TROY – No. 1 seed South Alabama got a dominating performance from senior starter Kevin Hill and the offense smacked 18 hits as the Jaguars defeated No. 5 seed Georgia State 14-4 to advance into the final of the winner’s bracket at the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship at Riddle-Pace Field. 

Georgia State will play No. 8 Arkansas State at 3 p.m. CT tomorrow in an elimination game.  The winner of that contest will play South Alabama at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday.  All of the games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be available on ESPN3. 

Hill pitched seven innings and only allowed one run while striking out 10. The Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year allowed only one hit from the second through sixth innings as he shut down the Panthers after a first inning run. He moved to 10-0 on the season despite allowing eight hits and three walks.

Georgia State (30-26) scored its one run against Hill as sophomore Trae Sweeting knocked a double just inside the third base line. Sweeting moved to third on a sacrifice and then scored when junior Matt Rose hit a two-out single up the middle. 

South Alabama (36-19) did not let the Panthers lead last long as the Jaguars responded with three runs in the top of the second. Senior Cole Gleason walked to leadoff the frame and junior Daniel Martinez singled through the right side. After a fielder’s choice junior Ryan Raspino hit a double that one-hopped the wall in right center to score Martinez. Sophomore Cole Billingsley continued by knocking a single into center to score freshman Jared Barnes and Raspino. 

South Alabama tacked on another run in the third as senior Bud Collura led off the third frame with a walk. He moved to second on an error and went to third on a walk by Gleason. Collura later scored on a wild pitch. 

Raspino hit a solo home run over the left field wall to leadoff the fourth inning and push the lead to 5-1, but the Jaguars weren’t done in the frame.  Billingsley doubled down the third base line to chase Georgia State senior starter Kenny Anderson. Billingsley came home to score as senior Adam Ballew singled to left field after Billingsley had moved to third on a groundout. Sophomore Matt Bolger then crushed his first home run of the year over the left field fence to put the Jaguar advantage at 8-1. 

The Jaguars would add two more in the fifth as Collura singled with the bases loaded as the Jags rallied with two outs. Raspino was hit by a pitch, Billingsley bunted for a base hit and junior Ben Gann walked to bring up Collura.

Georgia State plated three runs back in the eighth as junior Joey Roach walked and freshman Jack Thompson singled to left center to put runners on the corners. Junior Cam Sperry lofted a sacrifice fly to left to score Roach and freshman Will Johnson followed with a two-run home run to left field to bring the score to 10-4. 

The Jaguars responded with four runs in the ninth as Raspino knocked in his third RBI of the day with a double off the right field wall in the top of the ninth to score sophomore pinch runner Cameron Cummings. Cummings was running at first base for Gleason who had reached on an infield single. Billinglsey singled to put Raspino at third and they both came home as Gann knocked the ball down the line and into the left field corner. Collura singled back up the middle to score Gann and bring the score to its final mark of 14-4. 

Hill shut down the Panthers for the first seven innings and was followed by junior Justin Flores who gave up three runs and two hits in his inning of work. Junior Cody Van Aken finished the game with a one-hit ninth inning.

Raspino finished the game 2-for-4 with four runs and three RBIs while Billingsley went 4-for-6 with three runs and two RBIs. Bolger and Gann each collected two RBIs and a run. 

Anderson (5-4) took the loss as he gave up seven hits, three walks and six runs in 3+ innings. Senior Jerry Stuckey gave up four runs and three hits in 1.2 innings. Junior Marc-Andre Habeck gave up two runs in 3.2 innings of relief. 

Johnson finished the game 2-for-4 with one run and two RBIs for the Panthers. Thompson and Sweeting each collected two hits and a run.