LAWRENCEVILLE – Georgia baseball sent Georgia Tech back to Atlanta winless on the weekend with an 11-9 comeback victory on Sunday.
The Bulldogs (10-1) erased a 9-3 seventh inning deficit to continue the domination of their big-city rivals. Fernando Gonzalez, Kolby Branch and Sebastian Murillo delivered three clutch RBIs in the top of the ninth for UGA’s first lead.
Murillo notched a 9-9 tie with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Clayton Chadwick. The veteran infielder fell behind in a quick 0-2 count before the RBI electrified the Georgia dugout.
Gonzalez took the lead on the next at-bat, slapping a double down the left-field line as the speedy Josh Stinson scored from first base.
Then Branch and the Bulldogs caught a break. The Baylor transfer hit a low line drive off of Tech pitcher Brandon Thomas’ foot and into left field.
Pinch runner Trey King scored, and UGA insured its lead at 11-9.
“My number one rule in life is real simple,” Georgia coach Wes Johnson said. “You’d better believe in yourself. if you don’t, you’re never going to accomplish anything that’s hard.
“That’s what a gritty team does, and that’s what we’re after.”
Closer Brian Zeldin earned his second save in as many days, slamming the door on the Yellow Jackets (7-2) with two strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth.
Georgia outscored Tech 8-0 in the last three innings, shocking the Yellow Jacket half of the 8,163 spectators at Coolray Field. The Bulldogs earned a 3-1 home win on Saturday after a dominant showing on Friday night was indefinitely suspended by inclement weather.
UGA outscored the Yellow Jackets 23-13 in 22 innings this weekend. Georgia looks to keep its in-state momentum rolling at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday when it faces Georgia Southern at the neutral SRP Park in North Augusta, S.C.
The Bulldogs did most of their heavy lifting in the seventh inning, plating five runs in as many at-bats.
Charlie Condon opened the scoring with an infield single to score Branch, who drew a leadoff walk. Corey Collins drew a walk on the next plate appearance, loading the bases with Condon at second and Slate Alford at third.
Chadwick followed with a bases-clearing double in his first at-bat of the game. Chadwick fell behind in an 0-2 count before slapping the double down the right-field line.
Suddenly, Georgia trailed just 9-7. Murillo served the first pitch he saw into left field, scoring Chadwick from second and pulling within a run of Tech.
Branch and Condon scored Georgia’s first three runs on a pair of homers.
Branch opened the Bulldogs’ scoring with a tall, two-run homer to left field in the fifth inning. Condon hit his eighth of the season, a solo homer in the sixth.
Georgia redeemed many of its own mistakes with the late scoring outburst. UGA gave up seven unearned runs with two errors and eight walks.
Tech scored their nine runs on just 10 hits, seven of which were singles.
“I can’t say that they were beating us, (but) I can say that we were beating ourselves,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to attack instead of being attacked ... and we’ve got to attack the strike zone. We were playing in the Grand Canyon.”
Georgia Tech chased starting pitcher Leighton Finley after 2.2 innings and a four-run third inning.
The Yellow Jackets worked a 32-pitch first inning from Finley who left the game after a massive two-run homer.
Relievers Luke Wiltrakis, Josh Roberge and Zeldin got the Bulldog staff back on track in the last 3.1 innings of work.
Wiltrakis defused a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning and struck out two batters in a scoreless seventh inning. Roberge and Zeldin also struck out a pair of Yellow Jackets each in their scoreless frames.
“Wiltrakis, I mean, my goodness,” Johnson said. “He comes in, he’s (throwing) 94, 95 (miles per hour). He’s executing a massive split-finger fastball, settled us down and gave us a chance to win a ballgame.”
UGA hosts Stetson at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday before a four-game weekend against Northern Colorado at Foley Field.