Panthers Lose Game 1, Face Old Dominion in Loser Bracket Game

The Panthers fell 4-0 to the James Madison Dukes in the first game of the 2011 CAA Baseball Championship. In game 2, UNC Wilmington blanked Old Dominion by a score of 7-0. Georgia State now plays Old Dominion in an elimination game at 12 PM. The loser goes home, the winner will play the loser of the UNC Wilmington vs. James Madison game tonight at 7 PM in another elimination game. Loser games home, winner advances to championship Saturday.

Georgia State lost the season series to Old Dominion with one win in three games. One game was lost on a play at home plate with the Panthers trying to score.

Senior Charley Olson will take the mound at 12 PM against ODU. He pitched for the win in game 2 of the regular season series. Charley pitched 7 innings and allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits. He had 8 strikeouts and 1 walk. The Panthers scored just 12 runs in the 3-game series on 28 hits.

Panthers Baseball Injury Update

Here is a list of current players that are listed as inactive...

OF/DH Joey Wood - Hip
3B/DH Drew Shields - Shoulder
OF Brett Maxwell - Knee
OF Jonathan Kolowich

Catcher/utility player Carter Sackett is limited to DH duties as of now.

The Panthers have played without Wood for the majority of the CAA season. Kolowich has missed the entire season. Brett Maxwell went down in the Mercer game on May 17th. Drew Shields has not played since the William & Mary series. Losing Drew Shields after he replaced Joey Wood is a big loss. Shields was hitting .321 as Wood's backup when he went down.

Joe Hamilton is new Running Backs Coach for Georgia State football

According to current Defensive/Recruiting/S&C Coach Harrison's Twitter page:

I wanna give a special congrats to my great friend @joeham14 for being named Georgia State new RB coach God Is Great..Testimony of Grinding

This is absolutely great news as Coach Hamilton can now recruit for us this summer.  RB Coaches are involved with nearly every offensive position and I have no doubt he will assist Coach Bond with Kelton Hill's development during Fall practice.

Panthers face James Madison in Game 1 of the CAA Baseball Championship

The Panthers quest for a 2011 Baseball Championship begins at 3 PM on Brooks Field at UNC Wilmington. The Panthers enter as the 4th (and final) seed to the tournament and will face #1 seed James Madison. The Panthers finished the CAA with a 17-13 record while the Dukes finished at 21-9, 2 of those loses coming at the hands (or paws) of the Panthers in Virginia.

Offensive Comparison: The Dukes and Panthers finished 1st and 2nd in the CAA offensively. JMU has a team batting average of .319 and scored 9.2 runs per game on the season. The Panthers follow with a .305 batting average and 7 runs per game on the season. While the teams tied in doubles, the Dukes have 27 triples to the Panthers 11 and 142 for 180 in stolen bases compared to the Panthers 11 triples and 93 for 121 stolen bases. This shows the base path aggressiveness and team speed advantage that James Madison holds. While the Dukes have a more powerful lineup, the Panthers have a more well balanced lineup with most starter batting averages near or above .300. The Dukes have a greater disparity in the top half and bottom half of the lineup. The top half is above .335 and the bottom half is below .287.

Pitching Comparison: The Panthers lead the CAA in pitching this year with a team ERA of 4.23 and runs allowed per game of 4.8. The Dukes are 2nd worse in the CAA with a team ERA of 5.98 and 6.6 runs allowed per game. One of the Panthers strengths has been the Dukes weakness, the long ball. The Panthers allowed just 25 home runs on the year, just 12 of them from their weekend rotation. The Dukes allowed 62 with 28 coming from their weekend rotation. Since this is a one-game series, the Dukes are lucky in the fact that they have one solid starter in D.J. Brown. Brown went 8-1 on the regular season with a 4.37 ERA. He's a strikeout pitcher accumulating 82 K's (to just 28 walks) through 82.1 innings pitched. He has a WHIP of 1.33 and a .257 batting average against. The Panthers will send Will Campbell to the mound to face the Dukes. Will is 9-2 with a 2.74 ERA. He has limited opposing batters to a .231 batting average and has a WHIP of just 1.03.

This will be a game 1 rematch of the regular season series where the Dukes scored 5 runs off Aidan Francis in the 8th inning to overcome the 6-4 Panther lead and win 9-6. Will Campbell pitched 6 innings and allowed the powerful JMU lineup only 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits and a walk. The Panthers scored 6 runs on D.J. Brown in 6.1 innings. Mark Micowski, Brandon Williams, Drew Shields and Carter Sackett all had multi-hit games for the Panthers. The damage from the Dukes came courtesy of shortstop David Herbek who went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI's and scored twice.

I think the Panthers win this game 1 matchup. They should have completed a 3-game sweep on the Dukes during their regular season meeting but a botched relief inning prevented that from happening. The Dukes don't have the arms to keep the Panthers offense from hitting. The Panthers are the only ones who can beat the Panthers in this game, and for that matter I believe that statement is true for the entire tournament. GO PANTHERS!!!

UPDATE, 2:56 PM: The Dukes will hold D.J. Brown for a later game and send Sean Tierney to the mound. Sean is 9-1 with a 3.27 ERA on the season. He's started just 6 games and had 10 relief appearances. Sean pitched 52.1 innings on the season and has a WHIP of 1.36. Sean pitched in game 1 of the regular season series against the Panthers. He went 2.2 innings in relief of D.J. Brown and allowed no runs and just 1 hit. He walked 2 and had 2 strikeouts.

Georgia State Men's Basketball Scholarship Update

Have been asked a few times in the last few days since Manny Atkins has arrived about the roster breakdown moving into the 2010-11 season and beyond.  Here's how it looks:

Seniors for the 2011-2012 season (7):
SF Jihad Ali
C Eric Buckner
SF Jordan DeMercy
PG James Fields
PF Brandon McGee
SF Josh Micheaux
PF Jamar Taylor

Rising Juniors (1):
C James Vincent

Rising Sophomores (4):
SF Harold Doby
SG Rashaad Richardson
PG Devonta White
SF Manny Atkins*

Incoming Freshman (1):
SF Tony Kimbro, Jr.

Verbal Commits (1):
SG R.J. Hunter

*Atkins will RS in 2011-12 and be a RS Junior in 2012-13.

We'll lose 7 Seniors this season and we have 1 verbal from RJ Hunter.  I expect to sign 3-4 in November and possibly an additional 3 in the late signing period.  I also expect to see several Metro Atlanta prospects as Coach Hunter and Asst. Coach Darryl Labarrie have been burning up the recruiting trail.

RJ Hunter Commits to Georgia State basketball!

RJ is a Panther!

Photo Courtesy of InsidePreps.net

As expected, 2012 recruit Pike HS (IN) guard RJ Hunter has verbally committed to his Dad and Georgia State.  He is the first committment for the 2012 cycle and third committment in the short time Coach Ron Hunter has been on the job.

ESPN Scouts, Inc. Report on Hunter:

Strengths:

R.J. is a long and slim perimeter player. He competes and is productive on the court. R.J. can put the ball on the floor to create offense and is a solid passer on the perimeter. He is skilled and is a good shooter with range to 22 feet. He is the son of current IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter.

Weaknesses:
He definitely needs to add muscle to his frame but I would not call him soft. He can get his share of rebounds but added strength will definitely help him be more productive on the boards.

Bottom Line:
Hunter is good now but has a tremendous upside moving forward. As he continues to grow he has the feel and look of a smaller, right handed Tayshaun Prince.

2011 recruit Tony Kimbro, Jr. and Virginia Tech transfer Manny Atkins have already signed and are expected to be on campus in June when the team convenes for summer workouts.

Indianapolis Star Link

AJC Blog Link & AJC Article Link

Men's Basketball Opens in Seattle

Looks like the first games in the Ron Hunter Era are set, according to SB Nation Seattle.

November 12th - 14th the Panthers will take on Washington, Portland and old Atlantic Sun foe Florida Atlantic.

Off Season Opponent Report: Jacksonville State

We continue our post Spring practice check ins with all of our 2011 opponents. We've covered Clark Atlanta and Old Dominion the last two weeks and today we take a look at our highest ranked FCS opponent and arguably one of our most exciting games in 2010.  Jacksonville State was ranked #5 entering the Dome last September and was 8-0 and ranked as high as #3 before losing 3 out of their last 4 games including the FCS Playoff opener at home vs. Wofford.  This offseason has been interesting as the JSU Board of Regents in April put possible FBS plans on the table.

When: September 17th

JSU in 2010: 9-3, Lost in FCS Playoffs - Opening Round

Spring Report: The Gamecocks will have to replace 7 starters on offense and 4 starters on defense from 2010.  I had a chance to speak with Gamecock Illustrated and they gave me some insight on the team's health, FBS transfers and his concerns exiting Spring:

To my knowledge, we came out of Spring relatively healthy. I don't know of any injuries to key players. Starting tackle Tori Mobley did not play in the Spring Game but I think he will be back this Fall. The great news was the return of Matt Jones, a Hoover [MTV] (2 a days) high school product that started as a true freshman for JSU, but had to miss all of last season w/ a knee injury. Our starting QB Marques Ivory lost about 30 pounds and looked and played like a different player in the Spring. My judgment is offensive line is a question mark for the Gamecocks. Wr Transfer Trey Smith looked great in our Spring Game but I'm not a big believer in reading too much into Spring Games.

On the defensive side of the ball, everyone seems excited about our new coordinator Chris Boone. The defensive line should be a strength of the team with several seniors and at least one guy, Monte Lewis, that may have the talent to play at the next level. Gamecock fans are anxious to see if linebacker Erik Russell will return to the team. He sat out last year for undisclosed reasons and is an impact player.  We had a few midyear transfer players that look good, but I think for now they are probably not big time impact players.

Recruits to Watch:

OG Thomas Williams - Big time OL that can play either OG position.  Had offers to Clemson, South Florida and Louisville and the Gamecocks were able to keep him home.

DT Jakarri Kinnie - A one time verbal commit according to the AJC's Chip Towers, Kinnie decided to stay at home as well.  A big time 6'1, 320lbs. noseguard who had offers from SEC, ACC and Sun Belt schools.

RB Demarcus James - Another guy that we were in the mix for that refused to leave the state.  5'10, 215lbs balanced back with very good power and good speed. 

For more on Jacksonville State football, visit the JSU football page.

Baseball Panthers Earn 4th Seed in CAA Tournament

Photo Courtesy: CAA

The Panthers ended the regular season on Saturday with a thrilling 10th inning walk-off win at home against George Mason. With the win they clinched a tournament spot but had to wait until play ended on Sunday to know the tournament seeding. At Sunday's end, the top four teams who made the tournament turned out to be James Madison at 21-9 (1st seed), Old Dominion at 19-11 (2nd seed), UNC Wilmington at 18-12 (3rd seed) and Georgia State at 17-13 (4th seed).

Complete final CAA standings here.


The 2011 CAA Baseball Championship will start Thursday, May 26th and a champion will be determined on Saturday, May 28th. The double elimination schedule is as follows:

May 26th
Game 1 - James Madison (1) vs. Georgia State (4), 3 PM
Game 2 - Old Dominion (2) vs. UNC Wilmington (3), 7 PM

May 27
Game 3 - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 12 PM
Game 4 - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 3:30 PM
Game 5 - Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 7 PM

May 28
Game 6 - Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 1 PM
Game 7 - Same two teams (if necessary), 30 minutes after end of Game 6

Georgia State won two of three games at James Madison back in April. The Panthers pitching staff held JMU below their season average of runs per game all weekend and the Panthers offense put up 31 runs on the Dukes pitching staff. As of now, I like Georgia State in this game as the pitching staff is coming off a great series against the 3rd best offense in the CAA (George Mason).

I'll have a more in depth look at how the tournament teams finished in the next couple days and as soon as pitching matchups are available I'll post them as well. Keep in mind these matchups may not be available until game day because the only games currently set in stone are Thursday's game 1 and 2.

GO PANTHERS!!!

Athlon Sports Likes Ron Hunter Hire

Mitch Light: I’m going off the radar a bit with Ron Hunter, the new head coach at Georgia State. Hunter only made the NCAA Tournament once during his time at IUPUI — losing as a No. 16 seed to Kentucky in 2003 — but his teams were consistently among the best in the Summit League. The Jaguars were 106–56 in their 10 seasons in the Summit, with only one losing record — 6–8 in ’01-02, their first year in the league. Hunter is very charismatic, and he will do his best to promote the Georgia State program in the city of Atlanta. The Panthers have struggled to compete in the ever-improving CAA, but that should change with Hunter in charge.



Athlon Sports Link

Panthers Baseball Host George Mason, Look to Clinch Tournament Spot

The Georgia State baseball Panthers host the George Mason Patriots Thursday through Saturday in what should be an exciting weekend series to end the season. The Panthers enter play at 35-18 overall and 15-12 in CAA play. This is good for the 4th and final tournament spot. The Panthers needs to win two-of-three this weekend in order to finish ahead of Delaware in the standings. This will also ensure Georgia State of finishing ahead of Towson and William & Mary. George Mason comes in with the CAA's worst record at 6-21 in conference play and a 20-30-1 record overall.

The Panthers are 6-5 against George Mason under Coach Frady (2007-Present) and have a 3-0 record at home after GSU interrupted George Mason's 10-5 (CAA) season by sweeping them and sending them on a descent in the standings, eventually missing the tournament.

Starting Pitching Matchups:

Game 1 - Current CAA Pitcher of the Week, Will Campbell, will get the start for the Panthers. Will is 8-2 on the season and will be making his 13th start. He has pitched 2 complete games and has an ERA of 2.85. In CAA play Will is 3-2 with a a2.82 ERA. He's pitched 44.2 innings and has a WHIP of 1.07 along with a strikeout to walk ratio of 4:1. Opposing batters are hitting .262 off Will. Will's last outing was in impressive 7-2 complete game victory at William & Mary last Thursday. He allowed only 5 hits to the Tribe.

Game 2 - Coach Frady will hand the ball over to Charley Olson for what we hope is the tournament clincher. Charley is 5-4 with a 3.55 ERA on the season. This will be his 10th start in CAA play and he enters with a 3-2 CAA record and 3.67 CAA ERA. Charley has a WHIP of 1.38 in CAA play and 39 strikeouts through 56.1 innings pitched. Charley's last outing was a loss at William & Mary where he pitched just 3.2 innings and allowed 4 runs (3 earned) off 5 hits and 2 walks. Charley was doomed by a rough 2nd inning.

Game 3 - Justin Malone will take the mound for the 2011 regular season finale. He comes into the game with an impressive 7-1 record and a 4.09 ERA. During CAA games Justin has gone 3-1 with a a 5.16 ERA. He has pitched 52.1 innings and has a WHIP of 1.35. Justin has a strikeout to walk ratio of 3:1 in CAA play. Justin started the final game at William & Mary and earned a much needed team win behind an offensive explosion to start the game. Justin pitched 5 innings and allowed 4 runs (all earned) off 10 hits and 1 walk.

The Patriots starting pitchers are not yet known but I see them likely to be T.J. O'Grady, A.J. Johnson and Ryan Pfaeffle. T.J. is 2-4 with a 5.98 ERA, A.J. is 3-5 with a 5.49 ERA and Ryan is 3-6 with a 7.41 ERA. Neither one of those pitchers has an opposing batting average below .300. Both T.J. and Ryan received the loss at home last weekend against Northeastern and A.J. pitched to a 12-6 victory. The advantage goes to Georgia State if these pitchers are in fact the starters.

***UPDATE*** The above George Mason pitchers are in fact the starters.

Relief Pitching:

Let's take a look at the top 3 most used relievers on both staffs (during CAA play). For Georgia State this would be Jake Dyer, Nick Squeglia and Jeremy Gazerro. They have combined for 43.2 innings pitched and have a combined ERA of 3.75. Jake Dyer leads the way with a 1.29 ERA through 14 innings. Jake has all 5 GSU saves on the season during CAA play. He has thrown 9 strikeouts and only 1 walk. The Panthers also have the benefit of having 1st half season starter Aidan Francis available for relief. The Patriots utilize a larger relief group in CAA games but the top 3 are Bradon Bartlet, Bradon Kuter and Jake Kalish. This group has pitched almost twice the innings as the GSU group, showing the George Mason starters are not throwing deep into games, and have accumulated a 5.11 ERA. Brandon Kuter has 3 saves and Jake Kalish has 2. Kalish has the best opposing batting average against at .246 while both Brandon's have been hit hard at .308 and .362. The Panthers hold the clear advantage when it comes to relief pitching. As for overall, this is a matchup of the CAA's 2nd best pitching staff (GSU) versus the CAA's 3rd worse in George Mason.

Offense:

The offensive matchup between these two teams is much more exciting than the pitching matchup. This series features the CAA's 2nd and 3rd best lineups. Georgia State is 2nd in batting average, hits, on-base pct., runs, RBIs and stolen bases. George Mason holds the 3rd spot for all except being 4th in hits and 10th in stolen bases. Georgia State is batting .312 as a team while scoring 7.22 runs per game. Mason is batting .302 and has scored an average of 7 runs per game. The teams are very even in extra base hits including home runs with GSU at 43 and Mason at 44. The greatest difference in the two clubs is willingness and ability to steal bases. GSU is 89 for 117 attempts and Mason is just 30 for 49 attempts.

The Panthers are being led at the plate by seniors Rob Lind, Mark Micowski and junior Brandon Williams hitting .406, .377 and .368 respectively. Those three combine for 57 of the teams 154 RBIs during CAA play. Rob leads the team with a .644 slugging pct after belting 5 home runs, 7 doubles and a triple in 101 at bats. The Patriots are led by Brig Tison and Dan Schafferman hitting .383 and .366. The home run threat comes from Zack Helgeson who has 15 home runs on the season and is the team RBI leader at 48. Brig and Dan are also the two players who the managers will risk stealing bases with, they led the team in successes and attempts. These two clubs are very evenly matched at the plate. The advantage will go to whatever club manages to get timely hits with runners in scoring position.

Despite the evenly matched offenses, the Panthers are the better team today. However, the Panthers need to approach this game like they're already in the tournament. Double elimination has started already because if they lose two, there will not be a tournament appearance. George Mason has just 6 wins but has managed to beat the other 3 likely tournament teams in the series opener each time. This includes game 1 wins at home against UNC-Wilmington and James Madison as well as a game 1 road win at Old Dominion. George Mason must put up a bunch of runs in order to win games because they do not have the pitching staff to get by on just 5 runs. Out of their 20 wins, they've scored 5 or less runs in only 3 and 2 of which came against out of conference opponent Long Island whom they swept in a 4-game series. In their 6 CAA wins, they scored less than 9 runs only once. This came in a 5-4 win over VCU.

I'm confident the Panthers will find themselves owning the 4th, maybe even the 3rd, tournament spot by the end of the weekend and hopefully clinching tomorrow.

One more important note, this is Senior Weekend at Panthersville. Saturday's 1:00 PM game will be preceeded by a 12:30 ceremony honoring the 15 baseball seniors who are suiting up at home for the final time in their Georgia State career. The list of seniors is: first baseman Theo Asher (Lilburn, Ga.), pitcher Will Campbell (Douglasville, Ga.), pitcher Zach Chastain (Lilburn, Ga.), shortstop Bryan Condotta (Mississauga, Ont.), outfielder Ryan Fleming (Whitby, Ont.), pitcher Aidan Francis (Newcastle, Australia), pitcher Jeremy Gazerro (Calhoun, Ga.), pitcher Wes Grant (Benton, Ark.), catcher Shane Hammond (Kennesaw, Ga.), second baseman Rob Lind (Hartford, S.D.), outfielder Brett Maxwell (Douglasville, Ga.), outfielder Mark Micowski (Haddam, Conn.), pitcher Charley Olson (Largo, Fla.), catcher Carter Sackett (Savage, Minn.) and utility player Aaron Schmitz (Lawrenceville, Ga.).

Thanks to Ned Colegrove of Georgia State Athletics for putting together that list for us.

Update on Magic Number Heading into Final Weekend

2

The magic number is down to 2 folks! The Panthers baseball team can clinch a tournament spot by Friday. We play George Mason on Thursday, if we win it goes down to 1. Assuming the win on Thursday the loser of the Towson vs. William & Mary game is eliminated. It will take a second win by Georgia State to eliminate Delaware as well as Towson/W&M (whoever wasn't eliminated Thursday). Since Delaware's season is complete we cannot reduce the magic number by a Delaware loss. So all that to say this means we need to win 2-of-3 at home this weekend. The numbers are this way because of the head-to-head tiebreakers. We win it against Towson and William & Mary but lose it to Delaware. We can finish with the same record as Towson/W&M and receive the higher placement but not so with Delaware.

In order for us to leap UNC-Wilmington for 3rd, they'd need to lose 2-of-3 at home against VCU and we need to sweep George Mason. Moving into 2nd would take James Madison being swept at Northeastern and us sweeping George Mason.

The tournament is a 4-team double elimination setup. I think the first round looks like this:

#4 Georgia State @ #1 Old Dominion
#3 UNC-Wilmington @ #2 James Madison

Off Season Opponent Report: Old Dominion

We continue our post Spring practice check ins with all of our 2011 opponents.  Last week, we covered Clark Atlanta and today we zero in on the newest official member of CAA Football.  ODU completed their FCS Independent/Provisional season in 2010 and will get their first tast of CAA football in 2011.  This also marks our first game with a CAA football opponent and I expect a large contigent of fans from Norfolk to invade the Dome.

When: September 10th

ODU in 2010: 8-3

Spring Report: The Monarchs seem to be very defensive heavy exiting the spring.  Using a scoring system similiar to ours, their defense won their Spring Game 42-3 in front 0f 3100.  It will be the Thomas DeMarco show again in 2011 and for those who forgot, he picked our defense apart converting short throw after short throw while compiling 183 total yards and 2 TDs. 

Highlights and Recap from Head Coach Bobby Wilder Available HERE.

Injury Update: The Monarchs did lose starting DE Andrew Turner to a ruptured Achilles tendon and he'll likely miss the 2011 season.

Starters Lost: Unlike Georgia State, ODU actually suffered losses due to graduation.  The Monarchs will have to replace their starting LT, MLB and OLB this Fall. 

Recruits to Watch:
QB Taylor Heinicke - ODU swooped into our backyard and grabbed the GA Offensive Player of the Year from Collins Hill HS.  Heinicke accounted for 4218 and 44 TDs as a Senior.  He's about 5'10 and is very similiar to current starter DeMarco.

RB Tyree Lee - ODU signed him as a RB as other schools wanted him as a safety.  5'10, 205lbs back.

DE Dontez Tyler - Former Maryland commit who opened his recruitment after former Terp coach Ralph Friedgen was fired.  6'3, 220lbs with very good quickness.

For more on Old Dominion football, visit the ODU football page.

Football Season Tickets on Sale to Public

109 Days and Counting....Get your season tickets as GSU - The Movement gets remixed.  Second verse, better than the first.


2011 GSU Football Season Ticket Price Breakdown

-The Huddle: $2,500/pair ($2,200 gift; $300 tickets) - Sections 115 & 116, Rows 10-17
-PAC Blue: $350/ticket ($250 gift; $100 ticket) - Sections 115 & 116
-PAC White: $225/ticket ($125 gift; $100 ticket) - Sections 114 & 117
-PAC Red: $150/ticket ($50 gift; $100 ticket) - Sections 113 & 118
-PAC Orange: $125/ticket ($25 gift; $100 ticket) - Sections 135 & 136
-Sideline Reserved: $99/ticket - Sections 111-112, 119-120, 131-134, 137-138
-Corner Reserved: $84/ticket - Sections 110, 121, 130
-Endzone Reserved: $72/ticket - Sections 122-129
-Reserved Student Section: $35/ticket - Sections 109, 139-140

Football season tickets are available for purchase over the phone by calling 1-866-GA-STATE (427-8283), by visiting www.GeorgiaStateSports.com, or by visiting the GSU Athletics Panther Sales Center located at 125 Decatur Street, Suite 106, Atlanta, GA 30303.

GSU Baseball's "Magic Number" for the Tournament

(No, I haven't lost my mind...but I have you curious right? Read on...)

So it's close enough to season end to throw out the good 'ol magic numbers just for fun. As of right now, Saturday night on May 14th, Georgia State holds the last tournament spot.

First off, winning 1st place is no longer possible. Even if we win out and Old Dominion losses their remaining four games, we lose the head-to-head tiebreaker. Oh well, doesn't matter if you were 1st seed or 4th seed once you hoist the CAA Championship trophy.

In case you don't know what the "magic number" is, it's the number of wins by your team and losses by the team below you is necessary to clinch the stated spot. Since we're just concerned about keeping the 4th tournament position, the first three magic numbers are for that.

To win 4th over Towson - 3 (We need the number of GSU wins and Towson losses to equal 3)
To win 4th over Delaware - 2
To win 4th over William & Mary - 2

Winning 3rd place is still possible. The magic number for that is 5. In addition, 2nd place is still a possibility and to win 2nd over James Madison the magic number is 6.

So, what should you take from this? If we're just concerned about keeping the 4th spot we need to focus on Towson and again, the magic number of 3. (Now you see why the Ghostbuster 3 picture makes sense) We win all three games against George Mason next weekend and we're in. We win two games and Towson losses just one, we're in. By the way, Towson has four remaining CAA games. Tomorrow against James Madison (JMU going for the sweep) and three against William & Mary.

I feel good about the boys returning to Brooks Field at UNC-Wilmington to participate in the 2011 CAA Championship.

Georgia State Softball, CAA Champions!

Photo Courtesy of CAASports.com

Congratulations to the Georgia State Panthers softball team for defeating Hofstra in a must-win double header today! They are now the 2010/2011 CAA Champions and have earned an appearance to the NCAA Regionals for just the 2nd time in school history, last coming in 1994.

The Panthers entered today's game 6 with one loss meaning if Hofstra won the first game, Hofstra was the champion. Georgia State won game one 4-2 behind the pitching of Alana Thomas and McCall Langford. Lauren Jones hit the game winning 3-run home run in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Alana Thomas would come back out to pitch a complete game shutout in game 2. The score was locked at 0-0 until the bottom of the 6th (keep in mind softball plays 7) when the Panthers put 2 runs up on the board and Alana Thompson finished off the Pride in the 7th.

The NCAA selection show for the tournament will be Sunday night at 10 PM on ESPNU. The NCAA Softball Regionals begin next Thursday, May 19th.

Again, congratulations Ladies! You showed a lot of heart and desire to win today, you earned this.

Basball: CAA Weekend "What to Watch"

So with just one more CAA series left to play after this weekend we need to look around the league at what needs to happen for us to make the tournament.

Current standings for teams still in contention:
Old Dominion, 16-8 (Tiebreaker over JMU, Towson, GSU, Delaware)
James Madison, 15-9 (Tiebreaker over UNCW, W&M)
UNC Wilmington, 15-9 (Tiebreaker over GSU, Delaware, W&M)
Towson, 14-10 (Tiebreaker over UNCW, Delaware)
Georgia State, 14-11 (Tiebreaker over JMU, Towson)
Delaware, 15-12 (Tiebreaker over JMU, GSU)
William & Mary, 13-12 (Tiebreaker over ODU, Delaware)

This weekend's series that matter to us:

First let me say that I'm going to assume ODU, JMU and UNCW all remain in the top 3. Whichever order doesn't matter, not important right now. For this conversation we're going to look at what needs to happen for us to move ahead Towson and remain ahead of Delaware to get into the 4th position.

Delaware @ Northeastern - I like Northeastern to get a win in this series because of their great pitching. Delaware holds the tiebreaker over us so we cannot tie with them. They currently have one more loss than us so basically we have to remain at the same or less losses than they do to finish the season. This is their final CAA series so we'll know where they stand Sunday night but I think they'll finish at 17-13 meaning we can only lose 1 more. Let's hope Northeastern can pull off two wins to give us some breathing room.

Towson @ James Madison - Towson is hot right now, they are 7-2 in their last 9 CAA games. Towson has one loss less than us right now and we own the tiebreaker over them. At worst, we need to have one less loss than them to finish the season. We have 2 left against W&M and 3 against George Mason (the cellar dweller of the CAA), Towson has 3 against James Madison and 3 against W&M. I like our chances to finish with less losses than them. I think they'll go 3-3 which means we can afford two losses and remain ahead of Towson. However, if Delaware only loses 1, staying ahead of Towson at 2 losses means no tournament.

The tournament standings should be much more clear after this weekend so we'll look at it again on Monday. Enjoy the weekend.

Baseball Panthers Travel to William & Mary

The Panthers baseball team opened a must win series last night with a 7-2 win over the William and Mary Tribe. Georgia State and William and Mary entered play at 13-11 both sitting out of the tournament. The loser of the series can rest assured they will not be visiting Brooks Field in Wilmington for the CAA Championship Tournament eliminating the possibility of a trip to the NCAA Regionals.

Will Campbell set the tone for the Panthers pitching in game 1 by completing a complete game 7-2 victory. This is Will’s second complete game in his last three starts. Let’s hope winning game 1 proves big for this team as their confidence is up going into game 2.

Starting Pitching Matchups:

Game 2 – Georgia State sends senior Charley Olson to the mound who has not lost a decision since April 2nd. He is 3-0 in his last five starts. On the season he is 5-3 with a 3.36 ERA. During CAA play Charley has posted a 3-1 record with a 3.42 ERA. CAA batters are hitting .295 against him and he has a 1.34 WHIP in 52.2 innings. Charley’s last outing was against UNC-Wilmington where he did not factor in the decision after pitching 5.2 innings allowing 7 hits and 4 walks for 3 runs (2 earned). Charley is facing a much less potent offense in William & Mary so I expect to see his WHIP number around his average instead of near 2.0 as it was against UNCW. The W&M starter is Logan Billbrough. Logan has been the ace of the Tribe pitching staff in 2011. He has a 6-2 record with a very respectable 2.53 ERA. He is a strikeout machine with 85 fanned in 81.2 innings pitched and accumulated a WHIP of just 1.11. In addition, Logan has 3 complete games under his belt this season so the guy can eat innings when pitching well. His CAA stats are a 4-2 record with a 2.82 ERA and 2 complete game shutouts. Logan is one of the CAA’s top pitchers this season with the lowest ERA among all starting pitchers and 2nd in the league in strikeouts. Logan’s last outing was against Northeastern where he pitched 7 innings and allowed 6 hits, no runs and 11 strikeouts. Advantage: This is a toss up to me. Both pitchers pitched very well against Northeastern yet Logan Billbrough was roughed up hard by UNC-Wilmington and Charley Olson pitched well against that offense. Billbrough is one of the CAA’s best but Olson isn’t too far behind and Olson is on top of his game at this point in the season. This one is going to come down to which pitcher wants the win more, the mental side of things and I cannot predict that. For the record, if this matchup came 2 months ago I would say advantage goes to Billbrough.

Game 3 – We will see Justin Malone take the mound for the series finale. Justin suffered his first loss on the season (and first in 26 appearances) last weekend against UNC-Wilmington. He is now 6-1 on the season with a 3.88 ERA. The CAA has been a little less friendly to him than out of conference foes as his ERA is a 4.94 in CAA games yet he’s managed a 2-1 record. The CAA is hitting .282 off him and he has a WHIP of 1.26. Justin’s control is outstanding, he has 3.2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. As I said, Justin lost his last outing to UNCW yet it wasn’t too bad of a pitched game. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits in 5 innings. He was just out dueled by Tyler McSwain for the Seahawks. Justin exited the game down 3-1. W&M will start Matt Wainman. Wainman made his first weekend start last weekend against Northeastern. He pitched six innings and allowed 3 hits and 1 run. He struck out 8 and walked 1 in the process. The Tribe have used 5 starting pitchers in CAA weekend play and the team ERA in CAA play is just 3.91. Advantage: This has to go to Justin Malone because of his experience and solid play throughout the season.

Relief Pitching:

Last weekend was somewhat uncharacteristic for the Panther bullpen as they allowed 10 (of 20) earned runs in the 3 games. It’s been early April against Delaware since the pitching staff performed in such a poor manner overall. The Panthers now only have 1 non-starter with a CAA ERA below 5.00 and that is Jake Dyer. Jake is 1-0 with 5 saves through 11 appearances and a 1.46 ERA. He has 8 strikeouts and just 1 walk in 12.1 innings pitched. Nick Squeglia and Aidan Francis will need to have better outings against W&M if called upon. William and Mary have reliever Brett Koehler who has posted a 1.50 ERA and a 2-0 record with 5 saves through 12 appearances and 30 innings pitched. Opposing CAA batters are hitting only .168 against him. This is another too close to call advantage situation. Recent performance would sway the advantage to W&M but last night’s performance by that bullpen sways it back to the Panthers. The Tribe bullpen gave up 5 of the 7 Panther runs however we did not see any Panther bullpen members thanks to Campbell.

Offense:

Here is where the Panthers solid advantage can come in play IF the team can manage keep the men left on base to a minimum. We can at times be frustrated at the lack of ability to score runners in scoring position yet the Panthers are still the 2nd best offensive team in the league. The runs per game comparison is 4.8 for the Tribe and 7.2 for the Panthers. The Panthers are a more powerful team with 41 home runs and 108 doubles compared to the Tribe’s 16 home runs and 80 doubles. The Panthers also run more often and are more efficient with 83 of 109 stolen base attempts being successful. The Tribe are 61 for 90. The Tribe is hitting .268 in CAA play this season with Tadd Bower leading the team at .362 and 26 RBI’s. The Panthers are hitting their season average in the CAA at .312. Mark Micowski has his CAA average up to .400 with 21 RBI’s. He is also slugging .600. Rob Lind continues to raise his average and be menacing to CAA pitchers as he is hitting .396 with a .626 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage over .500. The clear advantage here goes to the Panthers. They have no problem getting on base, let’s make sure to bring them home boys.


The Panthers have the overall advantage because of their offensive strength. Their challenge is profiting from men reaching base, it has been all season. While the Tribe is not as strong offensively they have managed to go 6-2 in CAA series to this point and have only lost series to James Madison and UNC-Wilmington, both coming by way of sweeps. Georgia State is 4-4 in CAA series this season but has beaten James Madison and suffered the same fate as W&M against UNC-W. The loser of this series will not make the CAA tournament for sure. You better believe that Coach Frady has made the team fully aware of this. We have too many seniors that are hungry for another run in the tournament for these boys to lay down. I expect GSU to take the series, still not sure if the sweep will happen though. Assuming Billbrough goes for the Tribe today, it will be the toughest game up at W&M.

Strategy Session: Defensive Front 7 Size

Yesterday we took a look at the offensive line and their offseason size gain.  Today, we'll discuss the other side of the ball and the defensive front seven.  In our 3-4 defensive scheme this includes the Weakside Defensive End, Nose Guard, Strongside Defensive End and Linebackers.

Position	Name	2010 Weight	2011 Weight
WDE	Christo Bilukidi	290	300
	Demetreious Shorter	255	255
NG	Khirrey Karriem	270	270
	Terrance Woodard	320	320
SDE	Kalan Jenkins	245	255
	Alex Findura	227*	235
OLB	Jake Muasau	243	243
	Allen McKay	200	200
ILB	Evan Bostic	235	235
	Mike Hall	219	219
ILB	Louie Muasau	248	248
	Sam Burkhalter	220**	214
ILB	Qwontez Mallory	202***	235
	Akeen Felder	195	215

*Walk on SDE Austin Wiley served as primary back up in 2010.
**Cole Moon has moved to the offensive side of the ball and basically switched positions with former RB Sam Burkhalter.
***Mark Hogan started at this position in 2010.

My Analysis: Now I hope you see why I'm much more optimistic about our ability to stop the run in 2011.  We've added 48lbs of collective weight amongst the front 7 (6.85lbs per player).  If you look at the collective gain for the two deep it's a total of 81lbs (5.78lbs per player).  I absolutely look to improve on the 10 QB sacks and nearly 188 yards per game given up on the ground in 2010.

A Big Thanks to my man Bud Elliot at Tomahawk Nation for the inspiration behind this series.

Strategy Session: Offseason OL Gains

Entering the 2011 offseason, there has been some discussion about strength/quality weight gain in the weight room.  Coach Bill Curry has mentioned publically that the S&C program lacked organization and post spring Doug Roberson of the AJC mentioned:

Then this past Monday, the school posts an Assistant Athletic Director - Speed, Strength & Conditioning position.

As a team, Curry said in the 12 to 18 months that most of the players have been in the program, he hasn’t seen enough improvement from time spent in the weight room. He said he is working to fix that area, but declined to offer any details.

So what is bugging Coach Curry?  Today, I'll start with our projected two deep along the starting Offensive Line.

  

Position	Name	2010 Weight	2011 Weight
LT	Clyde Yandell	287	287
	Ulrick John	280	290
LG	Joe Gilbert	280	290
	Michael Davis	280*	295
C	Ben Jacoby	270	285
	Tim Wynn	270*	270
RG	Harrison Clottey	310	310
	LaDeven Kirkland	340	340
RT	Grant King	285	285
	Gabriel Hampton	320	320

*Cade Yates served as back up in 2010 while Michael Davis was out after suffering a season ending ACL tear.

My Analysis: Our starting offensive line has gained a total of 25lbs (2.5lbs per man).  This is not good enough to improve upon a run game that struggled mightily in 2010.  I look for this new hire to push the OL for much bigger gains and hope to see a combined weight gain near 45-50lbs total by September.

A Big Thanks to my man Bud Elliot at Tomahawk Nation for the inspiration behind this series.

National Hoops Report Interview with Coach Hunter

Photo Courtesy National Hoops Report

Very interesting interview with Coach Ron Hunter.  As always, new things pop out in each one of CRH's interviews.

Things of note:
-On thoughts of CAA not being a geographic fit for Georgia State:

“I don’t really buy into that. I’ve been good friends with Rod Barnes for a long time. I truly believe that the culture needs to change here. There has been a culture of losing here for too long. I think it’s a culture of settling for so long. When you keep to that and you start giving yourself excuses why you can’t win, you see programs buy into that. You see programs believe the excuses. If the coaches start to believe that, what do you expect the players to believe when they hear stuff like that?

-On April evaluation period:

“It hurts us not having April. I’m on the board of directors of the NABC and I sit on several NCAA boards. Matter of fact, I’m going to Indianapolis (on Wednesday) to meet with the basketball committee where will talk about this. When I was at IUPUI, I didn’t think April was that big. But now that I’m at a new job and April is off limits, I’m realizing that it is essential to new coaches to have April. Most of the coaches that are hired are hired in March or early April. Not being able to get a start on 2012 recruiting or to finish recruiting is just a huge liability. I think we need to cut back in July and spend more time in April. I am actually one of the guys that voted against recruiting in April but I completely changed my mind with that."

National Hoops Report Link

Off Season Opponent Report: Clark Atlanta

School is out this week and recruiting evaluations for the 2012 class are ongoing.  Our coaching staff has  offered 15 scholarships to this point and will likely offer 10-12 more in the next three months.

While we wait to see who gets the remaing four scholarships for 2011 (could be late signee, FBS transfer or given to a walk on), I'll preview an opponent each Tuesday.

Today, we take a look at our home opener vs. Clark Atlanta University.

When:  September 1st or 2nd (dependent on Falcons schedule/Dome conflict resolution)

CAU in 2010: 4-6

Spring Report: Took the field with 43 players back in March/April and concluded their spring with a scrimmage.  It's still unknown who their starting QB will be as RS Junior T.J. Smith and Junior Kyle Lacey were not impressive in 2010.  Clark as a team only averaged 17.5 points per game last season.  Clark's defense returns 19 seniors and as many as 9 starters and will be the strength of their team.

Recruits to Watch:
RB Darrin McPherson - 5'9, 174lbs. Lightning fast running back should start from the moment he steps on campus.  The kind of recruit that you don't find often at a D2 school.

QB Bryan Mann - 6'2, 210lbs. JUCO Transfer from Arizona Western.  Signed with Florida International out of Glades Central HS but did not qualify.  Lefty QB and has continued to improve his body.  Long wind up.  Not very mobile (reportedly ran a high 4.9/5.0 40 yard dash in HS) but will challenge for playing time.

OT Derryl Rozier - 6'3, 320lbs.  Notable because he was mega recruit Isiah Crowell's LT on the Carver-Columbus squad that went to the state semifinals.
Quotes from the Head Coach:

“It was a good opportunity to see a lot of different looks offensively and defensively,” said second year head coach Darryl McNeill. We have some kinks to work out on offense, and we are still young up front.”

For more on Clark Atlanta athletics, visit the CAU football page.

1 on 1 With Blogger Who Believes GSU Fits Sun Belt

We had a chance to catch up with super blogger Matthew Postins of PigskinU.com who made local waves after suggesting that Georgia State football made sense as a member of the Sun Belt conference.  Here are his thoughts from the outside in looking at our program, how he views Atlanta

PantherTalk.com: On the surface, you have no connections to Georgia State. So what prompted you to include us in your blog about Sun Belt expansion?

Matthew Postins: I lived in Denton, Texas, for two years, home of the University of North Texas, which is a Sun Belt member. I worked at the Denton Record-Chronicle and helped the staff cover the program, which included writing columns about the football team and traveling to the New Orleans Bowl in 2003. This was during UNT’s run of four straight Sun Belt titles. So I know the conference well and I know that they play some good football in this league. It’s not at BCS level, certainly, but it’s a quality product and not many people know that much about it. So when I get the chance, I like to dispel the myth that the Sun Belt is the Sun Wreck, as some have called it.

PT: Is it that obvious from an outsider's point of view, the potential of Georgia State football?

MP: It wasn’t obvious to me at first. I have a friend, Kendall Webb, who founded RoadTripSports.com, another site I work for, who attended the Georgia State-Alabama game last season. Now, naturally, he didn’t expect GSU to win, and it didn’t. But he said something I thought was telling. He said, “They (GSU) didn’t look as if they didn’t belong there.” That stuck with me. If you’re a first- or second-year program and you’re willing to go into a place like Tuscaloosa and play like you’re not intimidated, that says something to me. I haven’t seen the team in person, but when you consider the head coach is Bill Curry and the program is located in a major market, there is some upside.

PT: Why does this makes so much sense from where you sit? Our hard core fans often get hammered locally and called delusional. Interested in your thoughts.

MP: I think you start with the market. Atlanta is the hub of the south and it attracts people who want to live and work there. That attracts students, as well. Georgia Tech has typically had a pretty good program for some time, and its metro Atlanta location, in my opinion, is part of the attraction. For student-athletes in the state who don’t want to go far away or can’t go to the SEC, going someplace like Atlanta makes sense. I already mentioned Curry, but it bears mentioning that his SEC background puts the young program in a unique position. He knows what works and what doesn’t work and won’t risk the program’s long-term potential for a quick fix. Georgia has one of the most fertile recruiting fields in the nation (I rank it No. 5 behind Texas, Florida, California and Ohio) and not all of that talent can go to Georgia Tech and Georgia. There’s nothing that says that GSU HAS to go to FBS. They may end up feeling very comfortable in the CAA. But I think the school has enough tools to make that jump. As for delusions, well the world of sports is littered with success stories that started as delusions to most people. Boise State is a real good example. No one thought they would be a national power 10 years ago. But here they are. I’m not comparing the two. What I’m saying is its only delusion if you’re not willing to put in the hard work to make it happen. So we’ll see how much GSU wants it.

PT: I'm interested in your "many believe the Panthers will eventually go Big East" comment. Have you spoken to someone specifically about that?

MP: No one specific, but I read enough and hear enough to read between the lines. As writers, these days we’ve been given license to speculate about such things. That’s not always a good thing. But I don’t think it would be out of the realm of possibility that the Big East would be interested, especially when you consider the media market. I made the assertion in the article that, in the long run, the Big East was more interested in TCU for access to the Dallas-Fort Worth media market. Sure, TCU’s incredible run the past several years probably fueled the Big East’s interest. But TCU won’t go undefeated and go to the Rose Bowl every year. In those equations, it won’t matter to the Big East because they’ll have the TV sets in that market either way. And that matters if and when the Big East decides to go full bore for its own network. That’s GSU’s biggest chip if it decides to make the move to FBS – its location. They hold more cards in that regard than, say, South Alabama, which joins the Sun Belt in 2013. That alone makes the program attractive to any conference that has at least 10 members, since 12 teams gets you a conference championship game and the revenue that results.

PT: In your interview with Tony and Wes on 790 the Zone, you mentioned that a tremendous selling point was the Atlanta media market for future TV contracts. Were you able to locate the existing Sun Belt TV contracts?

MP: They keep that stuff under lock and key, it seems like. I did another pass looking for the numbers, and I found a Sports Business Journal article that listed the television figures for eight conferences, but the Sun Belt wasn’t one of them. The closest I could come up – and I can’t vouch for its accuracy – is from a Mid-American Conference bulletin board from 2008. This board listed the Sun Belt’s gross overall revenue at $9.3 million. But guess what? It didn’t list the Sun Belt’s television revenue. So, the Sun Belt isn’t sharing the figure with the national media, and I think that a large reason for that is the fact that it’s likely under $1 million per year. Heck, the Atlantic 10 made that in 2008, according to the figures on this board, and it’s in FCS. When you consider the money in major college football, the Sun Belt is way behind.

PT: Also, speaking about the potential for bowl expansion if/when the Sun Belt moves to 12 teams. With only 2 bowl tie-ins and 1 option tie (back in option), where do you see for future SBC bowl expansion?

MP: Well now that the NCAA has put a moratorium on certifying new bowl games – thanks in large part to the Fiesta Bowl fiasco – that question is harder to answer. The number of bowl games has gone up greatly the past 5 years. I produced this research for an unrelated article last year. I took a look at the FBS standings for the past five years. In 2005, there were just 33 8-win teams and 55 7- and 8-win teams. After that, the number of teams with at least 8 wins ballooned. In the last four seasons, the number of 8-win teams was no lower than 49, and the number of 7- and -8 win teams was no lower than 60. In other words, there are many more bowl-eligible teams than there were six years ago. The standard 12-game schedule plus the use of FBS wins over FCS teams for bowl eligibility appear to be the chief factors in this surge. The short answer is I don’t know. The SBC is the back-up for the Beef O’Brady Bowl, the BBVA Compass Bowl and the Independence Bowl, but they sent three teams to bowl games, thanks to FIU getting into the Little Caesars Bowl. Since no new bowl games are coming (and more teams are coming to FBS), the Sun Belt’s best plan would be to prove to those three backup bowls that they’re capable of sending competitive teams that have a good traveling fan base, since they make geographic sense.

PT: Do you think Georgia State needs to prove themselves on the field with wins before they can be in a FBS conference discussion?

MP: Well, that would make sense except that UT-San Antonio is going to be in the WAC in 2012 and it hasn’t even played a game yet. But, frankly, the WAC is much more desperate than the Sun Belt right now. Yes, winning against quality programs is going to help their case, and they’re probably several years away from beating a non-BCS FBS school (unless you want to schedule New Mexico). But, I would contend, based on results, that the Panthers aren’t far away from being competitive on a regular basis with just about anyone. GSU pushed Jacksonville State, a FCS playoff team, to overtime, nearly beat South Alabama and defeated Lamar, a first-year FCS school that, I believe, will make the jump to FBS shortly. Before you snicker about Lamar, the Cardinals were competitive with teams like McNeese State last season. McNeese is a traditional FCS power. GSU continues to pursue the right mix of scheduling, putting Houston, UTSA and South Alabama on their schedule for 2011 and mixing it with teams from other levels. This way, once the CAA schedule kicks in next year, the Panthers won’t be shocked. FCS conferences like programs with good track records, and 2 to 4 years of winning seasons should put the Panthers in a position to be courted by FBS conferences, if that’s their plan.

Thanks again to Matthew for joining me and check out his work on PigskinU.com and RoadTripSports.com.

Georgia Dome Will Stay with FieldTurf

Photo Courtesy of FieldTurf

Didn't realize that they were considering a new surface but glad to know our home surface will be staying the same.

FieldTurf Release

Interview with Video Director Blake Adams

ESPN's Erin Andrews with Blake at the Alabama Game.  Yep, he's that awesome.

Photo Courtesy of Blake Adams

                                       
Good interview with a FOB (friend of the blog) Blake Adams who serves as Director of Video and Creative Services.  Pretty interesting stuff about exchanging tape with coaches and Blake's road to where he is.

Interview Link

Blake's Blog

Baseball Panthers Visit UNC-Wilmington

The GSU Panthers baseball teams starts a very important 3-game series with UNC-Wilmington Seahawks today ending Sunday. GSU enters the game with a 33-13 overall record and 13-8 CAA record after sweeping the Hofstra Pride last weekend. UNCW enters play at 24-21 overall and 12-9 in the CAA. The Panthers currently hold the 3rd spot for the CAA Championship tournament and the Seahawks are sitting 5th after being swept by James Madison last weekend.

Starting Pitching Matchups:

Game 1 – Georgia State sends senior Charley Olson to the mound to face Daniel Cropper. Charley is 5-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 10 starts. In CAA games, he is 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA with one complete game against James Madison. Opposing CAA batters are hitting .293 against him and he has a WHIP of 1.27 against CAA play. UNCW’s Cropper is the best starter on paper the Panthers face this weekend. He is 6-2 with a 4.35 ERA and is also making his 11th start. Daniel leads the Seahawks with 60 strikeouts and he’s done it through just 62 innings for a K/IP ratio near 1.0. During CAA play he is 5-2 with a 5.27 ERA. Opposing CAA batters are hitting .294 against him. The Seahawks were rocked in Daniel’s last outing on April 29th at James Madison by a score of 12-2. Daniel pitched just 2.1 innings and allowed 5 runs. Both pitchers have shown good control issuing only 15 walks on the season, Charley does have 4.2 more innings pitched than Daniel but the BB/IP ratio is still very close (.24/IP). Advantage: Georgia State. Olson is pitching hot right now (3-0 in last 4 starts) and Cropper has been inconsistent in his last 4 starts and he gives up the long ball (8 in 7 game starts).

Game 2 – CAA co-wins leader Will Campbell takes the mound for the Panthers to face Travis Bradley. Campbell is 7-1 with a 2.67 ERA overall and is 2-1 with a 2.40 ERA in CAA play. Will has a CAA WHIP of just 1.10 after allowing only 30 hits and 3 walks in 30 innings pitched. Opposing CAA batters are hitting .268 against him. Will is coming off a complete game shutout at home against Hofstra. Hofstra managed just 4 hits off the senior righty. The Seahawk’s Travis Bradley is 1-4 with a 3.41 ERA and is making his 5th start. His last start came at James Madison where he received the loss in a 7.1 inning effort while allowing 6 runs off 9 hits and 2 walks. CAA batters are hitting .320 against Bradley. Advantage: Georgia State. Like Olson, Campbell is also hot. While the Panthers are 2-2 in his last 4 starts, he has allowed just 7 earned runs in those 4 games against lineups including James Madison and Old Dominion. Bradley has only beat Hofstra, no impressive feat and he gives up some hits.

Game 3 – For the final game of the series we’ll see the Panthers send Justin Malone against Tyler McSwain. Justin is undefeated at 6-0 with a 3.76 ERA overall. During CAA play he is 2-0 with a 4.89 ERA. CAA batters are hitting .280 against Justin and he has a WHIP of 1.25. Justin has thrown just 7 walks in 42.1 innings pitched during CAA play. His control has been outstanding all season. UNCW’s McSwain is 3-4 with a 5.22 ERA on the season. He is 3-2 in CAA play but he has an ERA of 6.35 showing he’s received good run support. It’s tough to have a winning record with a 6.35 ERA unless your offense is putting up some runs for you. McSwain is coming off a tough outing against Hofstra after allowing 5 runs off 8 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 innings. CAA batters are hitting .292 against Tyler and he has a CAA WHIP of over 1.60. Advantage: Georgia State. Honestly, I’m being unbiased here. Malone has been a better pitcher all season and as of lately than Tyler McSwain. I think it’s fair to say each one of the Panthers starter has hit a rough spot this season (who doesn’t) but they’re all pitching well right now.

Relief Pitching:

Jake Dyer, Nick Squeglia, Sam Agnew-Wieland and Aidan Francis. That is the list of weapons Georgia State can throw at UNC-Wilmington if needed. Dyer has allowed just 1 run in CAA relief in 10 appearances and earned 7 saves. Squeglia and Francis are basically high quality starting pitchers and Sam has allowed just 22 hits in 27.2 innings pitched and racked up 32 strikeouts in the process. The Seahawks have 2 go-to relievers, Jack Lane and Travis Bradley. Bradley is starting this weekend so he’s out of the picture for any relief effort. Jack has allowed 4 runs in 15 innings of CAA relief. Beyond Jack, the relief pitching is so-so at best with ERA’s over 4.00 and opposing batting averages near or beyond .300. Advantage: Georgia State. The Panthers don’t blow many leads because of a breakdown in relief pitching. The bullpen depth is much deeper on the Panthers side. This goes a long ways in a series where both teams have good offenses such as this one.

Offense:

The Panthers offense has scored 7 runs per game during CAA play while the Seahawks have scored 6.6 and the team batting averages are .318 for the Panthers and .319 for the Seahawks. This shows how evenly matched the offenses are. The teams are scoring by the same methods as well. Slugging percentages are .469 for the Panthers and .474 for the Seahawks. The Panthers have 16 home runs, the Seahawks have 17. The Seahawks hold an edge in the stolen base category with 35 steals in 47 attempts. The Panthers are 26-for-36 in CAA games. Because Saturday holds a double-header, bench depth will come into play and the teams are about deadlocked there as well. The two lineups look similar as far as individual performance. There’s not a weak spot in either lineup and there is no one individual carrying the weight of the team on their shoulders. Mark Micowski leads the Panthers in CAA play with a .425 batting average and he has 19 RBIs. Rob Lind is hitting .397 with 15 RBIs and Ryan Fleming leads with 22 RBIs on 7 home runs and a .299 batting average. The Seahawks are led by Thomas Pope with a .480 average. He has 16 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Hunter Ridge leads with 21 RBIs on a .371 batting average during CAA play. To summarize here, this is a very evenly matched offensive matchup.

This series is going to come down to pitching strength. The Panthers have the edge in both starting matchups and bullpen depth so I expect a series win. If the Panthers are able to pull off 2 wins at Brooks Field they’ll be sitting in a great position to hold onto their tournament spot. A series loss for the Seahawks may be the last nail in the coffin for their hopes at making the CAA championship tournament. With the remaining schedules for the tournament teams assuming GSU wins the series, it will be tough for the Seahawks to climb back in. Basically, this is a must-win for both teams in order to make the tournament. GO PANTHERS!!!

Coach Curry Addresses Softball Team Before Critical Road Trip

I don't care what sport it is, CBC can flat out motivate.  And from what I've been told he was a very good baseball player so he absolutely know this game.

"We respect everyone. We don't fear anyone. We aren't scared of anyone's record because their record isn't going to throw one strike, steal one base or throw someone out on a fast bunt. Not one time.  Refuse to lose. People who refuse to lose turn into people that are impossible to defeat."

From GSU Sports Communications

UTSA Game Time Set for 2pm EST

For those making the trek to San Antonio, we have a game time.

Photo Courtesy of Ballparks.com

Per UTSA Athletics

Updated: Tony Kimbro, Jr. Commits to Georgia State

2011 Recruit Tony Kimbro, Jr.

Photo Courtesy of Scout.com

Yesterday our friends at OnTheRadarHoops broke the story that  6'6 Shooting Guard Tony Kimbro, Jr. of Jefferstown HS (Louisville, KY) was on campus for an official visit.  Within the last hour, the Louisville Courier Journal has confirmed what my sources told me late last night: He is a Panther!

Kimbro is a big time scorer and shoots very well from 3 point range (some stats I've seen as high as 46% during his Junior year).  He was an academic question mark but a two year stint with The Christ School in Arden, NC hammered that out.  Rivals.com rates him as a 3 star recruit and ESPN Scout, Inc. rates him as the #51 SG in the country and a 90 overall rank. 

To give you an idea, PG Devonta White is the highest rated player on our roster and he was rated an 86 coming out of HS.

Kimbro Senior Highlight Tape:

                

Louisville Courier Journal Link

AJC Link

Former Women's Coach Lea Henry Back on Sidelines

Coach Henry back on the sidelines in 2011-12

Photo Courtesy of GSU Sports Communications

At Darton College in Albany, GA.  Happy for Coach and we wish her the best.

Albany Herald Link

Mucho Macho Man: GSU Connection to Kentucky Derby

Great work by Charlie Taylor.  If you have no reason to watch the Derby this weekend, you have one now.

Go Mucho Macho Man!

GSU Sports Link

AJC: Football Ticket Sales trending up

Good for Doug getting these numbers and this is being spun positive. 

AJC Link

CAA Baseball Review 5/2/2011

The Georgia State Panthers baseball team is taking care of business in the final stretch of the season. After a series loss to Delaware and Old Dominion many Panther baseball fans were beginning to wonder if the team was going to miss out on the CAA championship tournament yet still win 30+ games. Not so fast says the Panthers. During a time of the season when the Panthers had to win against the teams in their easy schedule, they did so. The Panthers are 5-1 in their last 6 CAA games against Northeastern and Hoftra and appear to be plowing along at full strength. Let's take a look at this past weekend in the CAA.

Like mentioned in my previous post, the Georgia State Panthers completed a home sweep of the Hoftra Pride. Taking a look at what I said would be the CAA impact series of the weekend, we see James Madison swept UNC-Wilmington knocking UNCW from 1st place to 5th place. The top five of the CAA (in order of standings) is now James Madison, Delaware, Georgia State, Old Dominion and UNC-Wilmington.

The biggest gainer in the standings over the weekend is Georgia State, going from 5th to 3rd place. The Panthers are just a half game back from James Madison and Delaware who are tied for 1st. The biggest loser this weekend is UNC-Wilmingon. After being swept by James Madison they find themselves in 5th place looking up at the four tournament spots. The log jam continued to tighten this weekend as the top 4 spots are separated by just half a game from 1st to 4th. UNC-W is 1.5 games out of 1st and 1 game out of 4th.

You can find an updated team vs. team record grid here.

This coming weekend we have CAA series of Georgia State at UNC-Wilmington, Northeastern at George Mason, Old Dominion at Delaware and VCU at Towson. I'm going to call the ODU at Delaware the CAA impact series of the week because currently both teams are in the tournament. The runner-up would be GSU at UNCW. Really both are important but if both go as I see (Delaware and GSU both win 2-of-3) then the top four teams stay the same but Delaware owns 1st, GSU moves to 2nd, JMU drops to 3rd and ODU remains in 4th.

Looking at the remaining CAA schedule, there is a very real possibility we end up with 4 teams locked in at 19-11 to finish the season. This situation favors GSU because currently they have the best overall record and would finish ahead of the other teams in the tiebreaker. One thing is for sure, we're looking at one of the most exciting CAA finishes we've seen in years. Gotta love playoff race baseball!

***EDIT***

My last paragraph has some incorrect information in it. I had a misunderstanding of how the tiebreakers work so let me pass along the correct information.

1. In the event of a tie, the following tie-breaker system will be
used:

a. If one team has won a series versus each of the other tied teams,
they are removed from the tiebreaker and become the highest seed. If one
team has lost a series versus each of the other tied teams, they are
removed from the tiebreaker and they become the lowest seed.

b. Head-to-head competition, if all tied teams have played each other.

c. Winning percentage versus common Conference opponents.

d. Each team’s winning percentage versus the highest common opponent
in the standings and continuing down through the lowest common opponent
in the standings, if necessary.

e. Coin flip if a tie exists among two teams and a draw if a tie exists
among three or more teams.

2. All ties will be broken in descending order. Once ties are broken,
they remain broken throughout the tie-breaker process. When arriving at
a pair of tied teams, the tiebreaker begins anew among those two teams.

So under these tiebreaker rules Georgia State will lose a tie with Delaware or Old Dominion but wins against James Madison. Thanks to Dave Cohen of Georgia State University for finding the tiebreaker rules for us!

Georgia State Sweeps Hofstra Pride

What a great weekend for the Georgia State Panthers baseball team! Not only did the Panthers sweep the Hofstra Pride, but the Panthers were the biggest winners in the standings this weekend.

Quick Weekend Recap: The Panthers starting pitching was hot again this weekend. Great time of year to get on a hot streak too! Aidan Francis was able to get 2.2 innings of clean work in on Friday night. This is great for Aidan, we need him to be back on his game in this final month of play. On Saturday, Will Campbell went the distance for a 4-hit complete game shutout which was the 2nd in 1 week after Charley Olson shutout Northeastern the prior Saturday. That shutout was a school-record 7th on the season. Sunday would see more great pitching from Justin Malone as he went 7.1 innings and allowed 3 runs yet did not factor in the decision. Sunday's 24th home win is also a new record for Georgia State (prior record of 23 completed in 2008 and 2010). Jake Dyer earned two saves over the weekend and the relief pitching did not give up any runs to the Hofstra Pride.

The Panther bats piled up 49 hits on the weekend to produce 31 runs. Mark Micowski and Rob Lind are hot at the plate right now and this team is going to score runs when these two are on their game. Mark went 8-for-12 at the plate with 3 walks and 3 RBIs. Rob went 10-for-13 with 8 RBIs. Another note, Ryan Fleming hit a monster home run over the right field scoreboard and they're still waiting for it to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. That blast was Ryan's 12th on the season.

The Panthers will travel to Wilmington this coming weekend for an important series with UNC-Wilmington. Hopefully this will be the first of two trips the Panthers make to Brooks Field in May.