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.

Panthers Baseball at James Madison in CAA Play

Veterans Memorial Park @ James Madison University

This weekend's series features the expected 1st and 2nd place finishers in the CAA baseball standings for 2011 and will be a battle of the leagues best two offenses. The Panthers travel up to Virginia to take on the James Madison Dukes baseball team. With 3 out of 10 CAA series in the books for the season and a 5-4 record after such, this series is a must win series for the Panthers. The Dukes are tied for the lead in the CAA with a 10-5 record (.667 winning %). Of the five teams ahead of Georgia State (JMU, Delaware, UNCW, W&M and ODU) 4 including JMU are on the remaining schedule. This is good news because the Panthers have some control over their own destiny. It will take a series sweep for the Panthers to jump ahead of JMU in the standings.

Who: The James Madison University Dukes compete along with Georgia State in the CAA. They enter the series with a 21-9 record and 10-5 in the CAA. JMU returned 5 everyday starters from their 2010 team that finished 30-23 and 1st in the CAA at 18-6. A .750 CAA winning percentage will be tough to obtain as they would have to win 13 of the remaining 15 CAA games. With GSU, Delaware and UNCW on the schedule, I don't see this happening.

History/Common Opponents: JMU leads the all-time series by a dominate 14-2 advantage. Coach Frady has not been able to crack JMU as he's only 1-8 against them while at Georgia State with the lone win coming at home in Panthersville. GSU and JMU share 1 common opponent so far on the season, VCU. The Panthers lost 2-of-3 at home against VCU by scores of 11-8 (win), 6-10 (loss) and 8-17 (loss). The Dukes won 2-of-3 at home against VCU by scores of 12-8 (win), 2-4 (loss) and 4-1 (win). The Panthers scored more runs than JMU did against VCU however they also allowed more runs than JMU.

James Madison at the Plate: JMU enters the series 4th in NCAA team batting average, 2nd in runs scored (10.5 per game) and 1st in home runs and home runs per game. The Dukes are led offensively by 2010 standouts David Herbek (SS), Jake Lowery (C) and Alex Foltz (OF) whom all three are slugging over .600. David is hitting .385 with 12 home runs and slugging .812. He is 2nd on the team with 42 RBIs. Jake is hitting .379 with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs with a .911 slugging percentage. Alex hits .378 with 6 home runs and 22 RBIs, slugging .671. The Dukes have 58 home runs and are slugging .596 as a team, batting .338. Not only does the team have power but they have speed as well. They are 97-for-115 (85%) for stolen bases which is best in the CAA (and NCAA) over Georgia State by 34 stolen bases.

With all that said, this offense was only able to put up 16 runs in 3 games versus William & Mary one month ago. Georgia State and William & Mary are the CAA's leading pitching staffs and are very similar statistically. More on this in the pitching preview.

James Madison on the Mound: To say a team with a 21-9 record has a weakness sounds crazy, but pitching is the Duke's weakness. They are 2nd to last in the league with a 6.67 ERA and are allowing 7 runs per game. JMU pitching has allowed opposing batters a .284 average and have a WHIP of 1.7 which is tied for 2nd highest in the CAA. One of the major issues for JMU has been walks allowed. They are giving batters a free base nearly 6 times per game this season.

Weekend starters as follows:

Alex Valadja (Sr., LH) - Alex is 3-2 with a 7.50 ERA in 7 starts. He's pitched 42 innings and allowed 36 runs on 51 hits and 20 walks (WHIP 1.7). Opposing batters are hitting .304 against him and he's allowed 6 home runs. Alex pitched 7 innings and received the loss against VCU after allowing 4 runs off 7 hits and 3 walks. He threw 125 pitches in the outing so coach isn't afraid to leave him out there while he's pitching well. VCU score 1 run in the 2nd and 3rd and then he coasted until the 8th inning.

D.J. Brown (So., RH) - DJ is 4-0 with a 5.91 ERA in 7 starts. Similar numbers to Alex only he's allowed 16 walks and batters are hitting .293 against him. He's a strikeout threat with almost 1 per inning thus far. DJ pitched a complete game against VCU and earned the win while allowing only 1 run (unearned).

Evan Scott (Jr., RH) - Evan is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA after 7 starts. Evan has had walk issues this season allowing 34 free bases in 38.1 innings pitched. However, batters are hitting just .231 against him. His numbers output a 1.7 WHIP. Evan pitched 4.2 innings against VCU and allowed 3 runs (all earned) off 3 hits and 3 walks.

The JMU relief staff has been more a weakness than the starters. They don't have a shut-down reliever so runs are possible after knocking out the starter. Their most effective reliever so far has been Trent Cundiff who's appeared in 10 games going 12.2 innings and allowed 8 runs. He has a 4.97 ERA and batters are .298 against him. The other go-to guys are Josh Futter (5.23 ERA), James Weiner (5.32 ERA) and Nick Slogik (5.91 ERA). The 7th inning has not been friendly to the pitching staff as that's their highest run total allowed with 32 runs allowed.

GSU at the Plate: The Panthers offense enters with a .319 team batting average and is tied for 2nd in the NCAA in doubles and 6th in runs scored. The offense is scoring almost 8 runs per game this season. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams still lead the team with a .408 and .386 batting average. Brett is slugging .602 and leads the team with 13 doubles on the year and a .492 on-base percentage. Mark Micowski is hitting .354 with 25 RBIs and Ryan Fleming is leading the team with 9 home runs and 35 RBIs. Joey Wood has been out with a minor back injury and was missed in the Delaware series, I'm trying to confirm his status for this weekend.

GSU on the Mound: The Panthers still have one of the best pitching staffs in the CAA. The team ERA of 4.40 is good for 2nd, behind W&M at 4.24. The Panthers are allowing 5.25 runs per game and opponents are hitting .270 against them. Weekend rotation as follows:

Will Campbell (Sr., RH) - Will gets a shot at the weekend rotation here giving Aidan Francis the chance to be used as a relief pitcher. Will takes the mound Friday with a CAA best 6-0 record. He is one of just 19 pitchers in the NCAA with 6 wins and one of just 13 with at least a 6-0 record. Will has 2.90 ERA and opposing batters have been dumbfounded at the plate hitting only .180 against him. His WHIP is currently 0.89.

Charley Olson (Sr., RH) - Charley has a 2-3 record yet just a 3.72 ERA. Charley has been plagued by lack of offensive support and defensive miscues. He is striking out almost 1 batter per inning and has allowed only 10 walks. Charley's WHIP is 1.34. Charley had a good outing against VCU going 6 innings and allowing only 2 earned runs however 4 runs were scored due to 5 Georgia State errors. He allowed just 1 walk and struck out 8 in the game. His last outing at Delaware was another that should have resulted in a win yet he was stuck with the loss after going 7 innings and allowing 5 runs (4 earned) due to 4 errors behind him. He walked just 1 and struck out 6.

Justin Malone (Jr., RH) - Justin will take the tail-end of the weekend with a 5-0 record. His ERA is 3.99 but batters have caught on to him recently as they're now .327 against him. He's struggled a little as of lately but had a decent game at Delaware. He went 5.2 innings allowing only 3 runs (2 earned) with no walks and 7 strikeouts. Justin has shown excellent command in his pitches this season as he's allowed just 7 walks in 38.1 innings. Even though Justin has had some shaky outings (against arguably good offenses) recently the Panthers are still 6-1 in the games he's started.

This is a tough series to call. It's a powerful and fast offense vs. great pitching (JMU vs. GSU) and a greatly efficient and relatively less powerful and fast offense vs. league low pitching. More times than not good pitching wins the battle against good hitting. William & Mary showed that good pitching can calm the offensive giant known as JMU. They allowed only 16 runs to the JMU bats and could have taken the series but they didn't (and still don't) have a good offense. They were able to score only 11 runs against the same group of starters we'll see this weekend. The Dukes scored 10 of their 16 runs in the final 3 innings against poor relievers so the W&M starters did a great job at keeping JMU at bay. We have equal if not better starters going against JMU this weekend so I expect at least the same by us.

I love the fact that Frady is giving Campbell the start today. He has earned it and Aidan needs a game to rest his head and start having fun again. I'm sure he'll still pitch in the series in a relief role.

Georgia State is still the "complete package" in the CAA with VCU and UNC Wilmingon being the next closest thing to it. On paper, GSU should be able to score more in this series than JMU because we both have good offenses but we're by far the better pitching team. Our pitching bests theirs by a bigger margin than their offense bests ours. Last note here will be about defense. Our infield absolutely must play clean baseball. They committed 6 errors against VCU and 5 against Delaware. You cannot give this JMU offense that many free passes here.

We need 2-of-3 here but that still won't put us back above JMU, a sweep is the only way to do that this weekend. Winning less than two is not an option. Go get 'em boys. GO PANTHERS!!!

Panthers Baseball Travels to Delaware for CAA Series

After trouncing the Florida A&M Rattlers at home on Tuesday by a score of 16-0, the Georgia State Panthers face Delaware in an important CAA 3-game series. This is a battle for 1st place because of winning percentages. James Madison, UNCW, Delaware and GSU are all tied for 1st in the CAA due to each team having a .667 CAA winning percentage. Georgia State still leads in overall record at 21-6. GSU is 4-3 in games away from Panthersville this season.

Who: The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are a fellow CAA team who enter the series with a 13-12 record, 6-3 in the CAA. So far this season Delaware is on pace with their 2010 record, winning 52% of their games finishing with a 27-24 record and 9-15 in the CAA.

History/Common Opponents: GSU is 7-5 all-time against Delaware (since 2006) and Coach Frady is 5-4 against them. The Panthers last faced the Blue Hens in the 2009 Championship season where they took 2-of-3 in Newark. The teams have not faced any common opponents to-date in the 2011 season.

Delaware at the Plate: Delaware enters the series near the bottom of the CAA in most offensive categories. The team is hitting .258 and is scoring 5.5 runs per game. They've had flashes of power with 13 home runs through their 25 games yet have not been aggressive or effective in stealing bases as they have 11 steals through 18 attempts which is good for last in the CAA. Senior Pat Dameron, usual 2-hole hitter, leads the offense with a .370 batting average and is second with 19 RBI's. He also leads starters with a .492 on-base percentage and is 4-4 in stolen bases. The Hen's standout first baseman Steve Ulaky is hitting .315 and leads the team with 6 home runs and 23 RBI's. One statistic that stands out for Steve is he has only 4 walks and 8 strikeouts in 111 at-bats this season. This guy must be patient at the plate and really good at making contact with the ball. Ulaky hits 3rd for the Blue Hens. Beyond Dameron and Ulaky there isn't anyone to be scared of in the lineup. All other starters are hitting below .300 with low slugging percentages which means they're not doing too much damage outside of occasional singles.

Delaware on the Mound: The Blue Hen pitching staff has an ERA of 4.67 which is good for 4th in the CAA behind GSU, W&M and ODU. They have allowed a touch over 6 runs per game this season. This weekend's rotation will be the following:

Eric Young (Jr., RH) - Eric is 2-2 after 6 starts with a 3.86 ERA. He has a 3:2 strikeout to walk ratio and batters are hitting .248 against him. Eric has a 1.2 WHIP. He is a new member of the pitching staff after transferring in from junior college.

Dan Gatto (Fr., RH) - Dan earned a spot in the weekend rotation as a freshman and has put up a 1-2 record through 4 starts and 1 relief appearance. He has an ERA of 3.26 after pitching 19.1 innings. Dan has a WHIP of 1.6 and has even walks-to-strikeouts.

Chad Kuhl (Fr., RH) - Chad is 1-1 after 4 starts and 2 relief appearances with a 3.51 ERA. Chad has a 1.6 WHIP and has thrown 21 strikeouts in 25.2 innings. Batters are hitting .264 against him. As you can see, none of these 3 starters have been pounded for runs so the Panthers lineup faces a good group of starters.

The two most frequently used relievers have starter like stats at ERAs of 3.09 and 3.63, while not as low as you'd like from your top relievers they're not giving up many runs either.

GSU at the Plate: The Panthers offense has adjusted to the new NCAA bats and have hit for double-digits in 13 straight games now. This offense entered the week ranked 12th in the nation in hits, leads the NCAA in doubles and is 2nd in walks. The team is batting .318 which is 2nd in the CAA behind James Madison (.346). The offense is now scoring 8 runs per game but has scored over 10 runs per game in during the last 13. Brett Maxwell is coming off a great game at the plate and still leads the offense with a .432 batting average which places him 2nd in the CAA. Brett is also slugging .642 with 11 doubles and 2 home runs on the season. Leadoff hitter Mark Micowski continues his hot hitting as his average sits at .348 and is 2nd on the team with 20 RBI's.

GSU on the Mound: The Panthers pitching staff still holds the title of being the best in the CAA. The team ERA is 4.13 and they've allowed 5 runs per game. They are 2nd in the CAA in hits allowed per game at 8.7, William & Mary only betters them by .2 hits per game. The group has the least amount of home runs allowed at 9 and has the lowest batting average against at .259. Weekend starters are:

Aidan Francis (Sr., LH) - Aidan is 4-0 through 6 starts in 2011 with a 5.40 ERA. While he gave up 5 runs through 6 innings against VCU last Friday, he has won 8 straight decisions going back into the 2010 season. Opposing batters are hitting .290 against Aidan.

Charley Olsen (Sr., RH) - Charley is 2-2 on the season with a 3.41 ERA. Opposing hitters are just .268 against him at the plate. He has almost 1 strikeout per inning pitched on the season and only 9 walks through 31.2 innings. He also has the best WHIP number of the 3 starters at 1.3. Charley seems to keep getting the mound on the toughest day of the series as he's pitched better than a 2-2 record. I think he has the most favorable pitching matchup of the weekend against Delaware so let's hope he can notch his 3rd win.

Justin Malone (Jr., RH) - Justin enters with a 4-0 record and a 4.13 ERA. Malone is coming off an uncharacteristic outing against VCU last Sunday. He went only 2.2 innings and allowed 5 runs on 11 hits. This has been his only blemish on the season. Even after this rough outing he still has a WHIP of 1.5, still a good number for your starter.

The relief crew continues to be outstanding for the Panthers. Jake Dyer, Sam Agnew-Wieland, Nick Squeglia and Jeremy Gazerro have been the go-to guys so far this season. Their ERAs are 1.59, 1.93, 2.55 and 4.61 respectively and have given up only 23 runs through 69.1 innings. These guys are giving opposing batters nothing to work with as the batters are hitting .228, .235, .200 and .235 against them. That's great stuff and is a large reason the Panthers sit at a 21-6 record.


This series gives us what I think is the toughest group of starters we've faced so far. Maybe not the best individual talent, but definitely the most solid group across the 3-game series. With that said, the advantage goes to the Panthers as we're throwing 2 seniors and a junior at them while they bring a junior and 2 freshman. Our 3 starters have thrown 96 innings and they've thrown just 75.1 innings. The Panther offense should be too much for these guys and will hopefully leave a stain on their statistics similar to how VCU did us last weekend. I think we take 2-of-3 which given the expected cool conditions on the road in conference play, against a good set of young starters, will be a good outcome.

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.

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!!!

Georgia State Baseball to Mississippi State Tournament

First let me say this will be a long one as we go into the weekend to face two opponents so there is twice the info to cover. Sit back and enjoy...

The Panthers baseball team will be playing against Iowa and Mississippi State University in the Mississippi State Tournament this weekend. The tournament will feature a double round-robin play system where each team will face each other twice. MSU's Dudy Noble Field acts as the host stadium for the tournament.

GSU will face Iowa on Friday at 12:00 PM, MSU on Saturday at 1:00 PM and Sunday is a doubleheader against Iowa at 12:00 PM and MSU at 3:30 PM.

Iowa Hawkeyes

The Iowa Hawkeyes compete in the Big Ten Conference and currently stands at 1-4 on the season. The Hawkeyes finished the 2010 season tied for 3rd in the conference and have bee picked to finish 5th in the 2011 season. This will be the first meeting between the two schools. GSU has faced only one Big Ten school in the past when they defeated Michigan State in 2009.

The Iowa pitching staff is sitting at a 3.20 ERA through the first 5 games giving up 18 runs on the season, 3.6 runs per game. Unfortunately their offense has plated only 12 runs or 2.4 per game and that is a recipe for a bad season.

Probably starters for the Hawkeyes are as follows:

Friday we should see sophomore right hander Ricky Sandquist (6-4, 185). This will be Ricky's 3rd appearance but 1st start in his college career. He is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA (1 earned run on 2 hits) after pitching only 1.2 innings so probably still not in his groove. Ricky pitched the 2010 season from the bullpen, appearing 16 times and finishing with a 8.14 ERA through 21 innings pitched. Ricky has a fastball touching the low-90's.

Sunday, Iowa should be sending out sophomore lefty Matt Dermody (6-5, 200). Matt is 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA on the season. He has pitched 8.2 innings and allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits with 5 walks and 9 strikeouts. Batters are hitting only .188 against him. Matt was selected by the Pirates in the MLB 2009 Draft (Round 29) with a fastball sitting near 90 with good action. He also has an above-average change-up he can throw to keep hitters off balance.

Now we visit Iowa's problem area. The team is hitting .195 at the plate with no power so far in the 2011 season. They are striking out twice as many times as they're taking walks and they're not stealing many bases. The highest batting average among their starters, .222 and 3RBI's. To have this type of average over the 5-game stretch, you have to assume they're just not seeing the ball well right now as running into 5 hot pitchers in a row is tough to do in college ball.

How do I see the Panthers stacking up against Iowa? With Justin Malone going in the first game against Iowa and Will Campbell in the 2nd, the pitching advantage goes to GSU. Malone has yet to give up a run after 2 starts and 13 innings pitched. Batters are only hitting .239 against him. His walks and hits per inning is below 1.0 at .92. If Malone is on his game, the Iowa lineup will be hard-pressed to get much from him. Even if Malone is twice as bad as his WHIP he's still giving less than 2 hits/walks per inning and because Iowa hasn't shown they like to steal bases, you're not scoring much off that. Will Campbell is 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA after also pitching 13 innings. Both pitchers have 6 strikeouts but Campbell has given 6 free bases to hitters. However, Campbell has allowed only 7 hits so his WHIP is sitting exactly at 1.0 and batters are hitting only .175 against him. Iowa will need our pitchers to be off their game in order to score enough runs to win.

Our offense has been somewhat tough to predict due to inconsistent play. They're coming off a recent game of seeing a 6-6 pitcher throwing a fastball in the low-to-mid 90's so seeing the ball should be easy for them. If the guys, especially Mark Micowski, are able to pickup where they left off against Georgia Tech it will be a long day for the Iowa pitchers. The fielders are coming off an excellent game so let's hope that also continues.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

The MSU Bulldogs compete in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and currently have a record of 8-1. All games thus far played at home and their lone loss coming against Belmont where they went down by a low score of 1-2. MSU is coming off a 23-33 record on the 2010 season and was picked to finish sixth in the SEC Western Division for 2011. GSU has not fared well against SEC opponents in the past, under Coach Frady they are 0-10 but have not yet faced the MSU Diamond Dogs.

The MSU pitching staff is giving up an average of 2 runs per game this season and the offense is scoring a little over 8, thus their 8-1 record.

The probable starters are currently unknown so here's a rundown on their whole staff. The team ERA currently sits at 2.00. Their starters are 5-1 in their 9 games played. They have only one pitcher who has given up more than 3 runs total on the season, Chad Girodo who has started 1 game and appeared in 2 and given up 4 runs in 6 innings. The team is striking out batters and not giving much for walks, their team WHIP is .86. That's low folks. GSU compares at 1.1 which is also low but obviously MSU is doing better here. I know we will NOT see starter Devin Jones as he starts Friday for MSU against Iowa. This is a break for GSU as Jones has thrown 15 innings and given up only 2 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks.

MSU is currently 2nd in the SEC in team batting average at .338. They have hit 7 home runs and are 11-for-16 in stolen bases. They're slugging .480, their extra base hits are accounting for about 1-of-4 total hits. GSU is doing better here hitting about 2-of-5 for extra bases. MSU appears to be patient at the plate as they have one more walk than strikeout as a team.

It's worth noting that MSU has played clean defense through their first 9 games. They've only committed 4 errors, showing off a .988 fielding percentage.

I think MSU has benefited from their early season schedule and will likely be brought back to Earth once SEC play begins for them. The SEC currently holds 7 of the 30 spots in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Top 30, 4 being in the top 10. However, these two games will be an excellent test for Georgia State and will show the Panthers where they are as a program.

GSU will be sending Nick Squeglia and Charley Olsen to the mound against MSU. Nick is 1-0 through 2 starts and has not given up a run in his 11 innings pitched. He has a WHIP of .63 and batters are hitting only .135 against him. It's hard not to love your chances with numbers like that going to the mound. Charley is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA. Charley was the victim of a mad Western Illinois batting lineup and a messy defensive effort by the Panthers. He's given up 5 runs but only 2 earned in 8.2 innings. Charley appeared in relief during the Mercer game and has set down 8 batters by way of strikeout.

Without knowing the MSU starting pitchers it's tough to call how we'll do against them. I think the pitching matchups will be key here. Right now, I would say going 1-1 against them is likely considering who is not and should not be starting for them. I feel good with Nick and Charley on the mound for GSU. The performance of the entire GSU pitching staff has been nothing short of outstanding so that's a big confidence booster for the team. About the Panthers offense, again, they're coming off a great game. If they're able to continue the momentum they should be fine. It's safe to say they won't be facing a pitcher with greater potential than Matt Grimes (Georgia Tech starter) during this weekend and they were able to put 4 runs on him. Mark Micowski, Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams all had multi-hit games against Tech on Wednesday.

Good luck to Coach Frady and his team during this tournament. Splitting with MSU at Dudy Noble would be a great follow-up to beating Georgia Tech at Russ Chandler.

***UPDATE***

Possible starter for game 1 versus MSU is right hand sophomore Chris Stratton. Chris was selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2010 and was a weekend starter for MSU as a freshman. He's off to a blazing start this season with similar numbers to his GSU counterpart Nick Squeglia.

ERA: Nick 0.00 / Chris 0.00
W-L: Nick 1-0 in 2 games / Chris 2-0 in 2 games
Innings Pitched: Nick 11 / Chris 13.2
WHIP: Nick 0.63 / Chris 0.83
Opposing Batting Average: Nick .135 / Chris .200
Extra Base Hits Allowed: Nick 0 / Chris 2

Here is the difference, Nick has 5 strikouts and Chris has struck out 23 of 50 batters faced. Wow. That's almost 2 per inning based on his innings pitched. According to his coach, Chris has a 92 mph fastball that he's able to locate well almost all the time. He also has a "big, slow breaking curve." Apparently he's also mature beyond his years. Those are all the same things said about the pitcher just faced in Matt Grimes.

GSU Baseball Checkup 2/28/2011

With the first full week of the season in the books I'd like to take a look at where the Panthers stand and compare to the rest of the CAA.

First off, the baseball Panthers are 7-1 through the first 8 games of the 2011 season. In comparison to last year that's 5 wins better, even if you remove the opening series against #7 ranked FSU it's 2 wins better. The top three teams in the CAA are currently GSU @ 7-1, James Madison @ 7-1 and George Mason @ 6-2.

I think the obvious statement of the season so far would be this: the new bat rule IS affecting offensive production. The Panthers scored 72 runs through the first 8 games in the 2010 season (9 RPG). The run total for this season so far is 55 or 6.9 RPG which is far below the 2010 total of 10.5 RPG. I have personally seen about 6-8 balls hit (by the Panthers) to the outfield and caught for outs that would have been a home run last year. Just for the Panthers to keep up with last year's production they will have to score 17.9 RPG over the next 8 games and I don't see this happening, especially considering the next 3 opponents are Georgia Tech, Iowa and Mississippi State. The point is, run production for the Panthers is down thus far however they are 3rd in the CAA for runs scored behind George Mason (72) and James Madison (132). Yes, you read that correctly. Allow me to expand on JMU for a minute.

Can someone check the bats the JMU baseball team is carrying around??? Here's some numbers for you. 132 runs scored (2nd best is GM at 72), batting .431 as a team (2nd best is GM at .327), 29 home runs (2nd best is GSU at 8) and slugging .869 (2nd best is GM at .472). Those are crazy numbers my friends. In addition they've stolen 29 of 31 bases and you're next best in that category would be GSU at 20 of 23. You may say to yourself, "well they probably strike out alot with those numbers." Nope, they're currently sitting on the lowest K/AB ratio in the CAA. Now that I may have frightened you about JMU's offensive production let's move on.

Back to the GSU offense for a quick look at individual performances. Brett Maxwell, Joey Wood and Bryan Condotta are the only three Panthers batting over .300. Maxwell leads the team at .444. There are 13 CAA batters with higher averages, 8 on the JMU squad. Joey Wood (leads in slugging on the Panthers), Rob Lind and Ryan Fleming both have 2 home runs each. Mark Micowski is repeating his early 2010 performance with a somewhat slow start. He's hitting .281 but does have (team leading) 7 RBIs.

It's undisputable that the early season MVP goes to the GSU pitching staff. After being a middle of the road crew last season, the Panthers are sporting the league's lowest team ERA at 2.34 (starters at 1.99). The next best is Old Dominion at 3.04 and VCU at 3.38. The Panthers also lead in shutouts with 3 (2nd best is UNCW with 1) and opposing hitters are batting only .214 against them which is also best in the CAA. A stat I like looking at is walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP). The Panthers lead here with a ratio of just over 1.0. Here's where I can give you some comfort if you're still scared about JMU. Their team WHIP is near 2.0 and team ERA is 7.94. The Panthers have proven to be a far superior pitching team thus far and typically pitching wins games. Good pitching will cool off hot hitting. James Madison has their record because of their offense. Our series against them will be an interesting one for sure.

This needs to stand out and be seen because these guys have worked their tails off for us so far. In the top 5 of CAA pitchers with an ERA of 0.00 who've gone the most innings you'll find 4 Panthers. Starters Justin Malone and Nick Squeglia as well as relievers Jake Dyer and Sam Agnew-Wieland. Jake (junior) and Sam (freshman) are both new additions to the pitching squad for the 2011 season. Good job guys.

The worst news for the season so far is the fielding effort. The Panthers find themselves dead in the middle for fielding percentage in the CAA. I'll be honest, I assumed we were bottom 3 so this is good news I guess. The defense has turned the most double plays at 10, some of which being highlight makers and ERA savers.

Well that's it for now. We'll look at the run production level in another couple weeks after we have more data. My early guess is that RPG will edge closer to 8/8.5 but I don't see it reaching last year's NCAA leading number of 10.5.

On to Tech!

Georgia State Baseball (4-0) vs Western Illinois (0-3)

Who: Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks (we'll call them WIFL for short), compete in the NCAA D1 Summit League. The Leathernecks baseball team has not had much success in recent years due to Oral Roberts run of the conference. The team returns 7 of 9 starter position players and only 5 of 15 pitchers from last year and enters Friday's game with a record of 0-3 after being swept at Samford. This is the first matchup with Western Illinois.

Previous Season: WIFL finished the 2010 season with a 14-39 overall record finishing 8th (last) in the Summit League.

Western Illinois at the Plate: The Leathernecks are currently batting .204 as a team. They have not shown much offensive ability thus far as they've scored only 9 runs. The team has 7 extra base hits, 2 being HRs. They've walked 11 times and went down swinging 37 times through 103 at-bats. They do have a speed threat in outfielder Anthony Kaskadden who is 4 of 4 in stolen base attempts in his 3 games. Interesting note, all 4 stolen bases came in one game. I don't expect much luck for them against our pitching staff.

Western Illinois on the Mound: The starters are 0-3 and the team is enjoying an 8.62 ERA coming into Friday. I see this number being increased when the Leathernecks leave town Sunday. The starters (all rightys) are as follows:

Beau Below, Senior - Rough first outing for Beau. 0-1 with a 36.00 ERA after giving up 9 runs in his first and only inning of work. Batters hit .800 against him.

Ryan Wachholder, Junior - Ryan, also 0-1, gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in his 5 innings pitched. He does have 5 strikeouts and only 1 walk to go with it. Ryan is a new addition to the team and pitched well at his previous community college.

Alexander Zarate, Junior - 0-1. Gave up 6 runs on 5 hits in 4 innings pitched. Zarate is another community college transfer and was an effective pitcher in 2010. He didn't see much action in 2009.

Dustin Hunter, Junior - Has appeared in 2 games, pitching 1.2 innings of relief work and has been touched for 7 runs. Yet another community college transfer posting a 10-4 record in his first two years.

The Leathernecks have only 1 relief pitcher who has thrown 1 or more innings without giving up a run. Chris Fuchs had 1 clean inning of work allowing no hits and striking out 1.

Georgia State at the Plate: After the offensive breakout at Mercer on Tuesday, the Panthers are now batting .295 as a team. Improved but there's still room to grow especially considering Micowski is still trying to get going. Nothing wrong with a slow start (Mark Texeira anyone?) as long as you get going before the conference play, or preferably the GT game. Senior Brett Maxwell (OF) is currently leading the CAA in batting average at .727 and he's 3 for 4 in stolen bases. Rob Lind will look to continue his blasting efforts after hitting 2 out of the park at Mercer. The lineup should look the same as it did on opening day.

Georgia State on the Mound: Justin Malone, Nick Squeglia, Will Campbell and Charley Olsen will take the mound for the Panthers. All of these starters are 1-0 on the season and Campbell is the only one with an ERA above 0.00, at a cool 1.29. Justin gave up 7 hits in his 6 inning effort on opening day but kept the runs from crossing. Nick gave up only 3 hit in 5 innings with 3 K's. Will Campbell had a great first outing giving the bullpen some relief by going 7 innings and giving up only 1 run. Charley gave relief to Aidan Francis at Mercer and earned the win while going 4 innings giving up only 3 hits and 1 run. Charley sent away 7 batters by strikeout in his outing.


The Panthers outmatch the Fighting Leathernecks in all phases of the game. Georgia State will be looking to carry an 8-0 record into Russ Chandler Stadium for in-state showdown with Georgia Tech next Wednesday. Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather and what's sure to be an offensive attack on the Leathernecks pitching staff at Panthersville! GO PANTHERS!!!