ATHENS, GA. — No. 23 Georgia (20-6, 4-3 SEC) has a flair for the dramatic.
After giving up two runs to No. 18 Florida in the top of the ninth, the Bulldogs responded by scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning to secure the victory. The night was capped off as redshirt senior Josh McAllister had a game-winning hit with two outs.
The Cumming, Ga. native’s clutch double gave the Bulldogs a 7-6 victory in the series opener.
Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin was proud of the way his squad battled against its rival on Thursday night.
"It was a great win," Stricklin said. "Both teams battled back-and-forth. We had a lot of energy and momentum early on, but the good team that they (Florida) are, they battled back. We got a 4-3 lead and felt pretty good about things, then (Mac) Guscette hits a home run, his first of the year. Jaden (Woods) did a nice job of keeping us there. Then, we just kept fighting and had some great at-bats, and turned it over to (Josh) McAllister to get it done.”
McAllister said it was a huge confidence boost for the Bulldogs, especially after dropping a road series to Kentucky last weekend.
“We have no quit,” McAllister said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down four runs in the ninth or even 10 runs. Regardless, we’re going out there to fight. We’ve got three more outs to do it. So, we might as well go out there and do some damage with those three outs.”
Since the series is Thursday through Saturday, the Georgia coaching staff elected to start redshirt sophomore Garrett Brown and keep junior Jonathan Cannon on his normal Friday rotation.
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound right-hander went three-full innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. Brown also walked three batters and struck out one during his outing.
He struggled in the top of the first, although he ended up stranding two Gators on base. Next, Ben Anderson led off the bottom half of the opening frame by blasting a solo shot to left field off of Florida’s Huner Barco, who is projected to be a top-ten 2022 MLB Draft selection.
Cole Tate followed up Anderson’s home run with a triple. He proceeded to reach home plate after the next at-bat as Corey Collins singled to right-field. Georgia led 2-0 after the first inning.
The Gators would tie the contest 2-2 in the third inning as Wyatt Langford and BT Riopelle each had RBI hits. However, the Bulldogs managed to strand one man on base as Brown got Kendrick Calilao to ground into a double play to end the top half of the frame.
Reliever Luke Wagner replaced Brown in the fourth and pitched three scoreless innings. Georgia’s bats were quiet until the bottom of the fourth when sophomore Parks Harber had a solo shot. The infielder’s bomb over the right-field fence gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.
Georgia would add another run in the sixth as Chaney Rogers hit the third solo shot of the contest to go up 4-2.
However, Wagner didn’t last long in the top of the seventh inning as the Gators would respond. Florida’s nine-hole hitter Mac Guscette hit a two-run blast with one out to tie the game. Jaden Woods (1-0) came in to replace Wagner following Guscette’s home run.
The sophomore left-hander cruised until the top of the ninth when he faced Florida’s Jud Fabian. The 2021 second-round MLB Draft Pick took the first pitch and drove it over the left field fence. Fabian’s two-run dinger gave the Gators a 6-4 advantage over Georgia.
The bottom half of the ninth inning started with Anderson flying out to left field for the first out. Florida reliever Ryan Slater then walked Cole Tate before getting Collins to strike out swinging. Nevertheless, the redshirt freshman right-hander beamed the ball at Connor Tate, who took the hit-by-pitch and advanced to first base with two outs.
That’s when the Gators’ coaching staff decided to bring in reliever Blake Purnell to face Georgia’s Garrett Blaylock, who singled to left field on the first pitch and drove in Cole Tate. That cut Florida’s lead to 6-5. Next, McAllister stepped up to the plate and delivered his bases-clearing hit that scored both Connor Tate and Blaylock, which gave the Bulldogs the win.
McAllister said that he just “did his job” when called upon.
“At the end of the day, my job is to get on base and put runs on the board,” McAllister said. “So, he (Blake Purnell) threw me a slider and I am blessed it went over the third basemen’s glove and went down to that corner and got trapped. … It was a great win for us.”
Georgia will return to action Friday, April 1 against Florida (18-8, 3-4 SEC). The first pitch is slated for 6 p.m. on SEC Network +.
Quick Hits (Provided by UGA Athletics)
• Tonight marked the 289th meeting between the Bulldogs and Gators – Florida owns a 189-98-2 advantage over Georgia in the series.
• Start Fast – Ben Anderson hit a leadoff home run to open the game for the second time this season – first on opening day against Albany. With the hit, Anderson improved his streak of safely reaching base to 24 straight games.
• 412 – A day quickly approaching… and the distance of a Parks Harber home run in the bottom of the fourth.
• Barco Bombs – Coming into tonight, Hunter Barco had allowed just two home runs in 38.1 innings – the Bulldogs hit two in four innings.
• 415 – Also a day in April… and the distance of Chaney Rogers' home run in the sixth inning – the longest home run of the season. In fact, Rogers' last home run came on May 16, 2021, at Florida.
• Clutch– Tonight's win marks the third walk-off win of the season for Georgia.