The Georgia State Panthers baseball team is up in Boston for a 3-game CAA series with the Northeastern Huskies. GSU enters the series with a 27-12 overall record and a 8-7 CAA record good for 5th place in the CAA. Northeastern is 11-22 and 6-9 in the CAA for 2nd to last place. Both teams have good pitching staffs while the Panthers have the edge offensively.
History/Common Opponents: The Panthers are 10-6 against Northeastern since 2006, 8-5 under Coach Frady. The series in Boston is currently split at 3 games a piece all-time.
During the 2011 season, GSU and NE have both faced Old Dominion, Towson and VCU. Both clubs lost 2-of-3 to ODU while GSU swept Towson and Towson swept NE. GSU lost the series to VCU while NE won their series against them.
Northeastern at the Plate: The Huskies have struggled offensively scoring under 4 runs per game and hitting just .259 as a team. They are last in the CAA in the power numbers with just 7 home runs and slugging only .356. While they're not anywhere near leading the CAA in steals with just 48 they are a much improved base running team over last year when they had only 29 steals. The Huskies have some guys in the lineup that can cause damage. Junior Matt Miller is hitting .336 with 9 doubles and 14 RBIs with the teams highest on-base % at .431. Freshman infielder Aaron Barbosa (BTW I'm completely jealous of his last name) is hitting .336 with 4 doubles, 2 triples at the top of the lineup. He leads the team with 15 stolen bases. Jeff Dunlap is hitting .250 but cannot be overlooked as this senior outfielder is the team RBI leader with 21 and leads in home runs with 3.
Northeastern on the Mound: Pitching has been the strong side for Northeastern this season. They are now owners of the 2nd best ERA in the CAA at 4.27. The club has allowed 5.3 runs per game. They lead the CAA in walks allowed at just 3.25 walks per 9/innings. The team is throwing 7.4 strikeouts per 9/innings. This club has pitched very well in their CAA series to-date. This pitching staff is on a hot streak by posting just a 1.80 ERA over their last 8 starts, giving them a 6-2 record over the period. Series starters are...
Les Williams (Sr., RH) - Les is 3-4 after 8 starts with a 4.29 ERA. Les has 2 complete games, 1 shutout and is keeping the bullpen rested due to going an average of over 7 innings per outing. Les has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4:1. Opponents are hitting .276 against him. Les's last outing was last Friday against VCU where he pitched a complete game allowing just 2 runs and no walks with 9 strikeouts. This was his 2nd complete game in a row, the kid is on a roll right now.
Andrew Leenhouts (Jr., LH) - Andrew is 2-4 after 8 starts with a 2.56 ERA. First thought here is Andrew receives very little offensive support. Andrew has 1 complete game and is coming off a 8.1 inning winning effort at VCU last Friday in game 2 of a double header. He allowed no runs and just 4 hits in the outing. Opposing batters are hitting just .232 against Andrew.
Brandon McNelis (Sr., RH) - Brandon is 2-4 after 8 starts with a 5.17 ERA. Don't let the ERA fool you as Brandon has had two excellent starts in a row. He's allowed just 3 runs in his last 2 games against Hofstra and VCU where he pitched a complete game shutout against Hofstra and received a loss at VCU after allowing only 3 runs in 7.2 innings pitched. While opposing batters are hitting .264 against Brandon, he's had some troubles allowing doubles and home runs.
Dylan Maki is the save leader for the Huskies with 3. He's 2-1 after 13 relief appearances with a 3.71 ERA. He's allowed 10 runs (7 earned) in his 17 innings of relief. Matt Cook is another reliever pitching well for the Huskies. He has 7 relief appearances for 13 innings and has allowed just 2 earned runs and opponents are hitting only .200 against him.
Georgia State at the Plate: Not much has changed since the last offensive preview for GSU. It's worth noting that Drew Shields, since stepping in for Joey Woods who's been dealing with a hip injury, is hitting .404 in (13) CAA games which is good for team-best. He has an on-base % of .500. Ryan Fleming has been ripping apart CAA pitching when he hits the ball slugging .872 with 5 doubles, a triple and 6 home runs with 19 RBIs. Brett Maxwell, while hitting .346 overall, has hit just .234 in conference games.
Georgia State on the Mound: The Panthers pitching staff has been good this year but there is a stark difference in non-conference play against CAA play. The Panthers have an overall ERA of 4.48 and have allowed 5.3 runs per game. In CAA play, the Panthers ERA is 6.07 and they've allowed 6.9 runs per game. Starters in Boston are...
Will Campbell (Sr., RH) - Will is the CAA win co-leader at 6-1 with a 2.92 ERA. So far he's 1-1 in CAA play with a 3.00 ERA. He's pitched 15 innings in his 3 CAA outings allowing 8 runs (only 5 earned) off 17 hits and 3 walks. CAA opponents are hitting .298 against him. Will pitched well against ODU last Friday but received no offensive support and had some errors behind him. He went 6 innings and allowed 4 runs (2 earned) off 8 hits and 1 walk. Will received a loss in the contest.
Charley Olson (Sr., RH) - Charley is 4-3 overall with a 3.46 ERA in 8 starts. He's made 5 CAA game starts and is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA. Charley has been pitching well lately giving the Panthers solid outings (including a complete game at JMU) in his last couple starts. CAA batters are hitting .287 on him and have struck out 29 times in 35 innings. His last outing was a 7 inning winning effort at home against ODU. He allowed only 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk.
Justin Malone (Jr., RH) - Justin is 5-0 with a 4.44 ERA overall this season. In his 5 CAA starts he is 1-0 with a 6.92 ERA. CAA batters are hitting .342 against Justin with 9 doubles, a triple and 3 home runs in 26 innings. He has shown excellent control in all games this season with just 9 walks in 50.2 innings pitched. Justin had a rough 2nd and 3rd inning against ODU but settled to allow just 3 runs in 7 innings pitched. ODU managed just 5 hits and 1 walk against him. Justin did not factor into the decision as GSU eventually fell 4-3.
Jake Dyer and Nick Squeglia have been the go-to relievers for the Panthers in CAA games. Jake has allowed just 1 run in 7.1 relief innings and allowed zero walks. Nick has allowed 6 earned runs in 14 relief innings but has walked 10. Nick has had high walk numbers all season but has managed to keep his ERA at a very respectable 3.00.
This is another hard series to predict. On paper, you like the Panthers to win because of their offense. However, this was the same against ODU last week and ODU took the series win. I know the team realizes this is a must win series against a team below you in the standings. Losing this series could hurt badly come end of May. Our pitchers have been getting beat up by CAA offenses inferior to those faced in mid-week games and this weekend is another example of facing inferior offenses. What makes this even more hard to predict is the hot streak the Northeastern pitchers are on right now. If they cool off here we should sweep. If they remain hot, win 2-of-3 and count your blessings this Easter weekend. The Panthers must come home with a series win. GO PANTHERS!!!
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