GEORGIA STATE vs. SOUTH ALABAMA, Stanky Field, Mobile, Ala.
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, 2 p.m. ET
COVERAGE
Live stats on GeorgiaStateSports.com and GSU mobile app.
RECORDS
Georgia State: 11-10 Overall, 1-2 Sun Belt Conference (7-4 Home, 2-4 Away, 2-2 Neutral)
South Alabama: 12-9 Overall, 2-1 Sun Belt Conference (5-1 Home, 4-5 Away, 3-2 Neutral)
PROBABLE PITCHERS (GSU-USA)
Friday: RHP Bryce Conley, Sr. (2-3, 5.08) vs. RHP Randy Bell, Sr. (0-2, 3.66)
Saturday: RHP Hunter Gaddis, Fr. (3-0, 1.08) vs. LHP Thomas Huston, Sr. (1-1, 2.13)
Sunday: LHP Brandon Baker, R-Jr. (0-3, 4.06) vs. RHP Tyler Carr, Jr. (1-0, 3.57)
LEADING OFF
* Georgia State plays its first Sun Belt Conference road series at South Alabama, Friday through Sunday at Stanky Field.
* Under the direction of first-year pitching coach Chris Bootcheck, a former Major League pitcher, the GSU staff ranks second in the Sun Belt with a 3.37 ERA.
* The GSU bullpen is 7-0 with five saves and a 2.76 ERA, led by Logan Barnette (3-0, 2 saves, 1.72), Rhett Harper (3 saves, 2.31), Devin Vainer (10 app., 0.00 ERA) and Liam Henry (9 app., 1 save, 2.31).
* The Panther pitching staff held No. 14 Ole Miss to one run on six hits in 19 innings in their two-game series split. Six different Panther hurlers threw in the series.
* Freshman pitcher Hunter Gaddis, a 6-5 right-hander who is now the Panthers' Saturday starter, leads the team with a 3-0 record and a 1.08 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting .163 against him, and he has 25 strikeouts in 25 innings.
* Gaddis took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in last Saturday's 2-1 victory over UT Arlington.
* Senior center fielder Ryan Blanton is hitting .291 and has a team-leading four homers, 18 RBI and 15 runs scored. He led off the 2017 season with a home run vs. Marshall, the fifth time in his career he has led off a game with a homer.
* Shortstop Justin Jones has two game-winning hits in the last two weeks. In the March 8 win at No. 14 Ole Miss, Jones delivered a two-run double in the top of the 11th inning for the 2-0 victory. On March 18 in a 1-1 game vs. UT Arlington, he hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth and GSU won 2-1.
* Two players who missed the 2016 season due to injury have figured prominently already for the Panthers. Outfielder-DH Cam Sperry (knee) is hitting .274 with a homer and seven RBI. Relief pitcher Logan Barnette (shoulder) is 3-0 with two saves and a 1.72 ERA.
* Georgia State's 2017 schedule is perhaps the most ambitious in school history. The 2017 slate includes four different Power Five opponents and 13 games against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams, including a home series with Coastal Carolina, the defending national champions and the newest member of the Sun Belt Conference.
* Eleventh-year head coach Greg Frady earned his 500th college coaching victory in the Panthers' 12-4 victory over Northern Kentucky on March 4. Frady now has 318 wins at Georgia State, plus 187 wins at North Florida C.C. (1991-96) for a total of 505.
* Frady is Georgia State's career leader in victories after passing Mike Hurst (293) on March 20, 2016. In the last year he has also been honored with two different Hall of Fame inductions, joining the German Baseball and Softball Hall of Fame and the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.
SERIES vs. SOUTH ALABAMA
* South Alabama leads the series 17-4, including a 7-3 advantage since Georgia State rejoined the Sun Belt Conference in 2014.
* The Panthers are 0-9 against South Alabama in Mobile.
* Last season in Atlanta, GSU earned a 7-4 victory in the Saturday game, which was actually completed on Sunday. The Jaguars took the series with a 9-3 win Friday and a 2-1 victory Sunday.
