The Georgia baseball team got a dominant pitching performance from Connor Jones and Drew Moody, who combined for just three hits over nine innings and just one run as the Bulldogs (8-4) defeated Wright State (6-6) by a 5-1 final to take the weekend series on Sunday afternoon at Foley Field.
Jones allowed just one hit over the first 4.2 innings, giving way to Drew Moody in the fifth. Moody was perfect until the ninth, when he allowed a solo homer and a double, though the game had already been sewn up at that point.
Offensively, Georgia was led by junior outfielder Stephen Wrenn, who went 3-for-5 with a run, two RBI and two stolen bases. Freshman catcher Michael Curry scored twice in the contest, his first multi-run game as a Bulldog. Mitchell Webb and LJ Talley each also claimed RBI in the win.
After a quiet first two innings, Wright State threatened with two on and one out in the third. Jones responded, getting a strikeout and a flyout to escape the jam unharmed.
Georgia had a prime scoring opportunity in the fourth as Curry singled to lead off the frame and Adam Sasserfollowed with a walk. The Bulldogs pushed a run across two batters later as Talley claimed a RBI groundout to second, giving the home side a 1-0 edge.
Wright State tried to rally in the fifth, loading the bases with one out with a hit-by-pitch, walk and single, the Raiders’ first hit of the game. Jones then struck out a hitter, and Talley made a great leaping grab for out number three to leave the bases loaded.
Curry led off the bottom of the frame with a double as the Bulldogs looked to extend the lead. Webb came through two batters later, shooting a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead through six innings.
The Bulldogs added on in the seventh with another run, as Stephen Wrenn used his legs to manufacture the offense. After a single, Wrenn advanced to second on a balk. He came in to score on an errant throw while stealing third, giving the home side a 3-0 cushion.
Wrenn delivered the knockout in the eighth inning, coming through with a two-out RBI single to center to score Talley and Nick King, giving Georgia a comfortable 5-0 lead into the final frame. The Raiders responded with a solo home run with one out in the ninth, but ultimately fell 5-1.
Dawg Tracks
– Connor Jones had a strong start on the mound, pitching into the fifth inning while holding Wright State hitless through 4.1. He totaled five strikeouts in his shutout start.
– Stephen Wrenn’s bunt single in the third inning extended his hitting streak to five games. He had three hits in the contest for the ninth time in his career.
– LJ Talley’s RBI groundout in the fourth inning gave Georgia a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth RBI this season, tops among freshmen on the squad.
– Michael Curry had a productive day at the dish and on the bases, scoring multiple runs in a game for the first time in his young career.
– Georgia allowed only one hit through the first eight innings, including a perfect 3.1 from Drew Moody entering the ninth. In that stretch, the Raiders went through the seventh and eighth innings without hitting a ball out of the infield.
– The 4.1 innings on the mound was a career high for Moody as he closed out the win and earned his second save of the season.
– Skyler Weber extended his hitting streak to seven games, two shy of his career best.
Stricklin Says
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
On the team’s performance…
“Overall, good. We still had some opportunities that we didn’t quite (finish). We weren’t perfect. I told our guys we’re never going to be perfect, but we’ve still got to strive for it. I thought we pitched really well, played great defense, got some big hits when we needed to and beat a really good Wright State team.”
On the pitching performance…
“Connor (Jones) shot himself in the foot a couple of times, hit a couple of batters, put some guys on base. But he was nearly unhittable. He only gave up one hit in his 4.2 innings. He was really good. He kind of got himself into trouble a little bit, but he’ll be fine, it was really good to see. Also, considering he threw 70 pitches on Tuesday, coming back on short rest, that was big for us, we needed a good start out of him. We needed him to come out and be good. Drew Moody was dominant. I think he got a little tired there at the end, but that’s as good as Drew has pitched since he’s been in a Georgia uniform.”
On what he hopes to see in Charlotte…
“We need to keep our momentum going. I’d like to see us score some runs. The middle of the order, I’d like to see those guys produce a little bit more. Other than that, I thought our defense was good this weekend, our pitching for the most part was pretty good. We’ve just got to keep our momentum going and take it into next weekend.”
Players’ Perspective
Jr. P Connor Jones
On his performance today…
“I think I did pretty well. I got myself in some trouble in the early innings, which was frustrating, but I was able to work out of it the first time and then had Drew [Moody] come and pick me up the second time. I think I did pretty well, gave us a chance to win, and we got it done. I’m happy that we got a good team win.”
On the offense’s effort…
“They did really well. They had great at-bats all throughout the game. You kind of just felt that it was going to break through there in the later innings, and that’s what we were able to do. They kept having good at-bats, kept piecing them together, and we scored some runs, so that was good to see.”
Jr. OF Stephen Wrenn
On what was working well for the offense…
“Everybody seemed to be putting the bat on the ball consistently. We weren’t hitting with guys in scoring position, but we come back the next inning, and we try to put up a run. Guys were still going back up there and trying to put a good swing on the ball.”
On Skyler Weber…
“He’s incredible. His approach is just airtight right now. He’s taking great swings before the game, keeping his swing nice and long through the zone, so it’s going to be hard to beat him as long as he stays disciplined and keeps doing what he can do.”
Up Next
Georgia will square off against the Charlotte 49ers at BB&T Park in Charlotte on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Follow the Dawgs
For all the latest on Georgia baseball, follow the team on Twitter (@baseballuga), Instagram (@baseballuga) and on Facebook (Georgia Bulldogs Baseball), and keep checking in to georgiadogs.com.
BOX SCORE
Wright State at Georgia
Mar 06, 2016 at Athens, Ga. (Foley Field)
Wright State 1 (6-6)
Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
ORR, JD dh................ 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
DeFEVERS, Jason c......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 1
ROMAN, Mitch ss........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 2
FUCCI, Ryan cf............ 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
SNYDER, Gabe 1b........... 3 0 0 0 0 1 12 1
BURDICK, Peyton rf........ 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 0
MORROW, Matt 2b........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 7
BRODNER, John 3b.......... 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 4
WEATHERFORD, Zach lf...... 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
MACCIOCCHI, Brad ph....... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MARQUEZ, Adrian lf........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SAMPEN, Caleb p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
SWANEY, Trevor p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
COLLINS, Zane p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
MEYER, Mark p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
VAN HORN, Jack p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals.................... 29 1 3 1 2 6 24 16
Georgia 5 (8-4)
Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Skyler Weber rf........... 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0
Stephen Wrenn cf.......... 5 1 3 2 0 1 4 0
Keegan McGovern lf........ 2 0 0 0 3 1 1 0
Daniel Nichols dh......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Michael Curry c........... 4 2 2 0 0 1 5 2
Adam Sasser 1b............ 3 0 1 0 1 0 12 0
Mitchell Webb 3b.......... 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 3
LJ Talley 2b.............. 3 1 1 1 1 0 3 4
Nick King ss.............. 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
Connor Jones p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Drew Moody p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals.................... 30 5 10 4 7 4 27 10
Score by innings: R H E
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Wright State 000 000 001 - 1 3 1
Georgia 000 101 12 - 5 10 0
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E - DeFEVERS(1).
DP - Raiders 1. LOB - Raiders 6; Bulldogs 10.
2B - BURDICK(3); Weber(2); Curry(1).
HR - FUCCI(3).
SB - Weber(4); Wrenn 2(4). CS - Weber(3).
SH - Webb(1). SF - Webb(1).
Wright State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
SAMPEN, Caleb....... 3.0 3 0 0 2 3 11 13
SWANEY, Trevor...... 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 3 5
COLLINS, Zane....... 2.0 2 1 1 2 0 6 9
MEYER, Mark......... 1.0 1 1 1 2 0 4 6
VAN HORN, Jack...... 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 6 6
Georgia IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
Connor Jones........ 4.2 1 0 0 2 5 14 19
Drew Moody.......... 4.1 2 1 1 0 1 15 15
Win - Jones 2-0. Loss - SWANEY 1-1. Save - Moody, D. (2).
WP - Jones(5); Moody, D.(2). PB - DeFEVERS(1); Curry(1). BK - MEYER(1).
HBP - by Jones (BRODNER); by Jones (SNYDER); by Jones (MORROW).
Umpires - Home:David Savage 1st:Jeremy Dupree 3rd:Jay Pierce
Start: 12:04 pm Time: 2:39 Attendance: 1754