Box Score (PDF)

ATLANTA – Georgia State right-hander Hunter Gaddis tossed a complete game to lead the Panthers to a 7-2 series-opening win over University of South Alabama baseball Friday at GSU Baseball Complex.

Gaddis (5-1) retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced in the game, and allowed two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts against three walks in nine innings pitched to earn the win.

South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it faces Georgia State at 1 p.m. (CT) at GSU Baseball Complex in Atlanta.

GAME FACTS
- GSU jumped out to a one-run lead in the bottom of the first on a one-out, solo home run to right-center field by Nick Gatewood.
- Jaguar right-hander Chase Shell struck out Romero Greer to start the bottom of the third, but a wild pitch on the swinging third strike allowed Greer to reach first base safely. A second wild pitch advanced Greer to second with no outs, before Justin Jones reached on a walk. Gatewood followed with a three-run home run to right-center field for a 4-0 Panther lead.
- Will Kilgore reached on a hit by pitch from Jag right-hander Austin Gossmann to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning, and advanced to second on a walk by Andrew Keene. A sacrifice bunt by Luke Leonard moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Greer then reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases with one out for Justin Jones, who Gossmann struck out for the second out of the frame. Gatewood followed with a two-run single back up the middle to extend the GSU lead to 6-0. An infield single to shortstop by Brandon Bell loaded the bases for Jack Thompson, but Gossmann induced an inning-ending groundout to second.
- Jake Corso led off the bottom of the fifth with a double down the right field line, and moved to second on a wild pitch. A one-out single to center field by Keene later in the inning scored Corso for a 7-0 Panther advantage. 
- Hunter Stokes reached on a one-out walk in the top of the eighth, and moved to third on a double to right field by Will Luft. An RBI groundout to first by Travis Swaggerty scored Stokes with the first Jaguar run of the contest. Dylan Hardy followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to score Luft with the game's final run.

NOTES
- Gaddis (5-1) retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced in the game.
- Dylan Hardy singled to third in the top of the sixth inning to extend his on-base streak to 22 games.
- Brendan Donovan's on-base streak was snapped at 15 games.
- GSU snapped a six-game losing skid with the win.
- Hardy went 2-for-4 with one RBI, and Luft finished 2-for-3 with one run scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate.
- Gatewood went 3-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Panthers offensively.
- Shell (2-3) allowed four runs on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks in two innings pitched in the loss.
- Jaguar left-hander Zach Melton tossed three scoreless relief innings, and allowed hits with one strikeout and one walk.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On Chase Shell:
"He went down in the third (inning), but we don't know the extent of the injury. They give the next pitcher plenty of time to get loose. It's not an ideal situation, but it's a situation that needs to be handled. I feel bad for Chase; he's been one of our guys thus far through the first-third of the season, so hopefully it's not too bad."

- On GSU right-hander Hunter Gaddis:
"You can't guess with a guy like that because he has four pitches, and he threw four pitches for strikes. We were supposed to stay aggressive through his fastball and look for some mistakes up in the zone. We took too many fastballs tonight. I give (Hunter) Gaddis a lot of credit; he threw any pitch in any count, and you can't guess with a guy like that. You can't follow him around or guess, you have to take two of his pitches away. I felt going into the game that was the plan that would work against a guy like that. He has a good feel for it. We took some fastballs and swung through some changeups, and if you let a guy like that get ahead of you then he is going to lead you around. It's like he has a leash on you – he's going to lead you around if you let him get ahead, and we let him get ahead too much. We took some hittable pitches, and swung at some pitches that were low-percentage in our favor. We really didn't press him a lot. We hit some balls hard, five or six on the screws, but all-in-all it just wasn't a good enough offensive night – not a good enough game on our part either on the mound or at the plate. We played pretty good defense, but we have to handle the ball better behind the plate. We just need to be better in all phases of the game. I thought Tuesday night was maybe the start of some team momentum, and I'm not saying it's not. I want to give Gaddis and Georgia State credit. You can be rolling right along and the wrong pitcher gets a hold of you and can stuff you. I just know our guys are capable of being better, and we need to be better."

On tomorrow's game:
"We always feel good with Tyler (Carr) on the mound. He's given us a lot of quality starts in a row, and our guys and staff have a lot of belief in him. I have a lot of confidence with Tyler on the mound, and hopefully we put some runs up and continue to play good defense."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it faces Georgia State at 1 p.m. (CT) at GSU Baseball Complex in Atlanta.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give.