Georgia State banking on veteran pitching staff for a return to playoffs

Georgia State will open the season at home with a three-game series against New Orleans at the GSU Baseball Complex at Panthersville. The opener is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday.

Georgia State returns its top three starters — Cole Roberts (6-4, 4.69 ERA), who transferred in from Nevada-Las Vegas a year ago, Tysen Benford and left-hander Jake Hembree — as well as swingman Brian Crooms. Will Bartkoski transferred from Alabama State, where he struck out 48 in 50 innings last season, and will be the closer.

Roberts is healthy after being shut down late in the season last year with a small stress fracture. He had a stretch where he won four consecutive conference starts and held opponents to a .234 batting average. He is dependable and tested as the Friday starter.

“It’s a special thing to have those guys back,” Stromdahl said. “It’s the kind of model we’ve set up for our pitching staff and we’re really excited about the age and the experience. It’s just like having a new employee, you’ve got to keep teaching them what to do. We don’t have to do that with these guys, we can just go into the next layer of baseball.”

The lineup will be without All-American Kaleb Freeman, who was drafted and signed by the Chicago White Sox. Last season Freeman hit .349 with 16 homers and set single-season school records for doubles (28), slugging (.732), on-base percentage (.504) and walks (61).

His departure ushers in a new philosophy for the Panthers.

Credit: ben ennis

Credit: ben ennis

“In the past we’ve done a good job hitting a lot of home runs and leading the league in a lot of offensive categories,” Stromdahl said. “But we haven’t really gotten the results we wanted based on that model, so we’re a little bit more small-ball, a little bit faster, better defense. We still have the experience, but it’s not quite as much.”

This year’s lineup features a pair of all-conference players from last year — shortstop Carter Bailey (.275, eight homers, 43 RBIs) and third baseman Wills Maginnis (.277, six homers, 37 RBIs).

Other key returners are center fielder John Beverly, right fielder Jae Williams and utility man Nick Garagozzo.

A handful of transfers will help. Hunter Carlson, who will start at first base but will also catch and DH, came in from Wichita State. He hit eight home runs in the fall. Outfielder Adam Haber, a product of Walton High School, is a graduate transfer from Wofford, where he hit .302 with 13 stolen bases. Lucas Grantham, who was limited to 13 games at Wofford because of an injury, will start at catcher.

Stromdahl also is excited to see work being conducted on the new on-campus baseball stadium, a $15.4 million project being built on the former site of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the venue in which Hank Aaron broke the MLB home run record in 1974 and where the Braves played from 1966-96.

The new stadium is expected to be ready in the fall, meaning this will be the final season the team will play its games at the Panthersville complex — 10 miles away from the campus.

“The new stadium is going to allow us to really be in the Summerhill community and create an environment where we’re able to have fans,” Stromdahl said. “It’s just a different vibe. It’s going to be an experience we can give the fans and the community that is going to be exactly what we’ve all been waiting for.”

The overwhelming pick to win the Sun Belt is Coastal Carolina, which reached the NCAA finals last year before losing to LSU. The Chanticleers, ranked No. 5 in the preseason, earned 12 of the first-place votes, with Southern Miss picked as runner-up. Georgia Southern tied for seventh in the preseason conference poll.

Georgia State also will play its typically challenging nonconference schedule that includes a home-and-home series against Georgia Tech and Macon, as well as road games at Georgia and Kennesaw State.