South Alabama Jaguars (12-9, 2-1 SBC)
vs.
Georgia State Panthers (11-10, 0-3 SBC)

March 23-25 • GSU Baseball Complex • Decatur, Ga.

Game 1 - Fri., March 23 - 5 p.m. (CT)
Game 2 - Sat., March 24 - 1 p.m. (CT)
Game 3 - Sun., March 25 - noon (CT)

Media Information
Live Stream:  All three games will be streamed live and available through PantherVision at GeorgiaStateSports.com.

On the Radio:  All Jaguar baseball games are broadcast live in Mobile on 99.5 FM The Jag, and available worldwide via the iHeartRadio app. 

Live Stats:  Live stats for every South Alabama baseball game are available through the multimedia section of USAJaguars.com.

Twitter:  Follow the official Twitter account of South Alabama baseball — @WeAreSouth_BSB — for news and updates.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Fri., March 23
USA - RHP  Chase Shell (2-2, 5.57 ERA)
GSU - RHP  Hunter Gaddis (4-1, 1.60 ERA)

Sat., March 24
USA - RHP  Tyler Carr (2-2, 3.60 ERA)
GSU - RHP Jake Rogers (3-1, 3.62 ERA)

Sun., March 25
USA - TBA
GSU - RHP  Jordan Lee (2-0, 3.45 ERA)

All-Time Series
South Alabama holds a 21-4 all-time lead over Georgia State in a series that began in 1979. The Jags carry a four-game win streak in the series into Friday's contest, and have won nine of the last 10 games in the series. USA has won the last three series dating back to 2015. The Jags swept the Panthers in three games last season at Stanky Field. The last GSU win in the series came in game two of the three-game set in 2016 in Atlanta.

Jag Notes
• South Alabama has played six nationally-ranked opponents this season. The Jags are 2-6 against top-25 competition this year, with wins over No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 13 Southern Miss, and losses to No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 16 LSU, No. 18 Auburn and No. 23 Indiana. 

• South Alabama enters the weekend ranked seventh nationally and second in the Sun Belt Conference in walks (131).

• The Jaguars rank second in the SBC in walks (131), third in hits (176), doubles (40) and total bases (269), tied for third in home runs (15) and sacrifice flies (9), fourth in slugging percentage (.382), runs scored (135) and RBI (119), and fifth in batting average (.250) and on-base percentage (.374); however, USA also leads the league in offensive strikeouts (190).

• The South Alabama pitching staff ranks fourth in the conference in strikeouts (169), and sixth in the league in ERA (4.69) entering the weekend.

• USA is 2-6 in road games this season after falling at No. 16 LSU on Wed., March 14, which marked its last road contest. The Jaguars' two wins on the road came in a non-conference series at Louisiana when they clinched the series with wins in the final two games of the weekend.

Scouting Georgia State
The Panthers enter the series opener with a six-game losing streak following a 12-2 loss to Georgia in midweek action on Tuesday. GSU was swept by UT-Arlington in three games last weekend in Arlington, Texas, to open Sun Belt Conference play. 

The Panthers' last home win came on March 6 in a 7-4 victory over Morehouse. GSU ranks second in the SBC in doubles (42) and sacrifice bunts (16), and tied for third in home runs (15) entering the weekend. GSU carries a .243 team batting average and 4.88 team ERA into the series.

Nick Gatewood leads GSU and ranks second in the conference in batting average (.359), ranks tied for second in the league in hits (28), and tied for fourth in home runs (5). Panther right-hander Hunter Gaddis ranks third in the SBC in ERA (1.60) entering the weekend. Gaddis has tossed one complete game and combined for one shutout this season, and has struck out 24 batters against eight walks in 33 2/3 innings pitched. 

SWAGGERTY IN TOP THREE NATIONALLY IN WALKS
Center fielder Travis Swaggerty enters the weekend ranked fourth in the nation in walks (25) and walks per game (1.19). 

SWAGGERTY MOVING UP CAREER LIST
Travis Swaggerty enters the weekend with 116 career walks, which ranks tied for sixth all-time with Geoff Doggett at South Alabama. Swaggerty needs six walks to pass Luis Gonzalez (121) for fifth on the career list. Mike Warren holds the career record in walks at USA with 155, while Drew LaBounty ranks second all-time with 149 career walks.

DONOVAN AMONG NATION'S LEADERS IN WALKS
Shortstop Brendan Donovan ranks 11h nationally and third in the Sun Belt in walks (21), and 20th in the country in walks per game (1.00). Donovan carries a 15-game on-base streak into Friday's series opener.

HARDY LEADS SBC IN HITS, STOLEN BASES
Outfielder Dylan Hardy enters the weekend as the Sun Belt Conference leader in hits (30), and tied for the league lead in stolen bases (11). Hardy has reached base safely in every game this season, carrying a 21-game on-base streak into the series opener, and has hit safely in 17 of 21 games. Hardy also ranks tied for third in the league in at-bats (86) and runs scored (24), fourth in total plate appearances (103) and runs scored (22), sixth in batting average (.349) and ninth in OBP (.451)

SWAGGERTY LEADS SBC
Center fielder Travis Swaggerty leads the Sun Belt Conference in walks (24), ranks second in OBP (.515), fifth in total plate appearances (101), and tied for fourth in home runs (5).

DONOVAN LEADS SBC IN SACRIFICE FLIES
Third baseman Brendan Donovan enters the weekend as the SBC leader in sacrifice flies (5), which ranks eighth nationally.

RUSSO LEADS LEAGUE IN ABs
Third baseman Paul Russo enters the series opener as the SBC leader in at-bats (91). Russo ranks 10th in the league in total plate appearances (97). 

DAVIS AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS IN RBIs, WALKS
First baseman Wells Davis ranks ninth in the Sun Belt Conference in RBIs (19), and tied for ninth in walks (17).

DONOVAN NEARS 150 CAREER HITS
Third baseman Brendan Donovan enters the series opener with 146 career hits. In his last four games, Donovan has batted .429 with one double, one triple, one run scored, one stolen base and eight RBIs, while posting a .500 OBP and .643 slugging percentage.

CARR'S QUALITY STARS
Right-hander Tyler Carr enters his start on Saturday having recorded quality starts in four of his five starts this season. Carr has tossed six innings in each of his five starts this season, and allowed three or fewer earned runs in four of those starts.

GREENE'S LAST FOUR APPEARANCES
Since making his last start, which came on March 3 at Texas Tech in which he gave up five runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched, right-hander Zach Greene has tossed 10 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings and allowed just three hits while striking out 15 batters without issuing a walk in those four relief appearances.

JAGS AT NIGHT/DAY
South Alabama enters the week 6-5 in day games, and 6-4 in night games this season. 

OFFENSIVE RUNS / HITS PER GAME
South Alabama is averaging six runs scored  and eight hits per game through 21 contests, and is averaging over nine strikeouts per contest against six walks per game. The Jags have struck out 10 or more times in 11 games this season.

ALLOWING FIVE OR LESS
South Alabama is 11-2 this season when allowing five or fewer runs, but is 1-7 when allowing six or more. 

SCORING SIX OR MORE
The Jags are 11-3 when scoring six or more runs this year, but are 1-6 when scoring fewer than six runs.

SCORING FIRST
USA is 9-3 this season when scoring the game's first run, but is 3-6 when the opposition scores first.

MORE HITS, MORE WINS
The Jaguars are 8-2 when out-hitting the opposition this season, but are 4-5 when getting out-hit by opponents.

CALVI NAMED AlaBCA COACH OF THE YEAR
Head coach Mark Calvi was named the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year in 2017, marking the third consecutive year he has earned the honor, after leading the Jaguars to 40 wins and an NCAA Hattiesburg (Miss.) Regional appearance. 

JAG OFFENSE IN 2017
USA broke the program record for walks (373) in a season last year, which ranked second nationally. The Jags ranked sixth in the country in runs scored (488) and on-base percentage (.415), seventh in runs per game (8.0), 11th in fielding percentage (.980), 14th in sacrifice flies (32) and home runs (78), and 15th in slugging percentage (.480).

JAGS SET PROGRAM SINGLE-SEASON FIELDING PERCENTAGE IN '17
South Alabama set a program record for single-season fielding percentage (.980) last year, which led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked 11th nationally.

2017 HOME RUN PRODUCTION
The Jaguars hit 78 home runs in 2017, the most since the 2008 squad hit 79 home runs; however, USA lost 26 percent of its home run production from last season following the departure of Eddie Paparella and Jared Barnes. Paparella homered seven times last year while Barnes, who was an eighth-round selection by the Miami Marlins in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft, hit 13 as a junior.

JAGS PICKED TO WIN SBC EAST DIVISION
South Alabama was picked to win the 2018 Sun Belt Conference East Division by the league's head coaches after receiving all 12 first-place votes.

SWAGGERTY NAMED TO 2018 PRESEASON GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH LIST
Travis Swaggerty was named to the 2018 USA Baseball Preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List. Swaggerty was also a preseason first-team All-America selection by Baseball America, D1Baseball, College Sports Madness and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, and was a third-team preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball.


Game Notes