Georgia Baseball Fighting For Final Tourney Spot After Being Swept at Auburn
Auburn swept the Georgia baseball team this weekend, reducing the 2015 season to a battle for the last spot in the SEC Tournament.
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A difficult season became worse for the Georgia baseball team this weekend as Auburn swept the visiting Bulldogs (21-23, 6-14 SEC) in a Thursday through Saturday series.
Bulldog pitchers held Auburn to four or fewer runs each game. On the other hand, Georgia mustered only four runs on the weekend, batting 3-29 with runners in scoring position. On Saturday alone the Dawgs left 11 runners on base.
Georgia coach Scott Stricklin spoke to Georgiadogs.com. “They got the early momentum in every game this series, and we needed to create more than a couple of scoring opportunities. We didn’t get the leadoff guy much, it seemed like only after two outs and that’s tough to score. I believe in the players, the team and the program, and we’re going to get this thing going in the right direction.”
On Saturday, the Tigers (29-16, 10-11 SEC) took a 1-0 lead in the first on a two-out, RBI-single by Daniel Robert. The base hit scored Kyler Deese who led off with a base hit, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and went to third on a wild pitch. Auburn right-hander Dalton Rentz pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, scattering four hits with four strikeouts before giving way to left-hander Izaac Yarbrough.
Because the Tigers used several pitchers Saturday, Rentz was able to pick up a win. Georgia junior left-hander Ryan Lawlor fell to 4-6, allowing four runs on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.
Georgia has three more conference weekends plus a game with Georgia Tech in Turner Field to try and get the wheels back on and the wagon rolling in the right direction, but it’s been an uphill journey all year. With the Dawgs locked in a three-way tie for the twelfth and final spot in the SEC Baseball Tournament, the season is now a battle of survival.