Panthers Move to 2nd Round of the CAA Tourney, Win 58-52 over UNCW

Josh Micheaux led a balanced Panthers attack

Photo Courtesy of GSU Sports Communications

This was a very good win.  The team could have easily came out with little effort and act defeated without its coach.  It did not.  It played inspired defensively and won both halves.  Yes, it's the 4th time in 6 tries that we've advanced out of the 1st round but the team played very good defense, shot efficiently and passed the ball well.  This is a great formula for sucess.

Josh Micheaux played very well with 14 points.  Eric Buckner was strong inside with 12 points, 8 boards and  blocks.  Jihad Ali had 9 points and 11 boards.  Marques Johnson ran the offense very well with 7 assists and 1 turnover in 31 minutes. 

Coach Paul Graham got his first win as Panthers interim coach and ran 11 players at the Seahawks who shot less than 30%. 

Next: Top seed and #25 ranked George Mason at Noon.  The game will be on CSS tape delayed beginning at 5pm.

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.

Coach Curry Weighs In on NFL Lockout

Pretty good read and glad to see CBC getting called upon for his thoughts.

Baltimore Sun

Georgia State Baseball Defeats #23 Ranked Tech

The Georgia State Panthers take care of business at Russ Chandler Stadium, defeating the #23 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 6-3 in a great team effort. The pitchers held Tech to half their average runs per game, the offense was seeing the ball well making good contact and the defense played a clean and smart game.

During his 2nd start on the season, Aidan Francis pitched 7 clean innings allowing 2 runs off 7 hits. He showed off his great control by striking out 6 and giving a free base to nobody. Aidan showed great composure on the mound after falling into a couple jams. He made his pitches when he needed to and relied on a clean defensive effort from his fielders to escape potential damage. The good pitching continued in the 8th as (newcomer Jr.) Jake Dyer entered the game for Francis. Dyer found himself in trouble during the 8th as Tech scored one run and then had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Dyer showed his ability to remain calm here as he struck out the next 2 batters to end the scoring threat and the inning. Both pitchers did a great job of taking Tech's hitting threats out of the game by allowing Kyle Wren and Matt Skole only 1 hit between the two of them. Francis is now 1-0 with a 4.63 ERA with 14 strikeouts and only 2 walks on the season. Dyer continues showing why he was brought in this season as he now has 7.2 innings of relief work and is 1-0 with 1 save and an ERA of 1.17. Dyer's walks and hits per inning pitched is just over 1 which is exactly what you want to see out of your reliever.

The Panther hitters burned through 6 Tech pitchers in this game. Starting pitcher Matt Grimes was able to strikeout 9 batters but gave up 4 runs and 8 hits in the game. Mark Micowski continues to awake as he belted a no-doubter home run over the right center wall. Mark went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs and scored twice. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams also had multi-hit games both going 2-for-4 and Williams knocked in 1 run. Overall the Panthers offense had 12 hits and earned 5 walks on the evening. The biggest change of events in offense from previous games was the timely hitting. The Panthers were able to string together hits to bring runners home, something they've had a little difficulty doing at times so far this season. This was a huge factor in the win.

Something that cannot be looked over in this win is the defensive effort given by the Panthers. The team played a clean and well-focused game and the infield played smart ball. They made some key outs to keep runners from advancing bases and made outs at the leading bases keeping men off 3rd. This proved to be important during a few early innings. Brandon Williams showed off his reflex and arm when he had a great diving snag at 3rd and threw out the runner at 1st. No errors were recorded in this game.

Here is what I said would be the keys to the game in my preview...

"The defense needs to play clean. When playing the #26th ranked team in the country, you cannot afford to give them free at-bats with errors. They will take advantage of it and they will make you pay." - No errors, check! Not only were there no errors but the infielders played a very smart game. I love to see this as it's a great indicator of cohesion amongst the group.

"Aidan Francis needs to continue striking guys out and keep the ball in the park. Tech hasn't been a power team yet so don't give them any hangers to do so with." - 6 strikeouts in 7 innings and didn't allow any power to bring runs across. He mostly eliminated the possibility that the power hitters could do any damage other than bringing themselves across which didn't happen either. Check!

"The offense needs to come in fired up and jump all over Matt Grimes early. He's a freshman so the ability to rattle him and make him force pitches is there. That goes away once the bullpen comes into play." - 4 of 6 runs scored were off Grimes through 5 innings. The Panthers forced him to make pitches, waited on pitches to hit and did so. They also forced 3 walks from him. Check!

"When our offense gets on base they need to steal bases to turn singles into scoring opportunities. The speed is there so use it." - 2-for-3 in stolen bases with 1 coming in to score. Not bad.

One of the best parts about this win was how the team handled it when Micowski made the final out by catching a liner to left. They joyfully walked onto the field and congratulated one another like any other win. This shows where their heads were and props to the coaching staff for priming our players this way. The team expected to win and acted like it after doing so, even on Tech's field. Thanks for keeping it classy guys.

GSU moves to 8-1 on the season and Tech falls to 5-4. The Panthers go to Mississippi State University to play in the Mississippi State Tournament this weekend. They will play Iowa and MSU in the double round-robin tournament.

GSU Sports Release featuring an interview with Mark Micowski

AJC: Levick Wants New Coach by Final Four

AJC Link

More insight on what I've been saying since Barnes was relieved of his duties.  We are a week ahead of others in the area that may be firing their coaches.  Conference Tournaments are under way.  Good write up by our guy Ken of the AJC.

Panthers and Jackets Mid-Week Showdown

Russ Chandler Stadium, home of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Who: The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, compete in the D1 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Yellow Jackets enter play on Wednesday with a 5-3 record and are ranked 26th in the nation. Tech has an experienced pitching staff this year. Their 34 player roster is currently made up of 17 freshman and 17 returnees.

Previous Season: Tech advanced to the NCAA Atlanta Regional (playing as host school) and was eliminated by Alabama. They were the #8 National Seed entering the tournament. Last conference championship was in 2005.

Tech on the Mound: Tech will send freshman Matt Grimes to the mound. Matt is 1-0 after 2 appearances including 1 start. His only start on the season was on 2/23 against Georgia Southern where he earned the win after pitching 5.1 innings allowing 4 runs off 5 hits. He walked 1 and struck out 3 in the outing. Matt's other appearance was a 1 inning relief effort where he allowed only 1 hit and no runs. Matt was a 4th round pick by the Chicago White Sox in the 2010 MLB Draft. He exited high school as the 20th-ranked prospect in Georgia after lettering 3 of 4 years at Mill Creek High School. The kid has a very strong arm. The Panthers will need to get to Grimes early and often before the Tech bullpen enters as they are an experienced and solid group, not giving up many runs.

Tech at the Plate: Tech is hitting .312 as a team, currently led by Kyle Wren hitting .484 and Matt Skole hitting .478. Skole is slugging .696 with 1 HR and 8 RBIs through 6 games played. Tech hasn't shown off power or speed yet as they have only 2 HR's as a team and are 6 for 10 in stolen base attempts. Tech is scoring 6 runs per game (lower than State) with 48 on the season. Their offense has been mainly an offense of singles thus far only having 15 doubles and 4 triples.

GSU on the Mound: Veteran Aidan Francis will get the ball to start the game for State. Francis is a senior and is expected to be a leader in the weekend rotation during CAA play. Francis has started in one game this season giving up 4 runs through 4.2 innings pitched at Mercer. Francis did strike out 8 in the outing and he'll need to count on this again in order to keep Tech runners from possibly being moved over to scoring position or to setup a double play situation. Francis gave up 3 HR's in the outing but Mercer has shown to be a power team thus far so I'm not sure this is a concern for the Tech game. This game will be a great test for our relievers who, excluding a bad day for a couple guys, have shown to be almost untouchable. I'm looking forward to seeing Sam Agnew-Wieland and Jake Dyer get a chance to throw in this game.

GSU at the Plate: The Panthers come in batting .276 as a team with senior outfielder Brett Maxwell showing the way at .444 after starting all 8 games. DH Joey Wood and outfielder Mark Micowski lead the way with 7 RBIs each. Bryan Condotta has also hit the ball well posting a .364 batting average with 3 doubles. State has been efficient in moving runners on stolen bases with success in 20 of 23 attempts. The Panthers will need to get better about timely hitting in this game in order to take advantage of men on base as they may not get many opportunities. This offense enters the game with more runs scored than Tech at 55 on the season.

Here are the keys to this game, and they're really not rocket science. The defense needs to play clean. When playing the #26th ranked team in the country, you cannot afford to give them free at-bats with errors. They will take advantage of it and they will make you pay. Aidan Francis needs to continue striking guys out and keep the ball in the park. Tech hasn't been a power team yet so don't give them any hangers to do so with. The offense needs to come in fired up and jump all over Matt Grimes early. He's a freshman so the ability to rattle him and make him force pitches is there. That goes away once the bullpen comes into play. When our offense gets on base they need to steal bases to turn singles into scoring opportunities. The speed is there so use it.

I think we can come away with a win here if the team executes properly and plays a clean game. Tech does have two losses at home so far, against Kent State and St. John's, so they're not unbeatable at Russ Chandler. Go Panthers!!!