Three Homers Lift Georgia State Past Tech, 10-1

March 24, 2009

Box Score

ATLANTA – Georgia State belted three home runs and collected 12 hits off four pitchers, and starter John Locklear allowed a single run over five innings as the Panthers knocked off third-ranked Georgia Tech, 10-1, Tuesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The win was just the eighth for Georgia State (15-7) in 60 meetings between the two teams, and only the third in 33 games at Tech’s home field. The Yellow Jackets dropped to 16-3 heading into Wednesday night’s home game against No. 1 Georgia, which lost Tuesday to Wright State, 8-5.

Locklear (4-1) scattered four hits and five walks over five innings of work, getting just one strikeout. The Jackets stranded eight baserunners against Locklear, five in scoring position.

“We had some chances to get back in the game, but we just couldn’t get the hits,” said head coach Danny Hall. “Georgia State played extremely well. They pitched well and made big plays.”

Freshman Jed Bradley (1-1) lasted just three innings for Tech, giving up five runs on six hits. Jake Davies was the most effective of three Tech relievers, giving up one unearned run over 3-1/3 innings.

The Panthers built a 6-0 lead with the aid of four Tech errors before the Yellow Jackets could score. Justin Malone singled to drive in the first run in the second inning before GSU piled on four more in the third, two of them unearned.

Derek Simmons walked to start the inning, and Carl Moniz reached on a dropped fly ball in left field before Bradley Logan launched his first homer of the season over the left field fence to make the score 4-0. The Panthers tacked on another in the frame after Matt Van Horn doubled and came around to score on Brandon Williams’ sacrifice fly.

Simmons’ one-out homer in the fourth made it 6-0. Tech scored its only run in its half of the inning when Luke Murton walked and came home on a ground ball, closing the gap to 6-1.

A pair of Tech errors and Nick Hogan’s RBI single in the fifth got the run back for Georgia State. Moniz’ sacrifice fly and Marc Mimeault’s two-run homer added three more runs for the Panthers in the eighth. GSU had never scored as many as 10 runs in 31 previous tries against Tech teams coached by Danny Hall.

Will Palmer and Will Campbell blanked Tech on one hit over the final four innings.