Georgia Takes Game One vs Georgia Tech 7-2

Georgia Tech's early struggles doom them in loss to UGA

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Mar 3, 2023 10:52 PM EST

Georgia Tech and Georgia squared off tonight in Athens in game one of the weekend series and being a big rivalry, the stakes are always high between these two baseball programs.

Georgia Tech came into this game undefeated at 9-0, while the Bulldogs had lost twice already this season and are at 6-2. Earlier this week, Georgia Tech scored 23 runs on Long Island in a victory and then beat Kennesaw State 5-4 on Wednesday. Georgia defeated Presbyterian on Wednesday 11-6.

Dawson Brown was the starting pitcher tonight for Georgia Tech and here is the lineup that the Yellow Jackets used:

1. CF- Jake DeLeo

2. IF- Angelo Dispigna

3. RF- Stephen Reid

4. DH- Jackson Finley

5. C- Jack Rubenstein

6. 2B- Nicholas Romano

7. 1B- John Geisler

8. 3B- Nico Senese

9. SS- Demitri Diamant

The game was originally slated to start at 6:00, but the start time initially was pushed to 7:00 before a lightning delay suspended play indefinitely. Eventually, the weather gave way and the first pitch was scheduled for 8:20.

The game was off to a great start for Tech as DeLeo had a leadoff single and then Dispigna doubled to get runners on second and third. It looked like DeLeo was rounding the bases to go home on the double, but slipped rounding third. Then, Reid and Finley struck out looking and Rubenstein flew out. It was a big missed opportunity for the Yellow Jackets' offense to strike early on the road.

Brown made easy work of the Bulldogs in the first inning.

Much like the 1st inning, Tech had its chances with multiple runners reaching base. Romano had a leadoff walk and after a Geisler strikeout, Senese walked as well to put runners on first and second. Diamant grounded out, but the runners advanced and the Yellow Jackets had runners on second and third with two outs. Unfortunately, DeLeo struck out and it was another missed opportunity to get runs on the board early.

The Bulldogs struck first in this game at the bottom of the 2nd.

After a single and a wild pitch advanced Corey Collins to second, Brown got his first out with a ground out. He proceeded to walk the next batter and then an RBI double from Sebastian Murillo gave Georgia a 1-0 lead. Mason LaPlante would proceed to hit a two-RBI triple to stretch the lead to 3-0. Anderson grounded out for the second out, but scored LaPlante in the process to make it 4-0. It was a nightmare inning for Brown.

Georgia Tech baseball — Georgia Tech struggled to pitch early
Georgia Tech Athletics

Dispigna had a leadoff double for GT at the start of the 3rd, but that was it for the Yellow Jackets offense.

UGA continued to pour on runs in the third inning. A leadoff single from Collins got the Bulldog's offense going and then a double from Gonzalez gave UGA runners on second and third with no outs. Those hits set up for a two-RBI double from Wagner to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead. Brown got a couple of quick ground outs after that and it looked like he would limit the damage to just one run, but Georgia tacked on one more After a walk and a single from Tate made it 7-0.

The offense for the Yellow Jackets could not get anything going in the top of the 4th and Brown was coming out to pitch another inning.

A leadoff single from Harber got UGA going again in the 4th and then a walk from Collins had runners on first and second with no outs. Gonzalez would ground out, but the runners advanced to second and third. Jackson Vaughan replaced Brown and turned a fantastic double play to end the 4th inning.

The offense was still unable to do anything and went down 1-2-3 in the next inning.

Vaughan was able to stay steady and got another double play in the inning to get through a scoreless 5th.

Tech had two pop-outs and a strikeout in the next inning. GT had not gotten a hit since the 3rd.

Vaughan came back for the 6th inning and it was another scoreless one for the Yellow Jackets.

Tech finally got a base runner on in the 7th. After a strikeout from Romano, Giesler got a single and then a walk from Senese gave GT two runners on with only one out. Diamant and DeLeo grounded and the game went to the bottom of the seventh.

Vaughan continued to dominate the Bulldogs lineup and got an easy 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. He finished the day with 3.2 IP and only allowed one hit and struck out three.

Georgia made another pitching change, but it did not matter, as the Yellow Jackets' bats were not able to do anything against the Bulldog's pitching.

Danny Hall sent freshman leftie Noah Samol out for the 8th inning and despite giving some base runners early on, he got out of the inning without allowing a run. Georgia Tech would have to score at least 7 runs in the 9th inning to extend the game.

Tech would finally break through with a run in the top of the 9th. A leadoff walk from Rubenstein led to an RBI double from Romano and that cut the lead to 7-1. Senese would then reach on a single and GT had runners on first and second with no outs and a chance to make some noise. Two quick outs meant it was up to DeLeo to extend the game and he did with an RBI single to make it 7-2.

Dispigna popped out the next at bat and the game was over,

Game two of the series will take place in Atlanta tomorrow with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m.

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