The Georgia baseball team were not able to overcome early mistakes that led the No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks to jump out to a 12 run lead and lost game one of the series versus the Hogs 14-4 on Thursday night.
The Razorbacks (27-8, 9-4 SEC) took a 1-0 lead in the first on a home run by Chad Spanberger (2-for-3, 3 RBI). Georgia sophomore designated hitter Michael Curry (3-for-4, 2 HRs, 4 RBI) tied the game when he led off the second with his team-leading sixth home run. Then, Spanberger came through in the second frame with a two-out, two-run double for a 3-1 lead off sophomore right-hander Blakely Brown. In the third, Carson Shaddy added a two-run shot and Luke Bonfield smacked a three-run blast as part of a seven-run outburst for a 10-1 advantage.
Trailing 13-1 in the eighth, Curry struck again with a three-run blast to give him another three-hit game, his fourth this year. Also, he tied his career RBI with four RBI in the contest. He became the first Bulldog with a multi-home run game this season since Adam Sasser against College of Charleston during the opening weekend.
Arkansas sophomore right-hander Blaine Knight improved to 6-1, going six innings and allowing one run on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Brown dropped to 0-2, surrendering seven runs on six hits in two innings. Freshman Tony Locey followed Brown and gave up six runs over three innings while graduate transfer Shaefer Shepard took care of the final three innings and tallied five strikeouts. The Bulldogs fell to 15-20 overall, 4-9 in the SEC.
The series continues Friday with first pitch at 7:02 p.m. EDT and be available on SEC Network+ and the Bulldog Sports Network from IMG.
Dawg Tracks
Sophomore DH Michael Curry smashed a pair of home runs (solo and 3-run shot) as part of his fourth three-hit game of the season and tied his career high with his third game with 4 RBI. He leads the team with seven home runs and 36 RBI.
Graduate transfer RHP Shaefer Shepard tossed the final three innings and tied his Bulldog career high with five strikeouts.
Sophomore 1B Adam Sasser posted his fourth multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 and made an array of sterling defensive plays.
Freshman SS Cam Shepherd connected for his team-leading 11th double.
Coach’s Corner: Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
“Arkansas is a good hitting team, and you can’t give them free bases on walks, hit by pitches, wild pitches, and we fell behind in too many counts. We didn’t pitch or play defense well enough to win. Overall, I thought Michael Curry swung the bat well again and Adam Sasser did a great job at first base defensively and got a couple of hits too. Cam Shepherd hit the ball hard all night and didn’t have much to show for it except a double. On the mound, Shaefer Shepard did a nice job by settling things down and saving our bullpen. I was proud of the way he finished the game for us.”
CLICK HERE for the final stats and box score from game one of Georgia versus Arkansas.