DECATUR, Ga. | Gabby Stagner drove in a pair of runs to seal the win and become South Alabama's career RBI leader as the Jags took game three of the Sun Belt Conference series, 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Bob E. Heck Softball Complex.

Stagner, Amity White and Frankie Andujo each had two hits in the win for South Alabama (15-18, 4-2 SBC), while the 1-4 hitters had all five RBI led by Stagner's two. Presley Lively walked twice and had a hit, while scoring a run and driving in a run. Caitlyn Gavin had a hit as well and scored twice.

Ryley Harrison tossed her eighth complete game of the season to improve to 7-4 in the circle. The sophomore scattered six hits and three walks, while striking out seven. Harrison held the Panthers (10-23, 2-4 BC) to 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and just two hits with runners on base.

Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- On the game: "Today was a good team win. Our effort and compete levels were back where they needed to be. Ryley (Harrison) threw a great game and the offense got back on track and played more aggressive."

Senior 1B Gabby Stagner
- On the offense's improvement and building off the win: "The biggest thing was just staying the course. We knew that we hadn't been playing up to our standard of play, but we didn't lose confidence in ourselves at the plate or as a team. We came with big energy today, which is a reason we got back into the win column.

"Now, it's all about keeping that momentum and making sure we build off of this win. We need to continue to have energy going into the series next weekend versus Southern Miss."

How It Happened 
•    Lively drew a one-out walk in the opening frame and then came around to score on a Panther throwing error on Stagner's single to right (USA, 1-0). Stagner scored one batter later to extend the Jaguar lead to 2-0 on Stephanie Gonzalez's sacrifice bunt.
•    Georgia State got a run back in the bottom half of the inning. Chloe Middlebrooks walked to begin the inning and then came around to score one batter later on Maia Mumpfield's double to left center (USA, 2-1).
•    Gavin was hit by a pitch to begin the South Alabama second, and Andujo followed with a single to put a pair on for the Jaguars. With two away after a pair of strikeouts, Lively lined a single to left, scoring Gavin from second (USA, 3-1). 
•    Middlebrooks and Mumpfield lined back-to-back one-out, singles to left for Georgia State in the bottom of the third, but Harrison came back to strikeout Jordan Rayner and Lauren Brister – the No. 3 and 4-hole hitters in the Panther lineup
•    South threatened to extend its lead in its half of the fourth as White reached on a two-out double and Lively reached for the third time in as many at-bats as she drew her second walk of the game, but Makayla Stephens was able to get a foul out to strand the runners.
•    Jaycee Goodwin lined a one-out, pinch-hit single to right center, and with two outs she moved into scoring position when she stole second. After falling behind 1-2 in the count, Mumpfield worked the count full before drawing a walk to place the tying run aboard. Harrison was able again to work out of the jam as she induced a fly out to center to end the threat and maintain the two-run advantage.
•    South Alabama gained some breathing room with three runs in its half of the sixth. Gavin lined a single to center – her third time to reach – to lead off the inning, and Andujo lined a ball down the left field line – her second hit of the afternoon – to put runners at second and third. Both runners were then moved up a base on Brookynn Bockhaus's seventh sacrifice bunt of the season, flipping things over to the top of the order. White then delivered with a RBI single back up the middle (USA 4-1). With two outs, Stagner beat out an infield single to score two more and stretch the lead out to 6-1 for the Jaguars and giving her the career RBI lead at South.

Postgame Notes
•    The meeting marked the 32nd in the all-time series and the 15th on the Panthers' home field
•    The Jaguars now lead the all-time series 22-10 and hold nine wins on Georgia State's home field
•    South has also won nine of the last 11 series meetings
•    Stagner (36) moved into a tie with Jenny Stevens (2007-08, '11) for 12th all-time in career multi-hit games
•    With her two RBI, Stagner (36) is now one multi-RBI game shy of tying Victoria Ortiz's (37, 2019-23) program mark in the category
•    Stagner (138) surpassed Brittany Fowler's (136, 2010-13) previous career RBI mark with her two-run single in the sixth
•    Stagner has had a hit in eight of her last 11, and also reached base in 21 of her last 24 and all but four of her 33 games this season
•    Lively has had a hit or a walk in 16 of her last 21 outings, and reached base safely in 25 of her 33 games this spring                                                                                                 •    Lively has scored at least one run in six of her last nine games, compiling a total of eight runs over that stretch
•    Caitlyn Gavin has reached base safely in 11 of her last 16 with her hit by pitch
•    With her third-inning double, Stephanie Gonzalez has had a hit in six of her last seven

Up Next
•    South Alabama will return home to host Southern Miss in a three-game league series. First pitch of game one versus the Golden Eagles is set for 6 p.m. on Friday at Jaguar Field.

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