What you need to know:
* Georgia State split a doubleheader with Illinois Friday, losing 6-0 in Game 1 before winning 13-4 (6) in Game 2.
* Junior Ivie Drake hit her 39th career home run, breaking Georgia State's all-time home run record.
* The Panthers host a doubleheader with Omaha on Saturday and host Radford on Sunday.
ATLANTA - Junior Ivie Drake hit her 39th home run Friday against Illinois, breaking Georgia State's career home run record of 38 set by Callie Alford in 2015. The Panthers lost to Illinois in Game 1 before bouncing back to run rule the Illini in six innings in Game 2.
Game 1: Illinois 6, Georgia State 0
Illinois' pitching held GSU to just two hits in the first game. The Illini scored four runs in the third inning and added two more in the fourth before Mandy Chance and Peyton Worsham shutout Illinois in the final 3.1 innings.
Drake and Remington Hasty recorded the two Panther hits and Hasty made an incredible play in the outfield, robbing an Illini hitter of a three-run homer. Hasty got a great jump on the ball and leaped at the fence, snagging the would-be homer and ending the inning.
Game 2: Georgia State 13, Illinois 4 (6 innings)
Georgia State jumped on top of the Illini in Game 2 early, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by Megan Litumbe and an RBI double by Kensey Caldwell. Litumbe delivered again in the bottom of the second, doubling to center field to bring home two more GSU runs. It was Caldwell's turn in the bottom of the fourth as she doubled to left-center to score Drake and Kirsten McMonigle.
The Panthers scored a total of four runs in the fourth to take an 8-3 lead. Georgia State scored again in the fifth, but Illinois hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth to make it 9-4 ball game.
In the bottom of the sixth, GSU got a run with a McMonigle bunt single, leaving two runners on base with Drake at the plate. Drake just barely tipped a ball foul to stay alive with a 2-2 count. The next pitch, Drake gave the ball a ride to left-center, ending the ball game with a three-run homer, her first of the season and 39th of her career. Drake's long ball broke Georgia State's career home run record that Callie Alford set in 2015 with 38 home runs.
With the split, Georgia State's record move to 9-4 on the season. The Panthers host a doubleheader with Omaha on Saturday before wrapping up the weekend with a game against Radford on Sunday.
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