Bombs away for Bulldogs in victory over Blue Hose
Bombs away for Bulldogs in victory over Blue Hose
ATHENS — Georgia and Presbyterian combined to hit nine home runs in Tuesday’s mid-week game, but the Bulldogs came out on top with an 11-6 victory over the Blue Hose.
In fact, the first six hits of the contest were all solo home runs, with Georgia hitting five of them.
"Presbyterian does a good job of not giving you anything," UGA head coach Scott Stricklin said. "They have played eight games and only walked 13 hitters all year long. That is a good lesson for everybody. If you give up home runs, make sure they are solo shots. That is what happened. We did a good job of that. We limited the free passes for the most part.
“The wind was gusting out, the ball was jumping, and if you hit a fly ball, it was going out the first four or five innings,” Stricklin added. “Our guys did a good job of being aggressive the first couple of times through the order. Then our offense shut down a little bit. “
Presbyterian’s Jack Gorman smacked one over the right field fence in the top of the first, but the Bulldogs responded in the bottom half of the inning with solo shots from Connor Tate, Charlie Condon and Corey Collins to take a 3-1 lead going into the second.
Tate’s home run was his second of the season, extending his hitting streak to 13 games, which dates back to last year. Condon also has two runs and has a seven-game hitting streak of his own. Collins now has four home runs, tying Parks Harber for the team lead.
After missing the first two weeks of the season with an illness, freshman Matthew Hoskins got the start. The right-hander pitched 1.2 innings of work, giving up two hits and one run. Hoskins also only walked one Presbyterian hitter and struck out three.
In the bottom of the second, Georgia added four more runs, with two being solo shots. Cole Wagner led off with a bomb, and a few batters later, Mason LaPlante blasted one out. Tate and Harber then got on base before Condon drove them in with a double to right-center.
Presbyterian cut it to 7-2 in the top of the third inning on a solo home run by Kyle Decker, his second of the year. Georgia pushed across two more runs in the third on a throwing error by relief pitcher Sean Hollister to make it 9-2. The teams exchanged runs in the fourth before the Blue Hose put up three more in the sixth inning to cut it to 10-6.
"They had some momentum," Stricklin said. "It was important for us to score. We scored one run, but just to answer back to get a little more momentum. (Zach) DeVito was outstanding. Dalton Rhadans was outstanding. Luke Wagner won the game for us. He gets the W. That's the best he’s pitched. He comes in with the bases loaded and nobody out.
“They had momentum, and he pitched us out of that jam. I thought Matthew Hoskins was really good,” he added. “He gives up a fly ball that carries out but that will happen when you throw it 96. It was really electric stuff tonight and it was good to have him back."
Wagner (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings and got the win, while Blue Hose starter Mason McDaniel (1-1) was credited with the loss on the mound, allowing seven runs on seven hits in two innings. Georgia’s pitching staff employed players on the mound Tuesday, getting scoreless innings from Collin Caldwell, Wagner, DeVito and Rhadans.
Georgia (6-2) hosts Georgia Tech (7-0) on Friday at Foley Field at 6 p.m on SECN+. It will be the first of three against the Yellow Jackets. They will play in Atlanta on Saturday at 2 p.m.
On Sunday, the two teams will play in the Spring Baseball Classic, benefitting Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville. The first pitch at 3:02 p.m.