Georgia State (14-24) sits in last place in the conference with a 4-14 record. The season isn’t lost for the Panthers, as the top 10 teams in the Sun Belt reach the conference tournament. The Panthers are two games behind that 10th spot, and have 12 conference games left to play.
The Panthers are going through a tough season, and at one point lost 11 consecutive games. Still, they found a way to end the losing streak and win three out of their last seven games.
“We really weren’t playing that bad during the 11-game losing streak, but we were playing really good competition,” coach Greg Frady said about getting through the losing streak. “We had some chances to win, but we didn’t get the big hit and the timely hits.”
“Since that time, we’ve been in a much better position. We played good and won a few games. Even though the season has not gone great, I still think we have a chance to be in a position to finish strong.”
Sitting in last place is not an ideal situation to be in this late in the season. However, Frady instilled a will in his team to keep fighting.
“You present what the reality is (to the team),” Frady said. “We’re only two games back. The good thing about that is, that the two teams that are ahead of us we still have them in our schedule. So, a lot of this will determine with our play on the field.”
Frady cited three key things his team needs to do to secure a spot in the Sun Belt tournament. The first is pitching.
“We’re not really healthy, pitching-wise, and that has shown up during this difficult season,” Frady said. “The guys that are healthy have got to pitch well and pitch us deep in the game. They have to throw their secondary pitches for strikes.”
The second key is improvement on offense.
“As far as offense goes, we got to score some runs,” Frady said. “We can’t always count on our pitching and put everything onto our pitching staff. I feel like we have to score some runs and our offense knows that.”
“One of the reasons we haven’t hit more is because our offense has a lot of pressure because they know our pitching is a little beat up right now. When that happens, everybody gets stressed and pressure shows up and affects everyone’s play on the field. I think if we can pitch to our capability and score some runs, then I think we’re going to have a good stretch run.”
The third key is for the team to do its best.
“I’m going to ask our team to leave it on the field and play as hard as they can,” Frady said. “And if we are good enough to make the tournament then we will. If we’re not, then we’ll reset after the season is over and talk about how we go forward. Until then, our season is not over and we’re still in a position to get into the conference tournament.”
