ATLANTA – A six-run eighth inning was not enough for the No. 14-ranked Georgia baseball team to top No. 19-ranked Georgia Tech on Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The Bulldogs (8-1) committed three errors and gave up six runs in the first four innings to the Yellow Jackets (9-1), who turned in a flawless performance in front of their electric, sellout home crowd

“You make some mistakes in the first inning, we make an error, we make a bad throw, it’s too good of a team to give them free bases and free opportunities,” UGA coach Scott Stricklin said.

“Once [the score] was 8-1, that was the goal to make sure that we got into the bullpen a little bit to make tomorrow, (Saturday) to make Sunday more challenging.”

It was the first of a three-game series. The teams play at 2 p.m on Saturday at Foley Field in Athens and finish the series at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville on Sunday.

Bulldog third baseman Josh McAllister led UGA at the plate, finishing 2-of-4 hitting with a two-RBI double.

Georgia ace Jonathan Cannon, who carried a 0.00 ERA into Atlanta, was overpowered by an explosive Georgia Tech lineup.

The heralded junior gave up 6 earned runs, 7 hits, a walk, and a home run in 6 innings of work. Cannon struck out eight.

Yellow Jacket starter Charles Huff was extremely sharp, surrendering just 1 earned run, 3 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings.

Georgia Tech’s Chandler Simpson drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning. The leadoff man reached on a single to left field and scored on an Andrew Jenkins ground ball to third base.

Josh McAllister fielded the grounder with plenty of time to throw Simpson out at home, but a high throw allowed the Yellow Jacket to slide under the tag with no outs.

Drew Compton bought Georgia Tech two insurance runs a couple at-bats later with an RBI double. Compton snuck the two-bagger past McAllister and down the third-base line to plate Jenkins and Kevin Parada.

The Yellow Jackets led 3-0, scoring the first earned runs on Cannon this season.

Collins put the Bulldogs on the board in the fourth inning with a solo home run. The powerful DH muscled an inside fastball over the right-field wall and into the pines behind it to cut Georgia’s deficit to 2.

Georgia Tech swiftly responded with a single, a double and a bomb of its own in the bottom of the fourth. Colin Hall and Stephen Reid reached second and third base with no outs before Tim Borden hit a three-run bomb to center field. The Jackets led 6-1 at the end of the fourth inning.

The Bulldogs started making noise again in the seventh inning when their first two batsmen walked. A double play followed by Huff’s sixth and final strikeout kept Georgia trailing 6-1.

Georgia Tech tallied two more runs in the seventh inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from Reid and a Hall RBI double.

UGA made the most damage in the eighth inning, starting by loading the bases with no outs before Cole Tate was hit by a pitch to score its second run. Two strikeouts later, Parks Harber hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Randon Jernigan.

Cory Acton drove in two more runs with another single to right field moments later.

Suddenly, Georgia trailed by just three. That brought McAllister to the plate, where the third baseman whacked a two-RBI double down the right-field line to further trim the Yellow Jacket advantage.

McAllister was thrown out trying to take third base for the final out of the inning, leaving UGA behind 8-7.

“You don’t make the third out at third, that’s the cardinal rule of baseball,” Stricklin said. “They made a good relay throw and you’ve got to give them credit, they made the play, but you don’t make the third out at third there.”

Georgia Tech responded quickly again, this time to the tune of a three-run eighth inning. Jenkins and Tres Gonzalez both split the infield with consecutive RBI singles to score Simpson, Brandon Prince, and Parada.

Freshman Chandler Marsh made his career debut in the back half of the eighth inning. The Wellington, Fla. product struck out two in a scoreless and hitless inning.

“He was awfully good, that won’t be the last time you see Chandler,” Stricklin said. “To come in [with runners on] first and second, nobody out against the middle of the order ... really impressed with Chandler.”

The Jackets entered the ninth inning leading 11-7. A groundout, a lineout and a strikeout later, Georgia’s inner-city rivals claimed game one of the weekend series.