We've Moved!

What a great ride it has been.  I've had hundreds of comments and kind words since October 23, 2009 when my first post went live (it's HERE if you don't remember or haven't been around that long).

Today will be the final day that this blog will exist on this site.  Fear not, Bruce and I will be blogging for the front page of our great friends at www.PantherTalk.com full time.  Please check out our work on the front page and also dive into the mayhem that is the Message Board Forums.  You also can purchase Panther gear via a strategic partner in Football Fanatics.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who have read these pages the last 19 months.  Thank you for reading and I look forward to seeing you on PantherTalk.

-Ben Moore

Former Panther Pitcher, David Buchanan, Earns Start in Class A All-Star Game

Photo Courtesy of MiLB.com

Former Georgia State starting pitcher David Buchanan was selected to start for the Northern Division in the 2011 South Atlantic League All-Star game. The Peachtree City native was selected by the Phillies in the 7th round of the 2010 MLB Draft after his Junior season. He was previously selected in the 6th round of the 2009 draft by the Mets but optioned to stay at Georgia State for another season.

David currently plays for the Lakewood Blueclaws (you cannot help but to love minor league baseball at least for the mascot names) and leads the league in wins (8) and has the 6th best ERA (2.85).

Congratulations to David as he is well on his way to advancing in the Phillies minor league system!

AJC: Ron Hunter knows free shoes can change a life

AJC Link

Great write up by Doug on CRH.  I'm glad to have this guy as our coach.

AJC: Georgia State Football Goes 8-3 in 2011

Not much in depth but a score prediction from the AJC's Mark Bradley:

Georgia State will go 8-3. It will, however, lose 51-10 at Houston on Sept. 24. Which, when you consider the Panthers lost 63-7 at Alabama last season, will be a sign of progress.

If we go 8-3 in 2011, I'll do backflips down Decatur Street.  This would be an tremendous success.

Charlotte Rejected By SoCon, Big South. Is CAA Football On Deck?

GoBlueRidge.net Link

Another FCS team entering the fray and not getting the response from a football only invite that they would like.  I still believe that Georgia State is much better positioned for the long term than the 49ers but I'd be suprised if Commissioner Yeager doesn't offer a football only invite to Charlotte as his league is quickly falling apart.

Dexter Moody, Former UGA Signee, Enrolls at Georgia State

This.  Is. Huge.

I'm extremely please that we snagged Moody.

From ESPN Scouts, Inc. in 2009:

Moody has one of the best upsides of any defensive prospect in the past few high school classes. He has natural physical gifts and is well-developed for his age. He's tall, athletically built and has a very wide wingspan and long body that should fill out.

He is a tremendous talent and the highest rated defensive player we've ever had on our campus.

I expect him to immediately fight for playing time and should immediately help us at LB. Our LB corps are in great shape moving forward even with the Muasau brothers graduating. Moody will be a RS Sophomore having 3 years helps a ton and I could see him developing into an All conference/All-American type player by his Senior season. He's extremely hungry and makes plays all over the place.

He was asked recently why he chose Georgia State.  Moody's response: "It's Georgia. [My] Family can come to my games."

Welcome to the family Dexter!

SB Nation Link

Doug's AJC Blog

New Faces on the Football Team

We've reached the start of summer school and summer workouts!  Over the next few days, our roster will be updated with the 7 recruits (8 if you count CB D'Mario Gunn who enrolled in January) and numerous new names and faces. 

Here's a list as it sits today and my thoughts on each player:

Freshman DE McClain Head - February Signee, has increase his weight to 255lbs.
Freshman S Nick Henderson - February Signee - Likely to take a RS but will likely fight for a spot on special teams.
Freshman OL David Huey - February Signee - Needs to RS, IMO.
Freshman QB Ben McClane - February Signee  - Needs to RS, IMO but may not be an option because he'll serve as the primary back up for KH4 during the first four games.
Freshman DE Roderick Thompson - February Signee - Needs a RS but we are thin at DE, IMO.
Junior LB Qwontez Mallory - February Signee - Arrived at 215lbs (not 235lbs as some speculated) and will immediately contribute.  Would like to see a 5-8lbs weight increase this summer and come to Fall camp at 220+.
Junior S Demazio Skelton - February Signee - Arrived at 190lbs and I expect him to fight for immediate laying time at Free Safety.  Really high on this kid.
RS Jr. TE Kyle Irby - Transfer from Brevard College - Walk On and could contribute on special teams.
Junior S Rashad Stewart - Transfer from Louisville - Immediate impact player on special teams and within the Safety rotation.  This kid made plays for Drake in 2009.  Was on Louisville's roster in 2010.
Freshman OL Tyler Ferguson - Flint River Academy - Griffin, GA - Impressive looking kid.  Will likely RS this Fall.  Could be play either tackle spots and will likely be cross trained.
Freshman S Nathaniel Minor - Brookwood HS - Another impressive kid with good size.  Will likely RS this Fall.
RS Sr. WR Cordero Ivory - Transfer from Ventura College - Walk-On with great size (6'5, 200lbs).  Interesting to see how we utilize Ivory and see how he grasps the offensive playbook.  Former DE prospect who has grown 4 inches since HS. Was a track guy as well, once high jumped 5'10 feet.  Goal line jump balls should be fun to watch.

Also said to be enrolled or will enroll:
Junior DE AJ Portee - Transfer from UCONN - Rumored to be attending.  May have some academic hurdles but would be an immediate impact player.
RS Sophomore LB Dexter Moody - Former UGA signee out of ECI.  Tremendous player with a ton of upside.  3 years of remaining eligibility and would be an immediate impact player at LB.
 
No longer with the program:

Sr. NG Dion Peary - Was sliding down the depth chart and hopefully will stay in school and graduate.
RS Soph. DE Demetreious Shorter - Sliding down the depth chart, battled weight issues and was rumored to possibly change positions to try to maintain a spot.

Former Georgia State Basketball Coach Lefty Driesell Inducted Into SoCon HOF

Great article and thanks to The Voice for shooting it to me.

ESPN Link

OL Starts Across College Football

From Phil Steele

For comparison sake, Georgia State football brings back a total of 86 combined starts along the offensive line.

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.