Georgia Takes Doubleheader; Looks for Series Sweep
Due to Friday's game against Gardner-Webb having been canceled, the Georgia baseball team played a doubleheader on Saturday in Athens.
Coming away with wins in both games, we recap the victories as the Bulldogs look to sweep the series.
Game 1
Senior left-hander CJ Smith had seven innings pitched, one run allowed, five hits, one walk and six strikeouts. The one walk was intentional.
Smith got in a little trouble after recording the first out of the fourth inning, allowing back-to-back doubles to surrender his only run allowed. There was more trouble in the fifth after another Gardner-Webb double with one out in the inning. After the double, Smith got the next batter swinging, intentionally walked the next batter, and forced a groundout to Buddy Floyd at second base to end the inning.
Smith seemed to get better as the day went on, pitching perfect sixth and seventh innings before his day was done.
Georgia had some trouble getting on the board against Gardner-Webb's Game-1 starter Mason Miller. Georgia scored its first run of the game in the sixth inning, and that was all Georgia managed while Miller was in the game.
Corey Collins drove in Georgia's first run on a massive double off the right centerfield wall that was a couple of feet from being a two-run homer. Cole Tate scored on the play.
Georgia catcher Fernando Gonzalez, led off the seventh inning with a double to left field, and Randon Jernigan came in to pinch run for Gonzalez. Luke Wagner delivered a pinch-hit double to left field to drive in the second run of the game for Georgia.
The walk-off
Georgia's offense struggled to put two runs on the board through the first eight innings of the game, and it seemed like it would be more of the same after Gardner-Webb retired the first two Georgia batters to start the ninth.
However, redshirt junior Josh McAllister stepped to the plate for the first time in the game after coming in as a defensive replacement in the eighth. McAllister crushed a ball to deep left field to win the game for Georgia on his first career home run.
Game 2
Senior pitcher Ryan Webb made his season debut in the second game of the doubleheader. Head coach Scott Strickland gave Webb a three-inning limit when it was announced that he would start. Webb has not skipped a beat since last season, striking out four Gardner-Webb batters and giving up one hit.
After having a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning of Game 1, Wagner relieved Webb in the fourth inning. Wagner had a solid appearance, allowing three hits, one walk and three strikeouts over 2.2 innings.
Georgia was quiet on offense until the fifth inning. The Bulldogs scored the first run of the game on a two-out single to left field by Jernigan in the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Tate led off the inning with a deep shot to left field, pushing Georgia's lead to 2-0. The home run was Tate's third hit of the day.
Georgia nearly broke the game wide open in the seventh inning.
It started with two hit-by-pitches, a bunt single by Ben Anderson, and another batter hit by a pitch before Collins grounded out to first base for the first out of the inning. Gardner-Webb was able to limit the damage, only giving up two runs for a 4-0 Georgia lead.
Gardner-Webb scored a run in the top of the ninth, and Georgia won the second game of the day, 5-1.
