ATLANTA – The location changes, but the results stayed the same for the Georgia baseball team as it beat Georgia Tech in the second game of the Spring Baseball Classic between the rival schools.
The Bulldogs (8-2) hammered six home runs to notch a 16-6 win at a hostile Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.
“When there’s that energy coming from behind you, even when it’s negative energy, it just flows through the dugout and kind of gives people a motive to get things done out there,” Charlie Condon said.
UGA can sweep Georgia Tech at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, which is home of the Gwinnett Stripers.
Georgia took the first game of the three-gaem series with Georgia Tech by a 7-2 count on Friday night at Foley Field in Athens.
The Bulldog bats bullied Tech’s staff again on Saturday by scoring in seven different innings before a sellout crowd.
One of the biggest differences between Games One and Game Two was the way Georgia built on its lead, something that UGA coach Scott Stricklin said he wanted more of after Friday’s win.
“We had the pressure on in every inning,” Stricklin said. “Power all the way through the lineup.
“When you put Connor Tate and Charlie Condon and Parks Harber and Corey Collins all right there together, if you pitch around someone, you’ve got someone waiting on you.”
Condon led the explosive lineup, hitting 3 for 4 with two home runs and four RBI. Tate extended to a 15-game hitting streak with four hits and two RBI of his own.
Condon’s second home run knocked more than a changeup out of the park. Quieted Yellow Jacket fans began filing out of the stadium after the two-run blast gave UGA a 14-2 lead.
Parks Harber’s three-run bomb in the third inning took a 5-1 lead. UGA plated five in the seventh inning to blow the game open. Nine different Bulldogs got a hit in the win.
Liam Sullivan delivered another stifling start for Georgia, allowing just three hits for two earned runs with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
The junior lefthander has fanned 21 batters through his first three starts.
“He just doesn’t give you a chance to breathe and when you get in a fastball count, he can flip in that breaking ball, and he can throw in a changeup when he’s behind in the count,” Stricklin said. “He just never gives in.”
The whole Bulldog staff has been phenomenal this weekend, blanketing a red-hot Yellow Jacket lineup. The same team that averaged over 11 runs per game entering the series has combined for just 13 hits and eight runs through the last two games.
Georgia pitchers have allowed just one home run and have fanned 26 Yellow Jackets to this point.
The Bulldogs have simply been the better team on every level through the first two games.
Georgia’s high-scoring wins have helped burn through much of Georgia Tech’s “B” bullpen, but the Yellow Jackets’ top three relievers remain ready for the Sunday game.
Stricklin cited Ben King, Joseph Mannelly and Terry Busse as the relief pitchers his squad will have to face tomorrow.
The trio has 25 strikeouts, eight hits and no earned runs in 11 combined outings.
“We’ll see four really good arms tomorrow,” Stricklin said, also noting projected starter Jackson Finley. “We’re going to have to be our best to win.”
Starting Pitchers
Game 3 Sunday at 3pm: Nolan Crisp (1-0, 3.68 ERA) vs. Jackson Finley (1-0, 1.00 ERA)
