Atlanta, Ga.-- Making up a game from almost month ago, the Georgia State baseball team's rally was too little too late as the Panthers fell 6-5 to Furman in baseball action Wednesday afternoon at Dekalb South field.
Furman (14-19) took the lead early with two runs in the top of the first. Drew Latora doubled down the right field line bringing in Craig Caudill and Derek Norman.
The Paladins added three unearned runs in the third inning. Nick Wajda tripled to right field and drove in two runs after Mike Buchanan's fielding error extended the inning for the Paladins. Cole Hubka added another run with a single, giving Furman a 5-0 lead.
Georgia State (17-17) got on the scoreboard in the third when Kyle Breitbach singled to right field, bringing in Michael Nelson and cutting the Paladin lead down to four runs.
The Panthers cut further into the lead in the fourth when Sean Fitzgerald singled to right center with two outs, brining in Josh Vandiver. With the bases loaded, Furman lifted starter Patrick Griffin in favor of Coogie Freedman (1-0) who got Clint Mize to groundout and end the Panther threat.
Rusty Bennett cut the Panther deficit to two when he homered to right field, leading off the sixth inning.
Furman added another run in the seven off Panther reliever Isaac Haynes when Derek Norman singled up the middle, giving the Paladins a 6-3 lead.
In his first start of the year after missing six weeks with elbow problems, Boatman (0-1) went four innings giving up two earned runs on six hits.
The Panthers rallied for two runs in the eighthwith an RBI double from Bennett and an RBI single from Clint Mize, cutting the Furman lead to one run.
Rob Purvis closed out the ninth for the Paladins, earning his fifth save of the season.
Furman takes the field again when Davidson travels to Greenville for a three-game Southern Conference weekend series. The first game is scheduled for Friday at 7:00 p.m.