Wildcats rally late as Bulldogs fall to 1-9 in SEC play
Wildcats rally late as Bulldogs fall to 1-9 in SEC play
ATHENS — Georgia suffered another painful loss on Friday against Kentucky. The Bulldogs blew a large lead as the No. 10 Wildcats put together a late rally to secure a 7-4 win.
Georgia falls to 16-14 overall and 1-9 in the conference play, one of the SEC’s worst records.
“We had fight, and we had energy today. and again played well until we got to the later innings,” UGA head coach Scott Stricklin said. “We need to continue to have fight tomorrow. We were prepared to win today. We keep waiting for something good to happen. We can’t allow the other team free passes, and that’s what happened tonight.”
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when the Bulldogs plated four runs.
Charlie Condon had a leadoff solo home run to put Georgia up. Corey Collins then doubled and advanced to third base on a Parks Harber single. Cole Wagner loaded the bases during the next at-bat before Collins was tagged out at home on fielder’s choice.
However, a Sebastian Murillo single scored Harber and Wagner as the Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead. During the next at-bat, Fernando Gonzalez used a sacrifice fly to deep center by Mason LaPlante to advance home, which put Georgia up 4-0 headed to the seventh.
Kentucky answered back and started its rally with two runs off Bulldogs’ starting pitcher Jaden Woods. He was pulled for the freshman reliever Matthew Hoskins with two outs. A series of walks by the freshman right-hander gave the Wildcats another run.
Woods had a no-hitter through the fifth inning. The junior left-hander pitched 6.2 innings of work, giving up two runs on four hits. Woods also walked three and struck out six.
Mason Moore closed out the game for Kentucky on the mound. He provided the Wildcats with three scoreless innings and was credited with the win. The sophomore right-hander threw the final three frames with zero hits, walks and two strikeouts in the win.
Kentucky tied the game up at 4-4 in the top of the eighth as Nolan McCarthy picked up an RBI on a double off Hoskins, who was then pulled for Chandler Marsh. In the ninth, the sophomore walked in the go-ahead run and the Wildcats added three more after.
"We couldn’t throw strikes. The bottom line is, if you can’t throw strikes, can’t throw the ball over the plate, you’re not going to win, especially against that team, ” Stricklin said on 960 The Ref. “We gave them free passes in the last couple of innings and that cost us.”
