AJC: QB Kelton Hill Impressive

Kelton is the clear #1 QB in camp

Photo Courtesy of the AJC's Jason Getz

Very, very good news.  Good work by our guy Ken at the AJC.  I've heard similiar reports as well that he is throwing the ball with great confidence and much better accuracy.  I'd like to see him gain 7-10lbs before Fall but again glad to see KH4 taking advantage of an opportunity.

AJC Link

Coach Ron Hunter on ESPN 1070

Dan Dakich Show Link

The Voice Catches Up With QB Bo Schlechter

Thanks to DC for shooting this over.

The Voice Interview Link

5 Questions With WR Jordan Giles

Spring Practice #7 in the books and GSU Sports Communications caught up with Jordan. 

GSU Sports Link

Five Questions with ILB Sam Burkhalter

Good to see Sam fitting right in on defense.  Looking forward to seeing #44 on April 14th.

GSU Sports Link

Panthers Baseball Hosts Florida A&M

The Georgia State Panthers will look to start another winning streak against Florida A&M after dropping 2 consecutive games to VCU on Friday evening and Sunday. The Panthers enter today's game with a 20-6 record and despite the back-to-back conferences losses they are still receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 and the NCBWA polls.

Who: The Florida A&M (FAMU) Rattlers compete in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and enter today's game with a 8-20 record (0-3 MEAC). They completed the 2010 season with a 10-31-1 record. The Rattlers are a lacking veteran leadership as the team has only 6 seniors with just 1 being a pitcher.

History/Common Opponents: The Panthers lead the all-time series by 9-4 and have won 4 straight games. The last meeting between these two ball clubs was in 2009 when Georgia State completed a 2-game season sweep over the Rattlers by scores of 22-6 (in Tallahassee, FL) and 4-1 (at Panthersville). In the 2011 season both teams have played Mercer and Alabama State. GSU defeated Mercer 14-5 and Alabama State 14-4. FAMU has lost 4 games to Mercer this season by a combined score of 57-12. FAMU lost to Alabama State 12-10 last week.

FAMU at the Plate: The Rattlers are batting .268 as a team and scoring 4 runs per game. 80% of their hits come in form of singles and they have only 5 home runs after 840 at-bats on the season. Base stealing is not a huge threat as they have only 19 on the season. Junior outfielder Jarryd Reid is the Rattlers only starter (with over 20 game starts) hitting above .300, at .391. He is slugging .609 and accounts for 12% of the team's hits including 4 of the team's 9 triples. In addition, Jarryd is the team's leading base stealer with 5 steals in 7 attempts. Cory Franklin is leading the FAMU lineup in RBI's with 17 total on a .280 BA and 2 home runs.

FAMU on the Mound: The Rattlers give up over 8.5 runs per game on a 7.71 team ERA. Clean defense is not a strong point behind the pitching staff as the team has committed 76 errors on the season (nearly 3 per game). The starting pitcher is not yet known but only 2 pitchers have below a 5.40 ERA. Thomas Barwick who has 5 starts with a 2-2 record and 3.58 ERA and reliever Steven Dollar with 11 appearances and 16 innings pitched. Dollar has allowed 12 runs (6 earned) and is 1-0. Opposing batters are hitting .324 against the FAMU pitching staff and have belted 19 home runs in 28 games.

GSU at the Plate: The Panthers are batting .316 as a team and continue to be led by Brett Maxwell at .408 and Brandon Williams at .394. GSU is scoring just under 8 runs per game. Ryan Fleming continues to prove himself as the GSU power threat with now 6 home runs on the season and a team-high 29 RBI's. Fleming is slugging .667 on the season and has an on-base percentage near .500. The offense continues to be on a roll, not scoring under 6 runs since March 12th against Towson (5 scored) and under 8 runs only twice (both games scored 6) since then in 10 games. The Panthers are scoring 10.5 runs per game in that stretch. It seems as if the team has been able to adjust their offensive game plan to the new NCAA regulation bats.

GSU on the Mound: Over the same 10-game stretch mentioned above, the pitching staff has allowed 7.3 runs per game. This is being pulled up by a 10 run game against Murray State and VCU and a 17 run explosion by VCU this past Sunday. The team ERA was boosted (in a bad way) by the VCU series, now up to 4.28 on the season. The season average for runs allowed is still just above 5 which seems to be a number you can count on barring a pitching melt-down.

Will Campbell will get the start for the Panthers. Will is having an outstanding season so far with a 5-0 record on a 3.13 ERA. He has pitched 37.1 innings and allowed only 13 runs. Opposing batters are hitting only .180 against him. He has a WHIP of .88 and 22 strikeouts on the season. Will went 7.1 innings in his last outing against Kennesaw State last Wednesday and allowed 3 runs on only 4 hits. Two of those runs came after Will left the game leaving runners on 1st and 2nd. Look for the relief staff to get some work in to boost their confidence after having a rough VCU series.


Look for a lopsided score today as the Panthers should be able to pound on the Rattlers pitching staff. This will be important as the Panthers travel to Delaware for a 3-game CAA series Friday-Sunday. You want to enter that series feeling confident about seeing the ball well at the plate. I expect Will to have another stellar night on the mound. He's facing a far inferior opponent compared to his last outing so he just needs to cruise along at the same pace. The Panthers probably win tonight by setting a new season-high for run differential. This currently stands at 11 from the 17-6 victory over Murray State. GO PANTHERS!!!

Five Questions with Ben Jacoby

One of our unquestioned leaders in starting Center Ben Jacoby is interviewed by GSU Sports Communications.  Interesting nuggets about the running game, what he wants to do better and a shoutout to a young OL who's showing a ton of promise.

GSU Sports Link

Updated: Charlotte Weekly: WR Mark Young Joins 2011 Football Signing Class

WR Mark Young Joins 2011 Signing Class

Photo Courtesy of Charlotte Observer

The Skinny on Young: He's 6'5, 200lbs and has been clocked in 40 yard dash at 4.5 seconds.  Looks to have strong hands and good body control.  Also had interest from App State.  Played for 2 years at Providence Day School in Charlotte's NCISAA division (similiar to GISA in Georgia).

Senior Highlights

South Charlotte Weekly Link

Got a chance to catch up with South Charlotte Weekly's Sports Editor Aaron Garcia and this is his evaluation of Young:

I think you guys got a fairly good sleeper recruit here.

I haven't had a chance to speak to him at length about his pedigree, but I know he came to the Providence Day football team after really starting his career as a basketball player. He's a tall kid, probably 6-4, 6-5, and he's put together well. He's developed into a decent route runner, but his offense was mainly geared toward the run. That said, he's good at going up and getting the ball at its highest point and made a handful of highlight-reel catches this season. He uses his body pretty well to get good position and while I can't remember specifically about his run blocking, his running back regularly broke off 50+ yard runs, so I imagine he got pretty good at holding his blocks.

Also, he's been coached by one of the best in the state for the past two years in Bruce Hardin, who put together a Hall-of-Fame career here in high school before leaving to coach at Army and The Citadel. He came back two years ago to coach Providence Day and the team has done a complete 180. Also, while Providence Day is a private school, it's in a very tough private school conference, so he has faced some solid competition. This year alone the conference is sending a kid to Notre Dame (a CB) and a few to Clemson (QB, LB). Also, it's produced some pro athletes like Seth Curry [current Duke basketball players], Chris Canty (DT, New York Giants) and Jeremy Thompson (DE, Green Bay Packers), so talent hasn't been an issue. You just don't see the depth that you see in the public schools.

Also, Providence Day is a top-notch academic school, so I have to believe that Mark is a solid student, which should help the learning curve.  I think what will hurt him initially will be his lack of experience. 

Also, like most freshmen, he'll need to learn to fight for separation at the line more and sharpen his routes. Considering the offense you guys ran last year, I think he'll develop into a nice, big target for whoever is behind center and should help with the short-yardage passing. It'll be interesting to see how he does with a QB that moves around in the pocket, but I think Young will be the type that keeps working as a play develops. His hands have come a long way since his first year, but they still need to improve some. Also, I want to see how he does with a QB that can throw it deep with some accuracy. If he finds that, he could become pretty dangerous.

I guess what I'm trying to say is he's got tons of upside and I'm interested to see what he can do once he really concentrates on football. I think you guys got a good one, but he may need a little time to keep developing.
 
Big thanks to Aaron for his in-depth analysis!

StarNews: Interview with Coach Ron Hunter

Big ups to Star News Writer Brian Mull (who broke the Hunter hiring by the way) for finding us and tracking down Coach Hunter.  Worth the read and some interesting quotes.

Wilmington Star News

Updated: Photos from Spring Practice #4

Down the Line of Scrimmage

Photo Courtesy of Sam Crenshaw of WXIA

CBC's Ready

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

QB Kelton Hill, TE Kyle Irby and TE Emmanuel Oghbuehi getting loose

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

LB Louie Muasau getting stretched out

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

RB Travis Evans going through some conditioning work

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

Safety Fred Barnes & WR Danny Williams observing

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

New MLB Sam Burkhalter putting the brakes on RB Rosevelt Watson

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

QB Bo Schlechter ready to take the snap

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

QB Kelton Hill scrambling away from NG Eduardo Curry, NG Robert Truitt

and LB Jarrell Robinson

Photo Courtesy of Saakib Zafrani

2012 RJ Hunter: Unsure of Plans

RJ Hunter, son of Coach Ron Hunter.  Is he ATL bound?

Photo Courtesy of NY2LASports.com

Nice write up on from the Indianapolis Star Coach Ron Hunter's son RJ Hunter who's still deciding if he's staying in Indianapolis or coming to Atlanta.

"I don't know if I'm going to stay," said Hunter, who averaged 14.2 points and shot 39 percent on 3-pointers this season for the sectional champion Red Devils (21-5). "It's kind of 50-50 right now. It'd be hard to leave. All my friends are here. I've gone to elementary and middle school here, so it'd be a transition. Indianapolis and Atlanta are way different cities."


Hunter joked that he crossed IUPUI off his list of potential college options and added Georgia State. He said his dad has already started recruiting him.

"Oh yeah, after about 10 hours, he was already recruiting," Hunter said. "I got a chance to look around (Georgia State's) campus a little bit, and I'd like to play for him. We'll just have to see how it goes."

Georgia State Baseball Hosts CAA Opponent VCU

The 19-4 Panthers are hosting the 7-12 VCU Rams Friday through Sunday. The Panthers are 3-0 in CAA play after sweeping Towson and the Rams are 1-2 after a close series with James Madison. The Panthers are coming into the series on a hot-streak, both at the team level and individual level. The current 10-game winning streak and 19-4 record are good for a school record and the team is tied for the NCAA's third longest winning streak. Only four teams in college baseball have more wins than the Panthers.

Who: The VCU Rams are CAA conference mates of the Panthers and 2010 defending CAA Champions. Coach Frady is 9-3-1 against VCU and 4-2 at home, the Rams defeated GSU in the first game of the 2010 CAA tournament.

VCU at the Plate: The Rams are batting .284 as a team and scoring 5.3 runs per game. They have scored over their average only 6 times, 42 of their 100 runs have come in 3 games against Holy Cross (1) and Princeton (2). Removing those 3 games, they're averaging only 3.6 runs per game. Senior outfielder John Lenherr leads by large margin at the plate with a .419 batting average and slugging near .600. John doesn't have any home runs but he has 6 doubles and 3 triples on the year and he accounts for almost 30% of their stolen bases being 9-for-11. Hitting in the 2nd spot in the lineup, John is the guy you want to keep off base as he can get in scoring position very quickly on you. Utility man Taylor Perkins is hitting .300 and leads the team with 17 RBI's. Taylor has started every game for the Rams. VCU has not shown much power with only 3 home runs and slugging .371 as a team with three different players accounting for the home runs.

VCU on the Mound: The Rams have a team ERA of 4.26 and has been a decent squad this season. They're allowing an average of 5.8 runs per game and have allowed more than 6 runs only 4 times. Half of their 12 losses have been by 2 runs or less so their pitching staff has kept them in games. This leads me to say VCU is a better team than their 7-12 record shows. All three starters to face have good strike-to-walk numbers at or better than 3:1. Starters as follows:

Seth Cutler-Voltz (Jr., RH) will pitch on Friday. He is 1-1 with a 5.17 ERA after 5 starts. WHIP of 1.5 and batters are .312 against him. He was an innings eater in 2010 and is averaging just over 6 innings per start this season. Seth is a power fastball pitcher.

Kyle Haynes (So., RH) gets the start on Saturday. Kyle is 2-3 after 5 starts with a 3.81 ERA. Kyle has had some tough luck getting little help from the offense with 2 losses coming from scores of 1-3 and 3-4. WHIP of 1.3 and batters are hitting .267 against him. Kyle made 12 starts as a freshman and ended the season with a 5.60 ERA.

David Benson (Sr., RH) is a VCU newcomer and gets the ball on Sunday. He is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA after 4 starts and 1 relief appearance. David has 30 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched and batters are hitting .250 against him. One of his no-decisions came in a 6 inning outing against Longwood where he allowed only 3 hits, no runs, 1 walk and 9 K's. His only loss came against James Madison where he went 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs off 7 hits and 2 walks. David seems to be the most talented starter the Panthers will face.

The Rams have a steady group of relievers in the fact that none of them have had a mound meltdown this season. About half the group has given up around an inning per outing, a quarter given up more and the other quarter given up less. They can throw some good pitchers out but none have proven to be shut down pitchers so runs can be scored late. Chris Shaklee is the exception here. He has 9 appearance with 15.1 innings pitched and he's allowed 4 runs (2 earned) off 12 hits and 7 walks. He has a WHIP of near 1.3. (This brings me back to my point about Will Campbell having a very low WHIP for a starter)

GSU at the Plate: The Panthers come into the series batting .317 with most starters above the .300 mark. Over the winning streak, the team BA has raised by 45 points from .272. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams are over the .400 mark at .429 and .407 respectively. Ryan Fleming continues to be the home run (5) and RBI (26) leader. Most of the lineup is hot right now so they'll be a good test for VCU's pitching staff. The team is scoring 7.6 runs per game. (I'm keeping this section short going forward since it's typically covered several times per week and I repeat most of what's said here.)

GSU on the Mound:


Aidan Francis (Sr., LH) gets the start in the series opener with a 3-0 record and a 4.91 ERA. Francis has faced some high-powered offenses with success against Mercer, Georgia Tech and Murray State so I don't expect him to have many issues against VCU. He's given up 5 of the staff's 8 home runs but considering who he has faced, it's not a concern in this game given VCU's lack of power. He's pitched 25.2 innings in his 5 starts and batters are .277 against him. He has allowed 9 walks and recorded 20 strikeouts. WHIP of 1.4.

Charley Olson (Sr., RH) will oppose Kyle Haynes on Saturday. Charley is 2-2 in 4 starts with a 3.51 ERA. Charley has an almost identical stat line as Francis beyond the record and ERA. Same innings pitched 25.2, same batting average against at .277, same WHIP at 1.4 and he has 2 more strikeouts on the season with 22. His last start came against Murray State where he pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs.

Justin Malone (Jr., RH) gets the series wrap-up on Sunday. He enters the game with a 4-0 record and a 3.00 ERA after 5 starts. Justin has a WHIP of 1.3 after 30 innings pitched and allowing 14 runs (10 earned) on 31 hits and 7 walks. As I said earlier, all three starters have a strike-to-walk ratio of 3:1 or better. Batters are hitting .279 against him which is virtually the same as Francis and Olson. Malone's last outing was against Murray State where he pitched 5.2 innings and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits.

The great thing about these 3 starters (and throw in Will and Nick for that matter) is you know what to expect when each one takes the mound. They have been consistently great all season for the Panthers. I really like the pitching match-ups here as I think it gives us the best chance for a 3-game sweep. VCU has relied upon their pitching to get to the record they have but they haven't faced pitching to our caliber yet. They played James Madison close and JMU has an inferior pitching staff to GSU and the gap isn't even close. The VCU batting lineup isn't dangerous enough to worry about any one of our starters allowing more than their typical run allowance unless one just has a bad day. We likely see the best pitching from VCU and the lowest scoring game from both sides on Sunday. I have all the confidence in the world right now in our relievers so it's tough to bet against us for a sweep unless the Panther offense falls out of their hitting streak (knocking on wood).

It looks like rain could be around Saturday and Sunday so let's hope that it stays away long enough to let us move to 6-0 in the CAA. GO PANTHERS!!!

Will Campbell is Too Much for the Owls, Panthers Win

Will Campbell was dealing last night

Photo Courtesy of GSU Sports Communications

The Panthers Move to 19-4 on the season as Will Campbell went 7.1 strong innings to down the Owls, Panthers winning 6-3.

The star of the game is undoubtedly Will Campbell. Will pitched with excellence like he has in every other game he's pitched this season. He allowed only 4 hits and 3 runs (2 coming after he left the game) walking just 2 batters and striking out 2. His WHIP (walks & hits per inning) is now down to .88 on the season and batters are hitting only .180 against him. Those are numbers you expect to see in a shut down 9th inning closer, not your starting pitcher. Will is now a CAA-leading 5-0 on the season with an ERA of 3.13. Jake Dyer entered in the bottom of the 8th with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd. He finished the game allowing 2 hits and a walk and he struck out three in the outing. Jake continues to impress on the mound.

The Panthers collected 13 hits and 5 walks at the plate off of 4 KSU pitchers. Mark Micowski continued his hot hitting going 3-for-6, scored twice and picked up his 5th steal. Micowski is now hitting .347 on the season. Rob Lind and Brandon Williams also had a 3-hit evening for the Panthers. Brandon has pulled his average up almost .100 over the past two weeks and Rob appears to have found his swing as he's working to get back near his 2010 batting performance. Despite the win, leaving men on base was an issue last night as 13 were left stranded.

The Panthers team batting average is now up to .317. This is a huge improvement over a couple weeks back when the team was well below .300. The Panthers pitching staff remains top in the CAA with a 3.53 ERA and 4.3 runs allowed per game.

Up next for the Panthers is fellow CAA member VCU. VCU is 7-12 on the season and brings an offense and pitching staff sitting near the middle of the pack in the CAA. I believe their record shows worse than the team actually is. We'll look at them more in depth in the series preview coming soon.

Georgia State Baseball Visits Kennesaw State

The 18-4 GSU Panthers will make the short trip up I-75 to play in-state rival Kennesaw State University today for a 6 PM first pitch. The Panthers are off to their best start in school history and are riding a school-record 9 game winning streak. The KSU Owls have won 4-0f-5 after their 4 game winning streak was snapped yesterday down at Georgia Southern in a 2-8 loss.

GSU and KSU have two common opponents on the 2011 season, Georgia Tech and Harvard. GSU beat both GT and Harvard 6-3 and 9-3 respectively. KSU lost to both GT and Harvard by scores of 4-7 and 6-10. If you're a believer in common opponent play predicting the outcome of this game you have to believe GSU is able to semi-easily handle KSU. The Panthers are 2-1 against the Owls under Coach Frady.

Who: Kennesaw State University Owls compete in the NCAA D1 Atlantic Sun (A-Sun) conference. The Owls are currently 14-9 on the season and 12-4 at home. KSU returns about half of their 2010 defensive players and starters. KSU's top relief pitcher and top starter in 2010 are not returned for 2011.

KSU on the Mound: KSU will send junior righty Sean Fream to the hill today. Sean is 1-1 with a 8.44 ERA on the season. In 2010, he went 0-4 after 4 game starts and 4 relief appearances with an ERA of 25.07. Ouch. His innings pitched totaled only 9.1 and he allowed 28 runs (26 earned). Walks were a huge issue last season and he's improved on this so far this year however opposing batters are still seeing the ball well from him as they're hitting .328 against him. Sean had a great high school career but he's having issues translating that to D1-level success. KSU has some good relievers in their pocket and they typically cannot be tapped for more runs than their starters. The team ERA is a 4.95 and they're allowing 6 runs per game.

KSU at the Plate: Three-hole hitter/star catcher Ronnie Freeman (sophomore out of Lawrenceville) is KSU's leader at the plate. He's hitting .360 and has started all 23 games. He has 1 home run and 17 RBI's on the season. KSU likes to steal bases with infielder Aaron Dobbs who usually bats 2nd. He has a .364 on-base percentage and is leading the team by large margin with 9 steals in 11 attempts. Andy Chriscaden and Peyton Hart are KSU's other hitting threats, both batting .330, Andy with 3 home runs. Once you get beyond the 5 spot in the batting order, there is little offensive threat. Overall, KSU is hitting .285 as a team and scoring just beyond their pitching allowance at about 6.5 runs per game.

GSU on the Mound: GSU wins and ERA team co-leader Will Campbell will oppose Sean Fream. Will is 4-0 with a 3.00 ERA after 5 starts. He has pitched 30 innings allowing only 19 hits, 10 runs, 8 walks and recorded 20 strikeouts. The 4-0 record isn't hard to figure out when you look at Will's walk and hits per inning number. It is still below 1.00 at .9 which is outstanding. Opposing batters are having a heck of a time figuring Will out as they're batting only .188 against him. Our relievers are still pitching great, not much has changed here. The team ERA is at a CAA-best 3.56 and they are allowing an average of less than 4.5 runs per game.

GSU at the Plate: Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams are still leading the way for the Panthers. Brett is hitting .443, which he's been close to all season long, and Brandon is hitting .390. Maxwell has been a doubles machine with 1-of-3 hits being a double hence his near .600 slugging percentage. As I mentioned in the season review I completed on Monday, Micowski is hot at the plate and has pulled his average up to .337 on the season. The whole team is hitting well right now and I think this continues into tonight.


The keys for this game are 1) Will Campbell, do what you do baby. You're sporting a .9 WHIP, you've got it figured out. 2) Micowski, stay hot. Let the team continue to feed off your top of the order energy. 3) Keep Aaron Dobbs off the bags so he's not moving into scoring position which leads me to 4) keep Ronnie Freeman at bay or at least minimize the runners on base when he's coming up and 5) this limits the damage that power threat Andy Chriscaden can do. Doing 3 and 4 will minimize the amount of runs Kennesaw can pile up on you at once due to their weak 6-9 spots in the batting order.

KSU is going to be tired after a 6 PM game with Georgia Southern last night and a 4-hour drive home to follow. They likely didn't get in bed until near 2 AM and with an important in-conference series at Mercer starting Friday, it's possible some starters are given rest tonight. The Panthers should pull this out by a safe margin. I hope to see some blue up in Kennesaw tonight! GO PANTHERS!!!

Response to AJC's Mark Bradley 's Article on Ron Hunter

The AJC's Mark Bradley.  He doesn't heart GSU basketball

Photo Courtesy of PBA.org

For those of you who may have missed it, Mark Bradley posted a blog entry on the AJC about the Ron Hunter hiring at GSU. Now I usually leave the basketball-related topics to Ben but this particular article rubbed me the wrong way due to Mark's obvious disdain for GSU athletics. Maybe this article was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me, I don't know. I say "disdain" because until he comes out and tells us why he must take every stab he can at GSU, I'm going to assume he has an unjust natural pessimistic outlook on anything related to sports at Georgia State. I'd love to be proven wrong but I'm not sure he can do so at this point.

Moving along to my response to him, which I'm using every avenue possible to get this in front of his eyes.

Mark Bradley - You just cannot get enough of taking stabs at Georgia State's attempts to improve their athletics, can you? Football last year, basketball this year right.
Comments such as these, "It’s unclear if anyone can actually win at Georgia State" and "To succeed at GSU, a coach must not only win (and winning has proved tough enough)" is only pandering to the ignorant. There's already enough people around here who love to hate on Georgia State (GSU) for starting football and for any other reason they can think of. You do not help this situation so if that's your goal, congratulations, you succeed.

Why do I say this? So you don't dismiss this as an angry rant from someone speaking from emotion, let me explain with facts. First, ever heard of Lefty Driesell? GSU men's basketball coach from 1997-2003. He won at GSU with an overall record of 103-59 including a NCAA 2nd round appearance and an NIT appearance in the following year. So to say nobody has won at GSU is flat out wrong. Not only is it wrong but it's also a disgrace to your profession. You have the responsibility of educating the uneducated and currently you're only catering to them.

Second, nobody prior to current GSU President Mark Becker has cared enough about athletics in order to put the resources into the programs to get winning results. (FYI - Becker took over in 2009) I cannot say I completely blame them up until Carl Patton. GSU was a different school back then. It's a completely changed landscape and it's still changing. Using past performance of athletics at this university as an indicator of future success is absolutely foolish. Go ask the administration at UCF about that. (Ask UGA too, they were humiliated by UCF in this season's bowl game). I don't understand how this is hard to comprehend.
It takes the right administration and the right coaches to win and that has been the issue at Georgia State. Contrary to your belief, there is not some black cloud curse over GSU athletics. The GSU administration is now on the right track. Coach Bill Curry with football, Coach Greg Frady with baseball (18-4, receiving votes in 2 of the national college baseball polls) and hopefully Ron Hunter will be the correct piece for the basketball program to begin the turn around.

I welcome a response to explain your comments I addressed above.
[End Response]

One more thing, notice how he ignores the recent years success of GSU baseball whenever he makes a comment such as "it’s unclear if anyone can actually win at Georgia State." What does this tell us? Winning makes him go away. Ron Hunter, I hope you win...often.

The Voice Sits Down With Coach Hunter

GSU Sports Communications Release

Panthers Baseball Update, March 22nd

Coach Frady and the baseball team is rolling.

Photo Courtesy of GSU Sports Communications

Well we are now a little over a month into the season with 22 games in the books and the Panthers find themselves riding a school-record 9 game winning streak while sitting on top of the CAA standings. In addition, the team is now receiving votes in not one but two of the top college baseball polls, the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Poll (NCBWA). This is the first time this season the Panthers find themselves gaining national recognition outside of the NCBWA poll.

The Panthers baseball team is currently 18-4 with key wins over Georgia Tech (currently ranked 12th in Division 1), Mercer, Iowa and a 3-game in-conference sweep over Towson. Three of the four losses are against power conference teams in Iowa (1) and Mississippi State (2). Delaware is currently in 2nd in the CAA with a 5-1 CAA record (10-10 overall) with wins over lowly George Mason and Hofstra and James Madison is holding down the 3rd spot with a 7-2 CAA record (15-5 overall) after defeating William & Mary, Hofstra and VCU.

Current CAA Player of the Week Mark Micowski has heated up at the plate and I don't think his hot streak coming at the same time of the team winning streak while average 10+ runs per game is any coincidence. The Panthers were averaging around 6 runs per game previous to this streak and at the time Mark was still batting below .300. He's known to be a slow starter and opposing pitchers ERA has benefited from it. Note to all opposing pitchers: Mark Micowski has started.

Congratulations to Coach Greg Frady for earning his 150th victory at GSU in last Sunday's win over Murray State!

Let's talk a little baseball statistics. The Panthers offense up until this past week has struggled to regain their post among the top offenses in the league as they were hovering near the upper 1/3 of the CAA. This has changed as the team is now batting .315 which is good for 2nd in the league. James Madison still leads the league with a .352 average however this is falling with each passing week as their offense faces better than terrible pitching. The GSU offense is also 2nd in runs scored per game at 7.7 which is up almost 2 runs over the recent winning streak. There are now only 2 Panthers starters with a batting average below .300 however on-base percentages of .386 and .474 make up for the .259 and .250 averages. Getting on base by walk is just as good as a single, you're standing on first at the end of both. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams are leading the team with a .443 and .390 average (respectively). Ryan Fleming and Mark Micowski are the team RBI leaders with 24 and 22. Fleming is proving to be the Panthers power threat with 5 home runs on the season.

Moving to the pitching game now, this is where we continue to see the Panthers strength on the season. The Panthers pitching staff has been great under new pitching coach Jason Arnold. His preaching of attacking the strike zone and being aggressive has paid dividends thus far. The Panthers pitching staff leads the CAA in runs allowed per game (4.5), team ERA (3.74), batting average allowed (.240) and walks & hits per inning (1.3). The Panthers pitchers are a huge reason why the team is 18-4 after having somewhat of a slow start at the plate. Justin Malone and Will Campbell are both 4-0 with 3.00 ERA's. The core starting group of Malone, Campbell, Charley Olson, Aidan Francis and Nick Squeglia are 15-3 with a 3.33 ERA.

Newcomers Sam Agnew-Wieland (freshman) and Jake Dyer (junior) have proven to be clutch out of the Panther bullpen. Sam has pitched 12.1 innings of relief and allowed only 2 runs and has 14 strikeouts. Jake is 2-0 from the bullpen after 13.1 innings of relief and only 3 runs allowed. Opposing batters are hitting an anemic .190 and .205 against them. Panthers fans have to be excited about the future outlook for Sam. I think Sam needs a nickname, since his initials are S.A.W., "Buzz SAW" sounds appropriate since he's setting down over 1 batter per inning by strikeout and hitters are under .200 at the plate against him!

To wrap this up, it's a great time to be a Panther baseball fan! I hope you all are taking the opportunity to get out to Panthersville to show the team, and the GSU administration, your support of the program. The Panthers make the short trip up I-75 tomorrow for a 6 PM first pitch with in-state rival Kennesaw State University and host VCU for CAA-play this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Get out to support your Panthers!

AJC: Ron Hunter, Dreamer of Dreams

Mark Bradley weighs in on our new coach.

AJC Link

AJC: GSU opens Spring Practice Focused on Speed

New DB D'Mario Gunn was all smiles on Day 1

Photo Courtesy of the AJC's Vino Wong

Good work, as always, by KS.

AJC Link

Spring Practice Underway

QB Kelton Hill gets loose in Spring Practice #1

Photo Courtesy of GSU Sports Communications

Photo Gallery

IUPUI's Ron Hunter is New Men's Basketball Coach

New Georgia State Men's Basketball Coach Ron Hunter

Photo Courtesy of the Indianapolis Star

About 8:50pm, Wilmington StarNews writer Brian Mull announced via Twitter:

According to a source Ron Hunter, the coach at IUPUI, will be the next coach at GSU. Press conference tomorrow at 3 pm #caahoops

Then one by one, the outlets began picking it up.  Andy Katz of ESPN.com gushed with information and included contract information.  The Indianapolis Star did the most extensive write up and spoke with Hunter as well.

The Introductory press conference is scheduled for 3PM in the Senate Ballroom in the Student Center.

Panthers Baseball Remains Unbeaten Against Ivy League

The Panthers defeated the Harvard Crimson today by a score of 9-3. Will Campbell had an odd first inning allowing 2 runs on 2 hits, 2 walks and 3 steals. He settled in and pitched another 5 innings allowing a total of 6 hits and 3 runs. Our outstanding freshman Sam Agnew-Wieland entered and pitched a quick 2 innings allowing only 1 hit and recorded 2 strikeouts, I know, what's new. Zach Chastain closed the game for the Panthers in the 9th. Zach has now pitched 5.1 innings without giving up an earned run.

I give the game ball on offense to Joey Wood after going 2-for-3 with 4 RBI's including a 2-run HR to left center field in the 5th inning. Joey received the start in left field today to allow Brett Maxwell the day off. Drew Shields had a productive game going 3-for-4 and driving 2 runs. Mark Micowski, Rob Lind and Carter Sackett also had a multi-hit day at the plate.

Box Score: 3 Runs, 8 Hits and 1 Error for the Crimson; 9 Runs, 14 Hits and no Errors for the Panthers

The Panthers host out-of-conference Murray State for a 3-game series Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Game times are at 6 PM, 1PM and 1PM respectively. Sunny skies ahead so wear the sunscreen when you get out there this weekend, especially on Saturday. Should be in the upper 70's for tomorrow's first pitch, sitting around 80 on Saturday and Sunday will be a little cooler in the high 60's.

Look for the series preview tomorrow.

Updated: Economics of the NCAA Tournament - CAA Style

Here's our breakdown on this year's tournament from today's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

The Colonial Athletic Association will get a handsome check — a payday that could increase — with three teams in the NCAA tournament for the first time.

CAA commissioner Tom Yeager said the conference will get at least $750,000 — $250,000 for each team — from the NCAA for the next year six years for getting VCU, Old Dominion and George Mason into the tournament. Another $250,000 will be added for each win those teams accumulate. The NCAA bid means VCU will get at least $350,000 next year from the CAA under a complicated revenue-sharing formula.

The Rams received just under $200,000 this year, Yeager said. The conference gets a check from the NCAA each season based on its performances in the NCAA tournament the previous six years.

Forty percent of that goes into the CAA's "excellence pool," which is divvied up based on shares that teams accumulate. The other 60 percent is divided equally among the conference's 12 schools.

VCU's First Four win netted us an extra $11K last night.

Long story, short: Root for CAA teams!

Harvard Will Attempt to Outperform Georgia State...

...on the baseball field that is. For the first time in history Georgia State will host Harvard on the diamond tomorrow, Wednesday the 17th, at 5 PM. This is only the 2nd Ivy League school Georgia State has faced. The only other meeting with an Ivy League opponent was in 1998 when GSU home-swept the Cornell Big Red at Panthersville in a 3-game series. This game comes two days after the Panthers beat the Alabama State Hornets 14-4 bringing their record on the 2011 season to CAA best 14-4.

Who: Harvard University Crimson, competes in NCAA D1 Ivy League play. Harvard enters tomorrow's game with a 1-9 record, their first win coming tonight over Kennesaw State University in a late-inning meltdown by the KSU pitching staff.

Previous Season: Harvard finished the 2010 season with a 17-26 record and near the bottom of the Ivy League in both pitching and offense.

Harvard at the Plate: The team is batting .241 with a .309 on-base percentage. Not much power has been displayed, their slugging only .306 with just 1 home run and 1 triple. This production is scoring about 3.2 runs per game. At the plate the team is striking out 3 times for every 1 walk earned. Junior Jeff Reynolds is leading the Crimson at the plate with a .367 and is the only starter hitting over .300.

Harvard on the Mound: The Harvard starting pitcher is currently unknown. Prior to today's game, the team ERA was 7.94 and they were allowing a little over 8 runs per game. That doesn't cut it and if you were wondering why they were 0-9 heading into today, averaging 3 runs on offense while allowing 8 is the reason. The Crimson have 1 pitcher who has not allowed a run and that pitcher is senior Zachery Hofeld. Hofeld earned the win against Kennesaw after pitching 4 innings of relief work and allowing only 1 hit and no runs. It's safe to say the Panthers will likely not see him tomorrow. Marcus Way and Joey Novak appear to be the potential starters as of now. Marcus is 0-1 and given up 8 runs in 3.2 innings pitched. Joey has given up 9 runs in 5.1 innings. Both pitchers have a WHIP (walks+hits per inning) of near 3.0. Give this Panthers lineup an average of 3 hits and/or walks per inning and they're going to put up some runs on you in a hurry considering the speed and ability to steal bases.

GSU at the Plate: The Panthers lineup is coming off a game with 13 hits and 14 runs scored so the bats are likely tuned in right now. The team is hitting .292 led by outfielder Brett Maxwell who sports a cool .442 average and leads the team in doubles with 7. Rob Lind enters the game with a streak of 14 consecutive plate appearances in which he reached base by walk or hit. Rob Lind leads the CAA with 26 walks in 79 plate appearances. This is not good for the opposing teams because once Rob is on base, he leads the Panthers with 6 steals and 9 attempts. The Panthers are 35-for-46 as a team. Mark Micowski is coming off a nice game at the plate after going 3-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBI's. Mark leads the Panthers with 17 RBI's. It's not everyday you see a lead-off hitter with the team high in RBI's. This is a testament to the production coming from the bottom of the lineup for the Panthers.

GSU on the Mound: Senior righty Will Campbell takes the mound for the Panthers bringing along a 3-0 record, one of 6 CAA pitchers holding a 3-o record (3 are Panthers). Will has a 2.62 ERA and opposing hitters are only batting .165 against him which is good for the best in the CAA. He has a WHIP of .83 after allowing a total of 13 hits and 7 walks in his 24 innings pitched. This is a great number for a starter. Will has allowed only one extra base hit coming in form of a double. The Panthers relief staff continues their outstanding work. There are 5 relievers (with minimum of 1 inning) who have opponent batting averages at or below .200 and they have yet to allow the long ball. The Panthers as a team have still allowed only 5 home runs with 3 from the Mercer game.

I expect an easy game for the Panthers tomorrow. Barring them being off their game (by a ton) tomorrow they should move on to this weekend's home series with Murray State owning a 15-4 record. The Panthers do everything better than the Crimson of Harvard. I know Kennesaw State was saying the same thing 12 hours ago but they are in somewhat of a funk right now. The Panthers are good, really good. Really good teams beat bad teams. GO PANTHERS!!!

AJC: GSU Should Hire Dip

Augusta State's Dip Metress

Photo Courtesy of Augusta State Sports Communications

Mark Bradley gives his thoughts.  Glad to see a column come out considering there has been no less than 4 dedicated to the Georgia Institute of Technology's head coaching vacancy.  Equal time in due time, I suppose.

AJC Link

Florida RB Gabe Johnson is 2012 Offer #3

Say hello to Gabe Johnson Panther Nation

Photo Courtesy of Rivals.com

Coach Bill Curry and the coaching staff continue to focus on the offensive side of the ball with their 3rd scholarship offer in the 2012 recruiting cycle.  This time, it's Gabe Johnson from Bartram Trail HS in Jacksonville, Florida.  Johnson is 5'9, 190lbs power back who averaged 5 yards per game in his Junior season for the Bears.  He plays in a very similiar style offense to ours and the numbers reported below were in 9 games in 2010 and 10 games in 2011.  We are his first confirmed offer, which I believe gives us a great chance as he should put up big numbers as a Senior.

2010 Stats: 86 carries, 432 yards, 5 TDs, 14 catches, 172 yards, 1 TDs
2009 Stats: 75 carries, 381 yards, 5 TD, 16 catches, 244 yards, 2 TDs

From Rivals.com Chris Nee: Saw him last season against St. Augustine (Fla.) Pedro Menendez. I liked him. Capable back with good hands who is a receiving option. His speed on the field is good, but heard he recently ran a poor 40 at a camp or combine.

Senior Highlights

GSU Baseball Welcomes Alabama State on Tuesday

The Georgia State Panthers baseball team will face off against the Alabama State Hornets today at 5 PM, weather permitting. Let's hope the weather does cooperate today as last year's 2 games vs Alabama State resulted in a 27-3 and 23-1 offensive attack on the Hornets. What a nice way to get everyone's confidence up on seeing the ball well at the plate. The Panthers enter today's game with a 13-4 record sitting atop the CAA. The Hornets are 5-5 (I incorrectly stated 4-5-1 previously) and will be rusty as they haven't played since Sunday, March 6th. I hope this game is the needed catalyst to get much of the team bats on a hot streak.

Who: The Alabama State Hornets compete in NCAA D1 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). This is the 2nd SWAC team GSU will have faced this season. The Panthers swept Texas Southern in a 3-game home series to open the 2011 season. The Hornets finished the 2010 season with a 13-28 record. This is a veteran team coming in as they only lost 1 letterwinner and no starters from 2010. Coach Frady has not lost to a SWAC opponent as Head Coach of GSU. GSU does share a 2011 common opponent with ASU in Mercer University. ASU lost 0-8, 1-9 and 2-18 at Mercer in the end of February. The Panthers beat Mercer 14-5 right before the ASU-Mercer series.

ASU at the Plate: ASU is batting .240 as a team and is scoring 6.2 runs per game however they have scored under 4 runs in 5 games and over 7 in only 3. Starting left fielder (Jr.) Jordan Mims leads the starters on offense with a .333 batting average and 5 RBI's. Senior Catcher Jourdan Mott is the batting .313 and leads the team with 10 RBI's and 2 home runs. The Hornets have only 11 doubles, no triples and 3 home runs as a team. Mims and Mott are the only 2 regular starters batting over .300. They steal bases with success when they do decide to run as they've only been caught stealing in 1 of 23 attempts.

ASU on the Mound: The Hornets have a staff ERA of 6.15 through 10 games. They have given up 7 runs per game in 2010. They have a couple starters who've performed well, one average and a couple who have been rocked on the mound. The starter for today's game is still un-announced by ASU. Outside of senior righty Devin Dominquez, the Hornet relief staff has not been good this season.

GSU at the Plate: Rob Lind and Ryan Fleming will look to continue their hot streak at the plate after bringing their averages up to .245 and .283 respectively. Fleming had 2 game-winning hits against Towson and had a 3-run home run in Sunday's finale. Rob racked up a .867 on-base percentage in the series. Outfielder Brett Maxwell still leads the team with a .442 batting average while Mark Micowski and Ryan Fleming are leading the team with 12 RBI's each.

GSU on the Mound: Right hand redshirt sophomore Brandon Bast will get his first start for GSU. Brandon is a Panther newcomer this season as he transferred from Georgia Perimeter College where he put in relief work in the 2010 season. He went 1-2 with 17 strikeouts in 16 innings of relief. Brandon has worked 3 innings this season and has allowed 2 runs on 5 hits. He has given 3 walks and has 2 strikeouts in his appearances. The Panthers offense should provide a large lead for this to be a staff game on the mound. I would guess Brandon pitches 4 or 5 innings before giving way to some relievers for work to stay fresh.

This should be an easy game for the Panthers and could be the first game of the season to top 20 runs. The current high for runs scored is 14 when the Panthers beat Mercer 14-5 in Macon. Good luck to Brandon in his first start tonight!

Updated: Florida ATH Travares Copeland is Offer #2 for 2012

Photo Courtesy of TCPalm.com

Coach Bill Curry and the Panthers football staff have offered their 2nd grant in aid for the 2012 cycle to Ft. Lee Westwood HS (Port St. Lucie, FL) Athlete Travares Copeland.

Copeland is 5'11, 180lbs and has offers from Kentucky, South Florida and Louisville at this point.  He has played QB and DB in 2010 but has worked out as WR in several spring camps in 2011 and has seen his interest soar. 

Chris Nee from Rivals.com: Copeland is a special talent. He plays QB in high school but can be a very good WR at the collegiate level. Kid is very well put together and very athletic with good hands. He will blow up as a senior at Treasure Coast.

Josh Newberg of 247sports.com had to say:
ATH Travares Copeland won WR MVP and overall camp MVP. He’s one heck of an athlete. He plays mainly QB and WR in high school. At 5’11 he’s probably going to get a lot of looks as a slot receiver by colleges. I think he could also be a lock-down type corner. It will be interesting to see where colleges recruit him, there is not a lot of film of him playing CB. He definitely has the quickness to be a Nick Waisome type cover corner….he’s also got the swag. He’s a great kid with a real personality.

2010 Junior Highlights

2009 Sophomore Highlights

Panthers Open CAA-Play with Sweep over Towson

The Panthers baseball team opened their 2011 conference play in the best possible fashion by sweeping the Towson Tigers in a 3-game series at Panthersville. There was no better way to return the favor to Towson after they swept the Panthers in the 2010 season. The Panthers are now 13-4 on the season and 3-0 in the CAA.

Ryan Flemming had a great offensive showing in the series with 3 hits and 8 walks in 15 at-bats. That's a .429 batting average and a .733 on-base percentage. Ryan also accounted for 6 RBI's in the series with a 3-run home run during game 3. Rob Lind also had a great series going 6-for-8 (.750 BA) and drawing 7 walks for a .867 on-base percentage. A congratulations goes to Theo Asher for hitting his first home run as a Panther in the 5th inning. He hit a solo shot off a 3-2 pitch in the 5th inning to open the Panther's lead to 8-4.

The Panther's relief pitchers stepped up big when called upon this weekend only allowing 1 (earned) run in their 11.2 innings pitched during the 3 games. The lone run came off typical starter Will Campbell as he relieved Charley Olsen for 3 innings to earn the win in Saturday's victory. Justin Malone proved he is human after all and allowed 5 runs in his Friday start after going 5.1 innings. He had 6 K's and 2 walks in the outing. Nick Squeglia entered in relief for Justin and pitched 3 innings allowing only 2 hits. Jake Dyer would earn the win in his 1.2 innings of perfect relief.

Charley Olsen started Saturday's game and went 6 innings of what felt like a rough outing however he allowed only 3 runs in the game. His issue came from 4 walks and the Towson hitters getting clutch hits. Charley showed his composure through his jams and even through a pick-off to 1st to and a 5th inning scoring threat. Previous to the pick-off, Brett Maxwell gunned down a runner at home coming from 2nd base on a single to center field.

Aidan Francis pitched 5 innings in Sunday's win allowing 6 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits and allowed only 1 walk. Jeremy Gazerro and Jake Dyer pitched 4 innings of combined no-run relief allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk.

The Panthers are now sitting in 1st place in the CAA.

This week's opponents feature Alabama State (4-5-1), Harvard (0-8) and Murray State (8-7) all at Panthersville. The Panthers are 8-0 against Alabama State under Frady and have not faced Harvard or Murray State under Frady.

UK Coach John Calipari Plugs Men's Job

"There's a couple guys I'll probably call them, say, ‘Hey, you need to consider this, that and the other,'" Calipari said, referring to the Panthers' job, open since Rod Barnes was fired Feb. 27.


Calipari, who wouldn't identify possible candidates, said he loved the potential of the job because of its location in Atlanta ("a great city") and its membership in the Colonial Athletic Association. With teams such as George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth and UNC-Wilmington, all of whom have won in the NCAA tournament in recent history, Calipari said the potential to do likewise exists at Georgia State.

"It's kind of like when I went to UMass," he said. "They said, ‘Why did you like the job? It's the worst job in college basketball.' We're in a league with Temple. And they were No. 1 in the country and if they can be No. 1, we can be No. 1."

AJC Link

Thanks Coach Cal!

Boise State Transfer Mike Tamburo to UGA, Not GSU

According to my man Chip Towers of the AJC, former Boise State and North Gwinnett HS QB Mike Tamburo has been accepted and will walk on at Georgia this summer.


Playing time did not seem to be a concern as a change of scenery:

"I’ve been talking to Georgia and to Coach [Mike] Bobo and I just liked everything about the idea of going that. "There’s the football program, the tradition and all that. I know about the all the guys on the depth chart and all that. But that’s not what this is about. I’m just looking for a fresh start."

Tamburo mentioned that he took a long, hard look at Georgia State who now has an immediate need at QB with starter Drew Little being slapped with a four game suspension and back up Star Jackson leaving the program.

"Yeah, yeah, I talked to them," said Tamburo, who accounted for 8,476 total yards and 90 touchdowns while playing for Bob Sphire at North Gwinnett High. "I’ve got a couple of buddies that play there and my little sister (Kristin Tamburo) is going there to play soccer. But there were a lot of things that went into my decision."

My take: While this seems like another blow in an already tough week for the football program, I do not believe Tamburo will ever take a snap at Georgia with Sophomore QB Aaron Murray and incoming Freshman Christian LeMay on campus. It's very obvious that he would rather move closer to home and is happy to be a part of an FBS program.  What will truly be interesting if there happens to be a coaching staff change this December. Could Tamburo be on the move again?

Georgia State, UT-Chattanooga Agree to Series

According to the Chattanooga Free Times Press, Georgia State has agreed to a 2 year home and home series with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  The Panthers will host the Mocs in 2013 at the Georgia Dome and return the trip to Chattanooga in 2014.

Mocs coach Russ Huesman likes the matchup.  “It could become a nice rivalry,” Huesman said, citing the schools’ proximity and shared recruiting territory.

Baseball Conference Play Kicks-Off with Towson

The Georgia State Panthers (10-4, 0-0 CAA) will face Towson (4-6-1, 0-0 CAA) in a 3-game CAA series matchup over tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Game times are at 6 PM, 1PM and 12 PM respectively

Who: The Towson Tigers are fellow CAA members and are 4-6-1 (0-0 CAA) coming into this weekend's matchup. The Tigers returned 19 players from the 2010 season, 7 position players and 12 pitchers. They come with an experienced infield led by 3 seniors (1B, SS, 3B) which is reflected in their CAA best 12 errors and 2nd best fielding percentage. The Tiger's pitching staff is the opposite story. Two of their top 3 most used starting pitchers from the 2010 season were lost to graduation and their leader in saves was lost to the MLB 2010 Draft (Toronto). To make matters worse in the pitching staff only 1 of 4 of the top newcomers has been able to positively contribute to the pitching efforts to-date. The other 3 have been hit hard in their outings.

Towson at the Plate: Returning senior starters Chris Wychock (3B) and Nick Natoli (SS) are leading the Tigers on offense. Chris is hitting .366 with 8 RBI's and 2 HR's and has 5 doubles, all of which are team leading numbers. Nick is hitting .344 with 4 doubles, a triple and only 1 RBI. Nick also holds 3 of Towson's 9 stolen bases. As we've seen in previous opponents, Towson is missing power and speed. They have only 5 home runs and have been successful in only 10 of 20 stolen base attempts. If you don't have power or speed your offense needs to be hitting well above Towson's team average of .258 in order to produce runs. They have been scoring about 5 runs per game this season which places them almost in the bottom of the CAA. Overall, there's not too much to be afraid of in this Towson lineup.

Towson on the Mound: The Tigers pitching staff is allowing over 8 runs per game this season which places Towson at the bottom of the CAA. Their team ERA of 6.56 is good for 2nd worst as is their 10 home runs allowed.

Tiger Starters are as follows:

Sean Thompson (RH, So.) is 0-2 after 3 starts posting a 5.40 ERA. He has only lasted through 11.2 innings allowing 10 runs on 11 hits. He is walking 1 of 6 batters faced and has 9 strikeouts. Thompson throws a very good curve ball to keep hitters off-balance.

Charlie Cononie (RH, Sr.) is 6'7" and features a fastball with great movement. He has progressively moved into a starter role coming into this season. Through 3 starts he is 1-2 with a 4.60 ERA after 15.2 innings pitched. He has allowed 8 runs on 14 hits and batters are hitting only .230 against him. Low offensive production has been his enemy this season. His strikeouts have been his best friend. Charlie has sent almost 40% of batters faced back to the dugout by way of strikeout with 23 K's on the season.

Michael Trionfo (RH, So.) started against Georgia State last season as a freshman and received a no-decision after pitching 4.2 innings in the Tigers win. Michael is 0-1 after 2 starts with a 7.82 ERA. He has been hit hard for 12 runs on 19 hits in 12.2 innings. Batters are hitting .352 against him. Michael has great command of his pitches and features a great curve ball with overall good control.

Once the starters give way to the bullpen batters really begin to light up the Towson pitching staff. Most of their relievers are being hit for well over .300 and in most cases .350-.400. Spencer Patton has been the most used and most successful reliever. Hitters are .343 against him, he has 9 strikeouts and has given up 5 runs through 8.1 innings.

GSU at the Plate: Watch out for infielder Brandon Williams as he's been on a tear lately. Named CAA Player of the Week, he has batted .478 in his last six games and five of them coming against power conference teams. He is now hitting .348 on the season with 5 RBI's and 4 for 5 in stolen bases. Outfielder Brett Maxwell is leading the Panthers with a .474 batting average and also leads the team with 5 doubles. The Panthers are batting .272 as a team and are still struggling to get, and keep, this number above .300. With that said they remain a top 3 offense in the CAA and are 3rd in the CAA with 6 runs per game. James Madison and George Mason remain a larger offensive producer than the Panthers but with CAA play starting, these numbers should normalize and we'll get a better picture of where we all stand.

GSU on the Mound: Pitching has been the Panthers strength in the 2011 season. GSU leads the CAA in team ERA at 2.82 and also in runs allowed per game at 4.5. The staff has the 2nd best opposing batting average at .224 with Old Dominion performing only .003 points better.

Starters as follows:

Justin Malone (RH, Jr.) takes the mound Friday with a 0.47 ERA after 3 starts and a 3-0 record. Justin has been just outstanding for the team in the 2011 season. He has thrown 19 innings and allowed 1 earned run, 4 runs total. His walks and hits per inning is 1.0 and has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3:1. Batters are hitting only .235 against him.

Charley Olsen (RH, Sr.) makes his 3rd start on Saturday with a 3.29 ERA and a 1-2 record. Charley has been a victim of some messy defense. Of his 10 runs allowed through 13.2 innings (which includes a 4.2 inning relief effort) only 5 runs are earned. Batters are hitting .288 against him which is the team high for starters. However, Charley is striking out 1 batter per inning and has kept his walks down to 3 on the season. Saturday features the best pitching matchup with two Charley's going to the mound (spelling is different) so he'll need to have a good game which I think we can count on.

Aidan Francis (LH, Sr.) takes the mound for the last game of the series. Aidan is 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA after 3 starts. Aidan earned the win in a great pitching effort last week against Georgia Tech after pitching 7 innings. Aidan has allowed 6 runs in his 14.2 innings pitched but 4 of the runs came during the Mercer game where he allowed 3 HR's against the powerful lineup. That is his only blemish on the season thus far. His weapon has been strikeouts as he's fanned 17 and walked only 4. Aidan has been an authority on the mound this season, look for this to continue against Towson.

Even though the Panthers are 4-8 against Towson under Coach Frady, these are different teams and I expect a 3-game sweep this weekend. Saturday is my only question mark due to the pitching matchup but it's a small question mark. I think Charley (the good guy) will come out and pitch a good game and we'll get into the Towson bullpen to put up some runs.

Here are some keys against this Towson team. The Panthers offense needs to watch the strikeouts. The first two pitchers they face have good strikeout numbers. Don't let them give you only 2 outs to work with each inning. The Panther pitchers just need to keep doing what they've done all season. Sounds simple, but that's a large reason why the team is 10-4 with wins over Mercer, GT and Iowa. The offense needs to make the Tiger starting pitchers work hard. Get into the bullpen and rack up some runs. Don't let these guys have 8 and 10 pitch innings.

GO PANTHERS!!!

Addressing the Suspension: Short Term Pain, Long Term Gain

Yesterday, Coach Bill Curry announced the suspensions of 2010 Starting QB Drew Little and SS Fred Barnes for 4 games and 2 games, respectively.  Starting ILB Femi Opanubi was dismissed.  Starting WR Danny Williams and ILB Evan Bostic are suspended for the first week of Spring Practice which starts in 10 days.  Back up QB Star Jackson and CB Justin Hughes have left the team.  While this incited every reaction from disappointment to shock to worry, I'm here to calm the Panther Nation.

Both players were suspended for a violation of team rules and I will not begin to speculate the nature of the rules that they broke but I'll say this: For every current and future player, the line in the sand has been drawn.  Either you are pulling in the same direction or you let go of the rope. 

So why am I so calm?  We will be without our 2010 leader of the offense vs. Clark Atlanta, Old Dominion, at Jacksonville State and at Houston.  This is not good news for the anticipated results in those games.  We then face Murray State at home and then will have an Open date.  If Drew is prepared to resume his role as the Starting QB, he will have 2 weeks of practice time to regain that title.  If not, he'll likely serve as a back up as I believe the plan is to redshirt incoming Freshman Ben McLane, who will arrive in June.  After this 4 game stretch, I believe our schedule breaks slightly with five of the next seven games are very winnable games. 

Also, from a scholarship side of things, losing Star, Femi and Justin Hughes may look like very bad news but I believe that Star had checked out after a disappointing Fall and I wish him well.  Femi's loss hurts but we've added Qwontez Mallory who is likely to step right in and start once he arrives in May.  Hughes likely saw the writing on the wall as we added a very talented CB in D'Mario Gunn who I project as a starter in Spring.

Coach Curry has been described as "Old School." If that means that you set out expectations to your players and then you enforce discipline when those expectations are not met, then I hope our program stays "Old School" for a long, long time.

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments" - Jim Rohn.

Football Players Receive Disciplinary Actions

With spring practice less than 2 weeks away, Coach Bill Curry shows his tough hand by announcing disciplinary action for several Panther football players due to violations of team rules. Players and punishment as follows:

QB Drew Little - Suspended for spring practice and the first four games of the 2011 season.
Safety Fred Barnes - Suspended for spring practice and the first two games of the 2011 season.
WR Danny Williams - Suspended for the first week of spring practice.
LB Evan Bostic - Suspended for the first week of spring practice.
LB Olufemi Opanubi - Dismissed from the team.

It is important to note that none of the disciplinary actions were a result of criminal activity but specifics on why the actions are taking place cannot be disclosed due to student privacy laws.

It has also been announced that Bo Schlechter will be returning to the QB position for the 2011 season. Star Jackson was not mentioned.

Thoughts on these actions will be posted soon.

Link to Georgia State Sports official release.

GSU Baseball Comes Home to Play UNC Asheville

Who: UNC Asheville Bulldogs (4-6), compete in the NCAA DI Big South Conference. The Bulldogs enter play with a 4-6 record and sitting on a 6-game losing streak. With only 8 of 34 roster players being seniors and 15 of 34 as freshman, the Bulldogs are a young team. The UNCA pitching staff has only 3 senior pitchers and only one, Grier Harrington has started a game this season.

Previous Season: UNCA finished the 2010 season with a 17-35 record and 7th (out of 10) in their conference. The Panthers are 7-4 against the Bulldogs and are riding a 3-game winning streak over the team. The Bulldogs most recent memory of the Panthers is a 17-2 loss from last March at Panthersville.

UNCA on the Mound: The starters are currently unknown. The Bulldogs pitching staff is sitting near the bottom of the Big South Conference in performance. The team ERA is 5.82, giving up a total of 77 runs (55 earned) through their 10 games (7.7 runs per game). They have two strikeout threats, reliever Grier Harrington who I think is a possible starter and Ryan Dull. Both Harrington and Dull throw near 1 K/IP. Of the starters with more than 1 game starts the ERA is much higher, near 8.00, and batters are hitting over .300 against 3 of the 4 pitchers. It's fair to say the Bulldogs relievers are performing better than the starters to this point.

UPDATE: Grier Harrington, Robert McIntosh and Elliot Criss are possible starters for the Bulldogs. Harrington is 1-1 after 5 appearances and 1 start with a 3.38 ERA. He has a walk-to-strikout ratio of over 3.0 and would be the toughest pitcher we face of the three. McIntosh is 0-0 after starting 2 games, ERA is 4.50 after being touched for 3 runs in 6 innings of work. Batters are hitting .263 against him. Elliot Criss is 0-1 after 2 game starts and pitching only 4.2 innings in the outings. Batters enjoyed his time on the mound as they hit .348 against him and brought in 14 runs. He leads the team in hit batters with 6. That's over 1 per innings guys, watch out.

UNCA at the Plate: The Bulldogs have player who's started all 10 games and three others who've started 9 of 10, catcher Ian Graham and infielders Danny Baatz, Jordan Lurie and Cody Buch. The four mentioned players are hitting at or above .300 on the season with a combined 24 RBI's. There is not much of a power threat on the team, only 1 HR to-date. Stealing only 8 bases and recording 2 triples shows they're not using much speed on the bases either. Starting pitcher Robert McIntosh (fr.) has played middle infield while not pitching and has hit .458 through 7 games with 24 at-bats. He holds the team's highest average as well as the highest slugging percentage at .542. The team is scoring 7 runs per game through the first 10.

GSU on the Mound: Aidan Francis will start Tuesday's game, the Wednesday starter is currently unknown. (I'm sure this is because this weekend the Panthers start conference play against Towson and the coaches are trying to properly align the starters to get the best guys out there for the 3-game home series.) Aidan (ERA 4.63) is coming off a great start where he earned the win against a ranked Georgia Tech team allowing only 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings pitched. He recorded 6 strikeouts while walking nobody. Aidan currently leads the team with 14 strikeouts through 11.2 innings pitched and a starter-low 2 walks on the season. Batters are hitting .260 against him and the only stumble encountered was when he allowed 3 HR's (4 runs) against a powerful Mercer team earlier in the season. I expect Aidan to continue dominating on the mound and attacking hitters hard early in the count. The team ERA still remains below 3.00 even after facing 5 straight games against power conference teams.

GSU at the Plate: Speaking of power conference teams, 3rd baseman Brandon Williams enjoyed the increased competition at the plate. He hit .474 during last week against Georgia Tech, Iowa and Mississippi State. There were some great pitchers faced in that stretch, good job Brandon. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams lead the way at the plate with a .474 and .333 batting average respectively. Mark Micowski has 12 RBI's on the season is hitting a touch below .300. The impressive part about Micowski's 12 RBI's is that the bottom of the lineup is getting on base for him consistently to allow him to drive in the runs. The Panthers continue to use speed on the bases as they are up to 24 steals on the season (29 attempts). I expect this lineup to find comfort at the plate as they return home and face favorable pitching through the week. I'll be surprised if they don't put up some big numbers.

The keys for the Panthers in this series are to enjoy being back at home, relax at the plate as they shouldn't see anything too intimidating and for the pitchers to continue doing what they've done this season. Sounds simple right? The Panthers success against UNCA continues this week and we should be sitting at 11-4 with the offensively anemic Towson coming into town for a weekend 3-game series. GO PANTHERS!!!