ATLANTA (4/14/23) – Allen Grier went 3-for-5 with a grand slam, but it was not quite enough for the Arkansas State baseball team, which dropped an 18-13 slugfest to Georgia State Friday at the GSU Baseball Complex.
A-State (11-19, 2-9 SBC) pounded out 16 hits with five players recording multi-hit outings, but the Panthers (17-17, 6-7) countered with 19 hits – eight for extra bases.
The Atlanta native Grier hit his first career homer – a grand slam in the seventh inning – in the return to his hometown. Three Red Wolves – Brandon Hager, Kody Darcy and Dylan DeButy – crossed home three times, while Daedrick Cail also went 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
Max Ryerson and Will Mize each went 4-for-4 for the hosts, with Ryerson homering twice, scoring four times and driving in four. Luke Boynton led the Panthers with five RBIs on a grand slam and an RBI double. Leadoff man Dylan Strickland also scored four runs.
Ryerson put GSU ahead in the first with a two-run shot to center, but A-State answered with a four-run second inning before tacking on another in the top of the third to take a 5-2 lead.
The Red Wolves opened the second with five straight singles, including RBI base hits by DeButy and Grier. Back-to-back RBI fielder's choices by Wil French and Brayden Caskey plated two more in the second, and then Hager led off the third with a solo shot to left field.
Georgia State scored four in the bottom of the third, retaking a 6-5 edge. Boynton doubled home Strickland and then Matt Ruiz grounded out to drive in Ryerson. A sac fly by Mize scored Boynton before Cameron Jones homered to left.
In the sixth, DeButy scored on an RBI groundout by Caskey tied the contest at six runs apiece, but the Panthers scratched back with a seven-run six inning on a pair of homers – a three-run shot by Caleb Stewart and a grand slam off of the bat of Boynton – to make it 13-6.
Hager scored from second when Cail singled and then moved to second on an error before DeButy walked on nine pitches to load the bases for Grier. The outfielder unloaded on the first pitch he saw, depositing it over the left-field wall to make it a two-run affair.
Ryerson belted his second homer of the night, a two-run blast to left, in the seventh to put the score at 15-11. A-State responded with two runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Cail and a pinch-hit RBI fielder's choice by Jared Toler that scored Darcy.
In the bottom of the eighth, Georgia State scored its final three runs on an RBI double by Mize, followed by a sac fly by Dalton Pearson and pinch-hit run-scoring single by Jesse Donohoe.
The Red Wolves threatened with runners at the corners and no outs, but reliever Brady Jones struck out the next three batters to end the contest.
NEXT UP
A-State looks to even the series Saturday night in Atlanta, with first pitch against the Panthers slated for 5 p.m. CT at the GSU Baseball Complex. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN3, while the radio broadcast can be heard on The Ticket Radio Network stations 95.3, 96.9 and 970 AM in Jonesboro, as well as online at 953theticket.com.
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