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College Baseball Is Back With Georgia State Hosting Cincinnati For A Series Friday

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Baseball

Led by Preseason All-America Max Ryerson, Georgia State (30-27, 15-15 Sun Belt in 2022) opens the 2023 season on Friday, Feb. 17 by hosting Cincinnati (24-31, 12-12 AAC) at 3 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex.

The four-game series continues with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., followed by a noon game Sunday.

LEADING OFF
• Georgia State is coming off a 30-win season in 2022, reaching the 30-win mark for the first time since 2015 (ninth time overall). The Panthers' 15 Sun Belt wins equalled the program record, set in 2015.

• Behind a school-record 22 home runs from Max Ryerson, the Panthers hit 75 homers last season, the third-highest season total in program history and the most with the current bats.  

• Ryerson was named to Collegiate Baseball's Preseason All-America third team as well as the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference first team. The super senior outfielder was honored as Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-Sun Belt in 2022, when he hit .335 with 22 homers and 62 RBI.

• Joining Ryerson on the Preseason All-Sun Belt team is junior outfielder and pitcher Cameron Jones, a two-time, first-team all-conference selection and one of five national finalists for the 2022 John Olerud Award as the nation's top two-way player. He achieved the rare feat of leading the Panthers in batting average (.374) and ERA (3.00) in 2022.

• The GSU lineup also features first baseman Luke Boynton, who hit .333 with 12 homers and 37 RBI in 2022.

• The Panthers' pitching staff set a school record in 2022 with 505 strikeouts while recording 17 saves, the second-highest total in program history.

• Super senior right-hander Ryan Watson is the Panthers' active leader with 12 career saves (third in GSU history) and 13 career victories (T-11th). Justin Malone (14 saves, 13 victories from 2009-12) is the only pitcher in GSU history with more combined wins and saves.   

• Impact newcomers for the Panthers include shortstop Matt Ruiz, a transfer from USF, infielder Michael Maginnis, a transfer from Samford, and right-handed reliever Zach Ottinger, a transfer from West Virginia.

• Fourth-year head coach Brad Stromdahl took over the Georgia State program in 2020 after seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia Gwinnett, where he started the program from scratch in 2013 and compiled a record of 328-104. He led the Grizzlies to the Avista-NAIA World Series three times, including his last two years (2018-19). Before going to Georgia Gwinnett in November 2011, Stromdahl spent five seasons (2007-11) as an assistant coach at Georgia State.

• Former Major League pitcher Chad Bell is in his first season as the Panthers' pitching coach. Bell played 10 seasons of professional baseball, reaching the Major Leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 2017-18. 

OPENING DAY
• Georgia State is opening the season at home for the 13th straight year, and the Panthers have won their Opening Day game in eight of the last 10 years, including last year's 13-2 win over Purdue-Fort Wayne.

• GSU played extra innings on Opening Day three straight years from 2019-21 and five times in the last nine seasons, including a 2020 win vs. Cincinnati, 9-8 in head coach Brad Stromdahl's debut. That 2020 victory is Georgia State's only previous meeting with the Bearcats.

MAX'S MASTERPIECE
• Max Ryerson enjoyed one of the top offensive seasons in program history as he set the Georgia State season record with 22 home runs, which led the Sun Belt and ranked No. 22 in D1. He broke Chad Smith's mark of 21, which had stood since 2000, on the final day of the regular season vs. No. 10 Texas State.

• Named Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year, first-team All-Sun Belt, first-team ABCA All-Region and third-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball. 

• Three-time National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball.

• Led the Sun Belt and broke the GSU season record with 158 total bases

• Hit .335 and was third in the league with 62 RBI, the most by a Panther since 2010 (seventh-best season total), and second in OPS (1.119)

• Six two-homer games: at Kennesaw State, Purdue Fort Wayne, South Alabama Friday, South Alabama Sunday, Alabama State and Appalachian State.

DOING IT ALL
• Junior Cameron Jones, a left-handed pitcher and right-handed hitting outfielder, was one of five national finalists for the 2022 John Olerud Award as the nation's top two-way player.

• Led GSU and ranked fifth in the Sun Belt with a .374 batting average, with five homers, 14 doubles, 31 RBI, 40 runs scored and 12 stolen bases

• On the mound he posted a 2-3 record with five saves (sixth in Sun Betl) and a 3.00 ERA. Struck out 37 in 36 innings

• Sun Belt Conference and Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (March 14, 2022) after he hit .368 with two homers, six RBI and six runs scored and earned two two-inning saves by pitching four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts vs. Wofford and Presbyterian.