Last season, the Georgia State baseball team finished 39-13, won its first Colonial Athletic Association championship, made its first NCAA Regional appearance and instantly became local media darlings. The awards and accolades poured in, and many thought the Panthers would continue their rise this season.
But the Panthers are 0-5 after an 8-5 loss at South Carolina-Upstate on Tuesday.
"It's important that we remain positive because we have a good team," Georgia State coach Greg Frady said.
Georgia State senior third baseman Bradley Logan said team confidence remains high despite the losses.
“It’s not really a concern,” Logan said. “It’s early in the season. We had some new guys coming in. There were times in the games when we’ve looked amazing.”
Georgia State has a team earned-run average of 9.88. Panthers pitchers have allowed eight home runs and 58 hits in 41 innings. Opponents are batting a collective .324.
“I think it’s the lack of getting innings prior to the season,” Logan said. “Before the season we had to deal with weather and a lot of things.”
Georgia State has a team batting average of .239. Logan leads the team with two home runs, but is hitting .273 and has only three RBIs. He batted .309 last season.
The only regular player batting over .300 is junior outfielder Mark Micowski, who is hitting .350.
Frady and Logan credit some of Georgia State’s problems to its opening three-game series at Florida State, which was ranked fifth in the nation. The Seminoles swept the Panthers and outscored them 37-12.
“I didn’t feel we were overmatched against Florida State,” Logan said. “I just feel we didn’t play well.”
Women’s track
Senior Tamika Kinchen said that when she was in the seventh grade she had to be enticed into participating in the 800-meter run by her track coach. "My coach said that if I ran and beat the other girls in the race she would give me a pack of Skittles," Kinchen said.
Kinchen ran, won the candy and the 800 has become one of her best events. She missed breaking her school record in the event by .24 seconds last weekend when she finished third with a time of 2 minutes, 7.80 seconds in the Virginia Tech Challenge.
Kinchen said her training this season is just about on schedule, but being less than a second off her school record was disappointing.
Kinchen, sophomores Angelia Nugent and Brandy Swann and senior Janel Blancett finished second in the women's distance medley with a school record time of 11:48.47.
“I didn’t run as well as I wanted to, but I felt pretty good,” Kinchen said.
For someone who was reluctant to try the 800, Kinchen is proud to claim the race as her favorite event now. Her strategy is to break the race into four 200-meter runs.
“I just go my fastest, and I don’t try to save anything,” she said.
Softball
The Panthers have had a player be named CAA "Rookie of the Year" for four consecutive years. Could freshman left-hander McCall Langford extend the streak this season?
Langford is 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA. She has eight strikeouts in 18 innings this season.
Langford said she didn't know anything about the "Rookie of the Year" streak, but she would like to follow in the footsteps of right-hander Alana Thomas, who won the award last year.
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