout innings while allowing just one hit and striking out nine. Cooper Lewis followed with a scoreless eighth inning, striking out two to close out the combined one-hitter.
The Panthers' offense provided early support in the second inning. Kinnick Pusteoska and Adam Haber reached base before Austin Sellers worked a walk to load the bases. Wills Maginnis brought in the first run with a sacrifice fly before John Beverley and Sam Silas followed with RBI singles to make it 3-0.
Georgia State added another run in the third inning when Haber doubled and later scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Panthers continued to build the lead in the fourth. Nick Garagozzo singled and later scored before Austin Killingsworth delivered an RBI single. Hunter Carlson added a sacrifice bunt RBI, pushing the lead to 6-0.
Georgia State broke the game open in the sixth inning with three more runs. Beverley singled, and Silas followed with another hit before Carlson delivered a two-run double. Cole Griffith added an RBI single to extend the advantage to 9-0.
The Panthers added a final run in the eighth when Silas singled and later scored on an RBI single from Griffith to make it 10-0.
Silas led the offense with a 4-for-4 performance and an RBI, while Beverley added three hits and an RBI. Haber also recorded three hits, and Carlson drove in three runs as part of a 15-hit performance.
Georgia State will go for the series sweep Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex.
