Georgia baseball hit six home runs, evened the series with LSU, and give itself a shot at a very impressive road series win on Sunday.
Ace Jonathan Cannon got the start, but the No. 14-ranked Bulldogs (30-13, 12-8 SEC) had to rely on their bats for a change on Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium. Georgia led 8-7 going into the ninth before a three-homer, four-run inning extended the lead to 12-7.
UGA will try to take Game Three and the series from the No. 22-ranked Tigers (28-14, 11-9) at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Baton Rouge. A top 25 series win at “The Box,” one of the toughest places to play in the SEC, would be a great start to the beefiest three-week stint of UGA’s schedule.
Connor Tate, Parks Harber, and Cory Acton all homered twice with three RBI apiece. Tate’s ninth inning homer, a no-doubt rocket off the left-field scoreboard, was his third of the weekend.
Bats were ringing throughout the warm Louisiana afternoon, as nine homers were hit between the two teams.
Georgia got plenty of base runners but failed to drive them home in Friday’s 6-2 loss. The Bulldogs, who were 3-for-8 hitting with runners in scoring position, had no such struggles in Game Two.
Cory Acton plated UGA’s first two runs with a bomb over the left-field wall in the game’s second at-bat. He also kickstarted the four-run ninth with a solo shot to left field for his third homer of the year.
Tate and Harber both homered in the seventh and ninth innings. Tate’s seventh inning home run reclaimed the lead his team never surrendered.
A Cannon start typically means a quiet, low-scoring night for Georgia’s opponents with little production required from the offense. That was not the case on Saturday, as the 6-foot-6 junior gave up eight hits, two home runs, and a walk for four earned runs in five innings. All of Cannon’s earned runs came on two LSU homers in the second.
Jaden Woods relieved Cannon in the sixth but was replaced by Jack Gowen after giving up three runs in the seventh.
With two runners on and no outs, Gowen went to work. The senior closer retired the first three batters he saw in the seventh inning to preserve the 8-7 Georgia lead. He allowed no hits in the eighth and ninth innings en route to his ninth save of the season.
“I’m really happy for him, and he picked up Jaden (Woods),” UGA coach Scott Stricklin said. “He’s one of our best guys. ... Jack picked us up with three innings against that team in this park and that’s tough to do.”
LSU, which has struggled against left-handed pitching this season, will face left Liam Sullivan in Game Three. Sullivan allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings last Sunday at Alabama.