LAWRENCEVILLE – An explosive six-run seventh inning gave No. 14-ranked Georgia baseball more than it needed to take the third game of its weekend series against No. 19-ranked Georgia Tech.
The Bulldogs (9-2) topped the Yellow Jackets (10-2) 12-3 in the 19th annual Spring Classic for Kids on Sunday at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville.
“I asked the guys today, ‘Are we a good team?’” UGA coach Scott Stricklin said. “We have to prove it. We haven’t played like it the last two days.
“We’re a really good baseball team, we didn’t play good on Friday and Saturday.”
It was the finale of a three-game series that started Friday night. Georgia Tech claimed Game One in Atlanta and Game Two in Athens by scores of 11-7 and 7-0, respectively.
Georgia stranded five runners in scoring position Saturday in the first three innings alone and came up scoreless with the bases loaded twice. It had no such problem Sunday as the Bulldogs scored 5 runs with the bases loaded.
“I just thought our guys toughed out some at-bats,” Stricklin said. “The more often you put yourself in that situation, the more often you’re going to have success.
“I just was glad that we could win today and get some momentum going into next week.”
Corey Collins and Parks Harber excelled at the plate for Georgia. Collins was 2-of-3 at the dish with a home run, 2 walks, 3 RBI and 3 runs. Harber finished 2-of-3 hitting with a bomb of his own, a walk, 4 RBI, and a run.
UGA employed 6 different pitchers in the win, starting with Garrett Brown. The Bulldog arms yielded 3 earned runs on 7 hits with 11 walks and struck out 8.
Georgia took its first lead of the series in the top of the first inning. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch with two outs. Georgia Tech starter Marquis Grissom Jr. walked Harber, scoring Collins.
Grissom was pulled after a dangerous, but scoreless second inning. The sophomore allowed 2 hits, an earned run, and 3 walks in his two frames of play.
Josiah Siegel relieved Grissom in the third inning. The lefthander surrendered a one-out single to Cole Wagner. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 3-0 on the following at-bat, when Harber crushed a two-run homer to left field.
“We just needed a big hit, you know, it’s one to nothing and we just were kind of scuffling along,” Stricklin said. “That just kind of loosened guys up and gave us a bit of a lead.”
Luke Wagner took over pitching duties in the fourth inning. Brown, who had his third outing since a Tommy John surgery last year, finished with 3 scoreless innings of work, allowing 2 hits and 3 walks with one strikeout.
“It’s really good stuff and that’s the thing that’s really encouraging,” Stricklin said. “He didn’t have his best stuff today and was still getting outs and got us three innings.”
Georgia Tech’s Stephen Reid put the Jackets on the board in the fourth inning with a two-out solo home run.
Collins answered with a solo shot of his own in the fifth inning. The three-hole whacked a fastball over the left-field wall for his second home of the weekend. UGA led 4-1.
The Yellow Jackets loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with one out but failed to score as Luke Wagner struck out the next two batters looking.
Collin Caldwell relieved Luke Wagner in the bottom of the sixth. The Powder Springs product gave up Georgia Tech’s second run of the contest, a Kevin Parada RBI single. The Yellow Jackets loaded the bases again, but Caldwell induced a groundout that kept the Bulldogs ahead, 4-2.
Caldwell turned in 1 strikeout and allowed 2 hits, a walk, and an earned run in his 1 inning.
UGA then delivered the knockout blow to the tune of a six-run seventh inning. Collins started things off for Georgia, scoring his third run of the day from third base on a passed ball. Harber collected his fourth RBI on the day two pitches later with a single to right center field that plated Connor Tate.
Garrett Blaylock drove in Buddy Floyd with a sacrifice fly to deep center field to put Georgia ahead 7-2. With the bases juiced yet again, Cole Tate hit an infield single to shortstop to score Chaney Rogers from third. Collins’ second hit of the day, a single, plated Ben Anderson and Josh McAllister to give Georgia a 10-2 advantage.
The Jackets tallied their final run in the bottom of the seventh. UGA lefthander Davis Rokose struck out the first two batters he faced before surrendering 3 walks and a single. The redshirt sophomore walked Tim Borden home and was promptly replaced by Hank Bearden.
Bearden’s first pitch was hit into deep left field, right into the glove of Connor Tate for the side’s final out. Bearden’s day finished after 1.1 scoreless innings with just 1 hit.
Fernando Gonzalez poked an RBI single into right field to plate Anderson in the ninth inning. Cole Tate, who advanced to third on Gonzalez’s single, scored on a Georgia Tech fielding error in the next at-bat. Georgia led 12-3.
Jack Gowen shut the door on the Yellow Jackets to claim Sunday’s win.
Georgia is back in action against Georgia Southern at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at SRP Park in North Augusta, S.C. Redshirt sophomore Will Childers will get the start on the mound for the Bulldogs.
