Georgia Baseball picks up first win of season

Georgia Baseball picked up its first win of the season on Saturday, beating Jacksonville State 10-3 at Foley Field. After the Gamecocks spoiled the season-opener on Friday with three runs in the top of the ninth, the Bulldogs bring it back to even and force a series deciding game on Sunday.

Junior Liam Sullivan got the start on the mound for Georgia and allowed three runs in his 3.0 innings pitched. All three of them came on one pitch, a three-run home run from Carson Crowe that put Jacksonville State on top early. However, the lead didn’t last long after Parks Harber responded with Georgia’s own three-run shot scoring Mason LaPlante and Connor Tate. Both home runs happened with two outs in the third inning.

“I thought we played much better,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said. “When we’re losing three to nothing, ‘Oh no,’ and we got to get our starters going. Jaden (Woods) and Liam (Sullivan) have got to get going, and they know that. We’ve challenged them, and they’re juniors so we can talk about it and they know it. They’re going to have a good week of work and get ready for next weekend. You’re down three to nothing and just don’t really have any momentum, and then Parks Harber ties it up with one swing of the bat and hits an opposite field homerun into the wind. That kind of got us going and then we were able to put some at bats together and made some plays.”

“They threw the first punch again like yesterday, so it was important for us to throw one back” Parks Harber added. “Fortunately, I got a pitch I could handle after a terrible first at bat, just didn’t feel like myself, and I knew they were going to come back to a breaking ball. In this game it’s just constantly making adjustments, so I had to make an adjustment and luckily, I got a pitch I could handle.” 

The score stayed at 3-3 until the bottom of the fifth when Cam Lovrich found himself in a jam. Entering the game for starter Tanner Jones, Lovrich loaded the bases on a double from Ben Anderson and free passes to Connor Tate and Corey Collins. Then, when Charlie Condon was hit by a pitch, Anderson was able to come home and touch the plate to put Georgia ahead 4-3.

Condon was injured on the play and exited the game. Due to a new rule though he was able to re-enter later and did so making an immediate impact. With the Bulldogs up 5-3 after Tate scored in the fifth as well, Condon doubled off the center field wall and nearly cleared the bases with a grand slam. Instead it was a two-RBU shot to score LaPlante and Harber. Then, just two batters later, Will David reached on an error that allowed Condon along with Collins and Josh Stinson to cross home. The five-run eighth put Georgia ahead 10-3, the final score on the day.

“Mason LaPlante was really good at short stop. I thought Corey Collins was great behind the plate today. We made some good plays defensively,” Stricklin said. “Big double play in the seventh inning. We get a double play to get us out of a jam, and then the next inning is when we put up the five spot.”

While the offense came alive late in the game, Georgia’s pitching was also strong. After Sullivan exited in the fourth inning, Leighton Finley threw 3.0 innings allowing just one hit and no runs. He would earn the win on the day while Pace Mercer got the save. Mercer threw the final 1.1 innings hitless with three strikeouts while Kolton Smith provided a solid presence in between Finley and Mercer with 1.2 innings of scoreless ball. He too had three strikeouts.

Freshman Blake Gillespie gets the ball for the Sunday game. At 6-foot-1, 180 pounds it’ll be the collegiate debut for the right hander out of Lula (Ga.) Medway High School. First pitch for the all important Game 3 of the series is set for 1:00 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network+.