Photo Courtesy of MEACSWACSports.com
GSU is coming off a huge series win at James Madison and looks to continue momentum as they host always bat-friendly Alabama State today. This is the 2nd matchup of the two teams at Panthersville this season. The first meeting was back on March 15th when the Panthers clubbed the Hornets 14-4 in a staff pitching game. The Panthers enter today's game with a 25-9 record, being the fastest team to hit 25 wins on the season in school history. The Hornets enter at 11-16.
The Hornets bring a struggling and weak offense with a .264 team average but are scoring 6 runs per game in a hitting friendly league. However, only 1 starter with over 20 starts is hitting over .300 and a couple are flirting with .200. They have hit only 8 home runs and are slugging just .353 as a team. Jordan Mims has been the offensive crutch hitting .326 in 27 games with 12 RBI's, 2 doubles and a triple. The Hornets like to use their speed on the bases as they have 75 steals on the season in 89 attempts which is 3rd best in the NCAA. (Prior opponent James Madison is leading and GSU is tied for 12th.)
The starting pitcher is not yet known but the team ERA is 5.52 and they're allowing almost 7 runs per game this season. The Hornets have used 8 different starting pitchers this season with only 2 receiving at least 6 starts. The majority of their most frequently used pitchers are pitching around either 4.00 ERA or 6.00 ERA. No matter who is on the mound, the Panthers bats should have no problem connecting well with the ball.
The Panthers enter today's game with a .319 team batting average and slugging .489 as a team with 5 offensive regulars hitting above that mark. They've pulled their runs scored per game average up over 8. Look for Brett Maxwell to have a big game against this out-of-conference opponent as he's done all season hitting .483 outside the CAA. Ryan Fleming has been on a home run tear with 5 bombs in the last 6 games. I'd expect Ryan to send another ball over the left-center fence this evening. The Panthers should put up big runs for the 2nd time this year on the Hornets.
Freshman Sam Agnew-Wieland gets his 2nd start of the season today. He earned a win last week against a strong Mercer offense while pitching 5 innings and allowing just 3 runs off 5 hits and a walk. Sam has made 9 relief appearances, 2nd most on the team. Opposing batters are hitting only .243 off Sam and his WHIP is a 1.36. Certainly outstanding numbers for a true freshman, Panther fans (including myself) are ecstatic to have Sam on the team.
The Panthers pitching staff is coming off a great series where they held the NCAA's highest scoring offense to 18 runs in 3 games, nearly half their runs per game average. In fact, of the top 15 highest scoring offenses in the country, GSU has faced 3 of them going 5-1 in the 6 games and have held them all to around half their runs per game average. Those three teams are Mercer, Georgia Tech and James Madison.
Today's game should be two things for GSU. First it will be a game for the offense to keep their hitting eyes tuned up before a very good pitching team in ODU comes to Panthersville for a very important 3-game CAA series. Second, this should be a staff pitching game meaning it's an intentional "tune-up" outing for many guys. Sam will probably go 3 or 4 innings and then give way to another 3-5 pitchers to get work in. GO PANTHERS!!!
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