The Georgia State Panthers take care of business at Russ Chandler Stadium, defeating the #23 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 6-3 in a great team effort. The pitchers held Tech to half their average runs per game, the offense was seeing the ball well making good contact and the defense played a clean and smart game.
During his 2nd start on the season, Aidan Francis pitched 7 clean innings allowing 2 runs off 7 hits. He showed off his great control by striking out 6 and giving a free base to nobody. Aidan showed great composure on the mound after falling into a couple jams. He made his pitches when he needed to and relied on a clean defensive effort from his fielders to escape potential damage. The good pitching continued in the 8th as (newcomer Jr.) Jake Dyer entered the game for Francis. Dyer found himself in trouble during the 8th as Tech scored one run and then had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Dyer showed his ability to remain calm here as he struck out the next 2 batters to end the scoring threat and the inning. Both pitchers did a great job of taking Tech's hitting threats out of the game by allowing Kyle Wren and Matt Skole only 1 hit between the two of them. Francis is now 1-0 with a 4.63 ERA with 14 strikeouts and only 2 walks on the season. Dyer continues showing why he was brought in this season as he now has 7.2 innings of relief work and is 1-0 with 1 save and an ERA of 1.17. Dyer's walks and hits per inning pitched is just over 1 which is exactly what you want to see out of your reliever.
The Panther hitters burned through 6 Tech pitchers in this game. Starting pitcher Matt Grimes was able to strikeout 9 batters but gave up 4 runs and 8 hits in the game. Mark Micowski continues to awake as he belted a no-doubter home run over the right center wall. Mark went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs and scored twice. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams also had multi-hit games both going 2-for-4 and Williams knocked in 1 run. Overall the Panthers offense had 12 hits and earned 5 walks on the evening. The biggest change of events in offense from previous games was the timely hitting. The Panthers were able to string together hits to bring runners home, something they've had a little difficulty doing at times so far this season. This was a huge factor in the win.
Something that cannot be looked over in this win is the defensive effort given by the Panthers. The team played a clean and well-focused game and the infield played smart ball. They made some key outs to keep runners from advancing bases and made outs at the leading bases keeping men off 3rd. This proved to be important during a few early innings. Brandon Williams showed off his reflex and arm when he had a great diving snag at 3rd and threw out the runner at 1st. No errors were recorded in this game.
Here is what I said would be the keys to the game in my preview...
"The defense needs to play clean. When playing the #26th ranked team in the country, you cannot afford to give them free at-bats with errors. They will take advantage of it and they will make you pay." - No errors, check! Not only were there no errors but the infielders played a very smart game. I love to see this as it's a great indicator of cohesion amongst the group.
"Aidan Francis needs to continue striking guys out and keep the ball in the park. Tech hasn't been a power team yet so don't give them any hangers to do so with." - 6 strikeouts in 7 innings and didn't allow any power to bring runs across. He mostly eliminated the possibility that the power hitters could do any damage other than bringing themselves across which didn't happen either. Check!
"The offense needs to come in fired up and jump all over Matt Grimes early. He's a freshman so the ability to rattle him and make him force pitches is there. That goes away once the bullpen comes into play." - 4 of 6 runs scored were off Grimes through 5 innings. The Panthers forced him to make pitches, waited on pitches to hit and did so. They also forced 3 walks from him. Check!
"When our offense gets on base they need to steal bases to turn singles into scoring opportunities. The speed is there so use it." - 2-for-3 in stolen bases with 1 coming in to score. Not bad.
One of the best parts about this win was how the team handled it when Micowski made the final out by catching a liner to left. They joyfully walked onto the field and congratulated one another like any other win. This shows where their heads were and props to the coaching staff for priming our players this way. The team expected to win and acted like it after doing so, even on Tech's field. Thanks for keeping it classy guys.
GSU moves to 8-1 on the season and Tech falls to 5-4. The Panthers go to Mississippi State University to play in the Mississippi State Tournament this weekend. They will play Iowa and MSU in the double round-robin tournament.
GSU Sports Release featuring an interview with Mark Micowski
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