ATHENS – The No. 20-ranked Georgia baseball team dominated its doubleheader against Lipscomb on Sunday at Foley Field, earning the sweep in its last weekend series prior to SEC play.
The Bulldogs (13-3) beat the Bisons (9-7) by scores of 9-2 and 9-5 on Sunday, and outscored their opponents by a combined 26-10 on the weekend.
“We got here at 9 o’clock this morning,” UGA coach Scott Stricklin said. “So, guys are here for 11 hours, and that’s a long, long day and I thought our guys stayed in it.
“They picked each other and up and stayed energetic throughout.”
The doubleheader covered the final two games of Georgia’s weekend series with Lipscomb, which started Friday. The teams were initially slated to play the second game of the series Saturday, but the game was postponed to Sunday due to a forecast for low temperatures and high wind gusts, according to a school release.
Sunday: Game Two
The Bulldogs saw no shortage of runners in the first game of the doubleheader, reaching base 26 times and loading the bases in 6 different innings. A strong start from Liam Sullivan also helped keep the Bisons off the scoreboard until they trailed by eight runs.
Parks Harber and Cole Wagner made plenty of noise at the plate for Georgia. Harber came off the bench in the fifth inning and finished 1-of-2 hitting with 3 RBI, 1 walk, and 1 run.
Cole Wagner had the first three-hit game of his career, hitting 3 of 6 with 1 RBI and 2 runs.
Sophomore Liam Sullivan got the start on the mound. The 6-foot-6 lefthander surrendered just 4 hits and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts in 5.0 scoreless innings.
The Bulldogs drew first blood in the first inning with a Cole Wagner RBI single. The freshman poked a bloop single into the windy afternoon sky that landed just fair in shallow left field. Cole Tate scored from second base to put UGA ahead 1-0 with two outs.
Georgia loaded the bases in the third and fourth frames but could not score, striking out in all three juiced-bases opportunities it had.
Harber redeemed the lineup with the bases loaded yet again in the fifth inning. The sophomore, pinch hitting for Chaney Rogers, split the infield with an RBI single to plate Blaylock and Cole Wagner.
“We would’ve loved to get some of those guys in early, but I was ready,” Harber said. “We knew he had a big kind of sweeping curveball, so I just saw it up and was looking for anything in the zone there and was glad to stay through the ball, up the middle.”
Anderson and Cole Tate struck out to end the fifth inning. UGA led 3-0.
Georgia scratched five more runs across in the sixth. Fernando Gonzalez slapped an RBI single into center field to score Cole Wagner before Harber, Anderson, and Cole Tate drew bases-loaded walks. Harber scored on a wild pitch right before the end of the frame.
Georgia extended its advantage to 8-0.
Jaden Woods took over pitching duties in the sixth inning. The former SEC All-Freshman yielded 2 earned runs on a two-run homer in the seventh, 2 walks, and fanned three in 2.0 innings.
Georgia’s Cole Tate scored its ninth and final run in the eighth frame. The shortstop scored from third on a Dwight Allen groundout to put UGA ahead 9-2.
Nolan Crisp relieved Woods in the eighth. The righthander shut the door on the Bisons, allowing 2 hits with 3 strikeouts in 2.0 scoreless sides.
Sunday: Game Three
Lipscomb found more early success in the series finale, but could not match the Bulldogs late. UGA’s reserve arms were excellent following a rough outing from starter Garrett Brown, who allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs with 3 strikeouts through 2.2 innings.
The Bulldog pen surrendered 6 hits, 2 walks and 1 run in 6.1 frames.
Anderson led the way for Georgia at the plate, posting a 2-of-4 hitting performance with 1 home run, 1 walk, 3 RBI, and 3 runs.
Collins and Anderson both extended their on-base streaks to 14 games Saturday.
Georgia wasted no time jumping ahead with a Collins RBI double in the bottom of the first. The DH whacked the two-bagger to the left-field wall, plating Anderson from second with ease. Harber went back to left field on the ensuing at-bat with an RBI single, driving in Collins.
Collins’ double also pushed his hitting streak to six games.
The Bulldogs led 2-0.
Lipscomb responded with three runs of their own in the following frame. Ethan Stamps whacked a two-run bomb just over the center-field wall to knot the game at 2-2. It was the second bomb for the Madison product in as many games after not hitting any through his first 32 plate appearances.
Tiger Borom scored on Georgia transfer Caleb Ketchup’s sacrifice fly two at-bats later, claiming a 3-2 Bison lead.
Lipscomb’s Rudy Maxwell slapped a 2-2 breaking ball down the left-field line to score Mason Lundgrin and grab a 4-2 lead.
A single in the next at-bat ended Brown’s day for UGA. Luke Wagner relieved Brown with two outs in the third frame.
The Bulldogs got back to barking in the bottom of the third thanks to a Connor Tate sacrifice fly. The 23-year-old drove home his twin brother, Cole, to cut Lipscomb’s lead to 4-3.
Cole Tate tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning when he grounded an RBI single into right field to plate Allen. UGA then regained the lead on Connor Tate’s second sacrifice fly of the day, this time scoring Anderson for a 5-4 lead.
Gonzalez, who started Sunday’s second game behind the dish, left during the top of the sixth inning after a foul ball hit his knuckle.
“Right now, the X-rays are good, we’ll take some more pictures tomorrow, but he’s bending it, feels good, so we feel pretty positive that he’s going to be okay,” Stricklin said.
Luke Wagner was relieved by Chandler Marsh with two outs in the sixth inning. The sophomore lefthander pitched 3.0 scoreless innings with just 3 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.
Anderson gave Georgia a comfortable lead in the sixth inning with a three-run bomb. The speedy senior pieced his third homer of the year over the right-field wall, in fair territory by about 20 feet. Chaney Rogers and Allen also scored and the UGA lead was 8-4.
“At first when I hit it, I thought it was going to go out, but I didn’t know if it was going to stay fair,” Anderson said. “Once it got out, it kind of gave us the lead we needed and I think it kind of put them down a little and kind of helped us finish the game.”
Shane Marshall, who filled in for Gonzalez, tacked on his first RBI of the young season with a seventh inning sacrifice bunt. The senior plated Connor Tate for Georgia’s ninth run.
Jack Gowen struck out the first two batters he faced, gave up a solo home run to Rudy Maxwell, and got a flyball to send Lipscomb back to Nashville emptyhanded.
Friday: Game One
The Bulldogs, powered in chief by Collins, took Friday’s series opener 8-3. Collins hit his fifth and sixth home runs of the season, both solo bombs. The Suwanee product finished 3-of-5 hitting with 2 home runs, 2 RBI, and 3 runs.
Second baseman Cory Acton was 2-of-2 hitting with 2 walks and 2 RBI from the nine-hole in the lineup.
Georgia ace Jonathan Cannon dealt six excellent innings, striking out a career-high 11 batters with just 5 hits and 1 earned run.
Lipscomb took the first lead of the series thanks to an RBI double in the top of the first frame. Collins’ first bomb of the day tied the score at 1-1 at the end of the first inning.
Georgia scored a run in the third with a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded and another in the fourth on a double play ball. At the end of the fourth, UGA led 3-1.
Acton and Gonzalez contributed a couple of RBI singles before Collins hit his second home run to extend Georgia’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning.
Lipscomb scored a pair of runs in the seventh to cut the Bulldog advantage to 6-3, but an RBI bunt from Acton and a Gonzalez sacrifice fly in the following side nullified the Bison comeback attempt.
Davis Rokose slammed the door on the Bison, striking out two and allowing no hits in 1.1 scoreless innings.
Georgia is back in action hosting USC Upstate at 5 p.m. on Tuesday before beginning SEC play against Mississippi State at home this weekend.
The Bulldogs are likely to either start Coleman Willis, Hank Bearden, or Rokose Tuesday, according to Stricklin.
