ATHENS – Georgia baseball struggled to get clutch hits Tuesday night, falling 9-7 to Georgia State.
The Bulldogs (23-18, 7-11 SEC) had no problem putting runners on as they reached base 20 times in the loss at Foley Field. UGA just struggled to bring them home, hitting 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
The Panthers (21-21, 8-10 SBC) were slightly better percentage-wise, hitting 3 for 8.
“Bottom line, we just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. “We had traffic on base all day long, and just kept putting up single runs.”
The Bulldogs scored in six different innings but only had one multi-run inning. All four of Georgia’s home runs were solo shots.
UGA never led but kept itself in the game through the final out. Georgia’s seventh, eighth and ninth hitters set the table for the top of the order in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Fernando Gonzalez and Sebastian Murillo, who drew consecutive walks to start the inning, moved to second and third base on a Mason LaPlante bunt.
That brought up veteran leadoff hitter Ben Anderson, who flew out to shallow center field. Redshirt freshman star Charlie Condon struck out to seal the loss.
Parks Harber led the offense with a two-homer day, hitting 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. The junior played hero for the Bulldogs in their walk-off sweep of No. 7 Arkansas on Saturday.
Georgia’s first three pitchers let State build its lead, surrendering seven earned runs in 4.2 innings. Kyle Greenler calmed things down for the Bulldogs, pitching 1.1 hitless innings.
UGA surrendered just five hits and three walks for a pair of runs after Greenler.
Georgia is back in action at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, visiting SEC bottom feeder Ole Miss’ Swayze Field. The Rebels (21-19, 3-15) were swept by No. 1 LSU last weekend and are the only SEC team without a conference series win.
The Bulldogs sit at the No. 11 spot in the SEC with four weekends remaining. A top-12 finish in the conference is required for a spot in the SEC Tournament.
