(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia (20-18) missed a handful of scoring opportunities, starting in the first. After Stephen Wrenn singled to right to start the contest and extend his on base streak to all 38 games, he was picked off trying to steal second. Then, Georgia loaded the bases on a pair of walks plus a base hit by Zack Bowers before Brandon Stephens bounced in to a double play to end the threat. The Owls (20-17) responded by taking a 1-0 lead in their half of the first. Grant Williams smacked a one-out double and scored on a base hit by shortstop KalSimmons.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Sophomore Mike Mancuo (0-1) provided a solid start for the Bulldogs, pitching four innings and registering a career high six strikeouts but got the loss. Freshman Ryan Avidano came in to start the fifth and a leadoff walk eventually scored on a two-out RBI-single by Williams for his third hit of the night and a 2-0 lead. Owl starter A.J. Moore (2-1) held the Bulldogs to one run in seven innings, scattering five hits, four walks and five strikeouts for the win. Jared Cheek and Taylor Hicks combined for 2.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Bulldogs.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia finally broke through with a two-out RBI-double from Skyler Weber in the sixth to make it 2-1. Simmons made a nice play on a high chopper from Mitchell Webb to end the rally as the Bulldogs stranded a pair in scoring position. At that point in the contest, Georgia was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and finished 1-for-11 on the night. Georgia’s last best shot to tie the game came in the eighth, putting Daniel Nichols at third with one out. Owl closer Will Lowman retired McGovern on a pop up and struck out Bell to preserve the lead and eventually notch his fourth save. Nichols had a couple of hits and walked twice Wednesday as he’s 10-for-his-last 20, which is a .500 clip.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “Overall, we were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base plus had a couple of base-running mistakes,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. “The little things we did wrong cost us. Our pitchers did their job, starting with Mike Mancuso and that’s great to see. If you only give up two runs in a midweek game, that should be good enough to get a victory, but the bottom line is we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had offensively. That’s frustrating and we just have to play better.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Up next, the Bulldogs return to SEC action as they play host to second-ranked LSU on Friday. A limited number of tickets remain to Friday night’s game at Foley Field, however the Saturday and Sunday contests are sold out with only UGA student tickets available on a first-come first-serve basis. The entire Georgia-LSU series will be available on the SEC Network+.