Luke Boynton homered and Jesse Donohoe drove in four runs as Georgia State won its series opener at Troy, 10-8 Friday night at Riddle-Pace Field.
Georgia State relievers Aidan McEvoy, Kameron Douglas and Ross Norman combined to hold Troy (26-14, 9-7) to just two unearned runs over the final 4.2 innings. McEvoy (2-0), in particular, was outstanding, coming on in the fifth inning and pitching 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts to earn the victory. Norman, the freshman righthander, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his second save.
The Panthers’ potent office pounded out 16 hits to just seven for Troy.
After the Trojans jumped in front with three runs in the third, Georgia State responded with a four-run fourth and never trailed again. Donohoe started the scoring with a 2-run double, JoJo Jackson tied the game with an RBI-single and Matt Ruiz put the Panthers ahead 4-3 with a run-scoring single.
Donohoe delivered his second 2-run double in the fifth inning to extend the GSU advantage to 6-3.
Troy tied the game with three runs in the bottom half, but the Panthers again responded to regain the lead with three in the sixth. Boynton led off with a home run, an opposite-field blast over the scoreboard in right field for his eighth homer of the season and No. 36 of his career. The Maximus Martin and Brennan Hudson produced RBI-singles for a 9-6 GSU lead. After Troy closed the gap with two unearned runs in the eighth, Ruiz provided an insurance run with an RBI-single in the top of the ninth, and then Norman closed it out in the bottom half.
The series will conclude with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
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