Georgia Baseball Fights Back With Series Road Win in Lexington
After losing to Kentucky Friday night, the Georgia baseball team faced two must win contests and won both.
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After losing Friday’s series opener in Lexington to the Kentucky Wildcats 6-1, the Georgia baseball team played like their season was on the brink. The Dawgs won two straight games and took the series after a five-run tenth inning blitz for a 6-1 win over Kentucky on Sunday.
“Everything is in front of us to play for; we told them before the game that we have to win today, and I’m proud of how we got it done. That’s what we needed,” Stricklin told Georgiadogs.com.
Sunday, with two out in the 10th, Bulldog sophomore Stephen Wrenn singled and advanced to third off a Keegan McGovern line drive. Senior Jared Walsh then drew a walk to load the bases and junior Daniel Nichols smacked a two-run single to center to make it 3-1. Junior catcher Zack Bowers then walloped a three-run home run for a 6-1 advantage. Sean McLaughlin took care of the Wildcats in the tenth to finish with four scoreless innings and a victory to up his record to 4-5.
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On Saturday, every Bulldog starter scored a run and the Dawgs used a 16-hit attack to rout Kentucky 12-3.
Georgia fell behind 1-0 in the first but built a 9-1 lead by the fifth inning, scoring two runs in the second, third and fourth before getting three runs in the fifth to chase right-hander Dustin Beggs. The Kentucky right-hander had gone four straight outings with at least eight innings pitched, but Saturday he allowed nine runs (six earned) on 11 hits to fall to 7-3.
Georgia junior left-hander Ryan Lawlor pitched five innings of two-hit baseball while issuing a career-high six walks, leaving with a 9-2 lead. Lawlor got the win to improve his record to 5-6, and senior Jared Cheek came in and pitched four scoreless innings for his sixth save.
“Ryan (Lawlor) never could get comfortable out there, but he found a way to give us five innings and then Jared Cheek came in there and threw strikes and did a good job the rest of the way,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin told Georgiadogs.com. “All in all, one-through-nine everybody contributed with hits, RBI, moving runners and that’s great to see. (Dustin) Beggs is very good, we just got to him today, and he had a bad day. Our guys had very good at bats, and it led to a productive day at the plate.”
The series win over Kentucky puts the Bulldogs in twelfth place in the SEC, hugging the last SEC Tournament spot. The Dawgs trail Alabama by a game and a half game going into the season ending home series against Arkansas. Thirteenth and fourteenth place Tennessee and Mississippi State face each other next week. Georgia can guarantee a spot in the SEC Tourney with two wins next weekend, although the number of mathematical scenarios is multitudinous.