ATLANTA – Little Rock struck first and pulled even with Georgia State in the fourth, but the Panthers plated seven runs from the sixth inning on to pull away for a 9-3 victory in the team's Sun Belt opener at the GSU Baseball Complex.
The Trojans scattered 11 hits on the night and had some opportunities, but stranded 10 runners on base on the evening, including five in scoring position.
Noah Dickerson led the way offensively for Little Rock with four of the Trojans' 11 hits, including a double, driving in two of the three runs.
Little Rock led off the game with
Tyler Williams making his presence felt in his Atlanta-area homecoming, getting a one out single and advancing to second on an obstruction call. A ground out got him to third, brought home by an RBI double down the right field line from Dickerson, putting the Trojans on top 1-0 early.
The Trojans had chances, getting runners into scoring position in both the second and third innings, but couldn't bring them around to score. Georgia State would scatter five hits in the second, third and fourth innings, bringing a pair home to take the 2-1 lead.
Little Rock tied things up in the fifth with a two-out double to the gap in right center from
Canyon McWilliams, then once again Dickerson came through with the clutch RBI single, tying the game at 2-2.
The Trojans had another opportunity in the sixth with
Christian Bernabe drawing a two-out walk, followed by a single from
Jorden Hussein to put two runners on, but once again, the runners were stranded. Georgia State would then take advantage in the bottom half of the inning, using a pair of singles to put two runners on before a three-run homerun gave the Panthers the 5-2 lead to end
Hayden Arnold's night.
Little Rock answered with one in the seventh with Williams reaching base on a dropped third strike, advancing to third on an RBI single up the middle from Dickerson.
Nathan Lyons then sent a shot down the right field line, scoring Williams and pulling the Trojans to within two at 5-3.
But that was as close as the Trojans would get as the Panthers scored three in the sixth and four in the seventh, pulling away to notch the win in the opening game of the series. The bright spot for Little Rock late was the pitching of
Chance Vaught, going the final 2.0 innings to stop the bleeding and allowing no hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Arnold took the loss on the night, allowing five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a pair of wild pitches, his first since the 2019 season. The five strikeouts did move Arnold to 253 for his career, tied with former teammate Chandler Fidel for fourth all-time in program history.
Williams and Hussein joined Dickerson with multiple hits on the night as Williams went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. local time) with
Hoss Brewer slated to get the start for the Trojans following his complete game victory Sunday against North Alabama.
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