ATLANTA -- Georgia State Friday starter Hunter Gaddis is the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week after tossing a complete-game, 3-hit shutout with a career-high 10 strikeouts in a 2-0 victory at Samford.
Earlier this week, Gaddis was also named College Sports Madness Sun Belt Baseball Player of the Week.
The sophomore right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He retired the first 14 batters, five of them on strikeouts, before Samford managed its first baserunner on an error with two outs in the fifth. After five no-hit innings, Gaddis allowed his first hit to lead off the sixth on a single up the middle. After another strikeout, Gaddis allowed his second single and then hit a batter to load the bases but he struck out cleanup hitter Ayrton Schafer to end the threat.
Gaddis (4-0) then retired six straight, including two strikeouts in the eighth, both looking, to carry his shutout into the ninth. After a bunt single to lead off the ninth, Gaddis got a pop-up and a fly ball before ending it with his 10th strikeout to win his fourth straight decision.
"I was spotting my fastball to start off, and that's the key to every good game I pitch," Gaddis said. "My off-speed pitches were all working. I didn't really get a chance to throw my changeup very much, but my slider and curveball were working really tonight I just took everything out of my heart and put it out there."
Gaddis' final line: 9 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 10 strikeouts, 0 walks. He pitched Georgia State's first complete-game shutout since Wayne Wages' one-hitter vs. Appalachian State in 2016. And Gaddis is Georgia State's first Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week since Wages.
"The whole night was about pitching and playing defense behind Hunter. He did a heckua job," head coach Greg Frady said after the game. "He really did have three pitches working tonight, and his pitch count was in such a good place all night long.
"I couldn't be more proud of him. That's four Fridays in a row that's he's given us a great start, pitching like a Friday night guy."
For the season, Gaddis leads the Sun Belt with a 4-0 record and a 0.64 ERA. He has led the Panthers to one of the best starts in school history with an 11-5 record.
Georgia State completes its two-game series with No. 6 Ole Miss today at 3 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex. The Panthers then head on the road to open conference play at UT Arlington, with Gaddis taking the mound Friday night against the Mavericks.
