Georgia starts the series against Mizzou with a loss of 3-11 at home. Stricklin and his team knew this was going to be a tough matchup regardless of the numbers on paper, and Mizzou proved that. It was a game that seemed to be handed to the Tigers in the top of the third inning when they scored 6 runs (4 of which came from a grand slam). The three injuries to key players certainly didn’t help either.

The Diamond Dawgs appeared to struggle on both sides of the ball. Georgia lacked offensive efficiency getting off 11 hits and only managing to convert 2 of those into scores. Mizzou’s pitchers’ performance was impressive. The win against Presbyterian earlier in the week didn’t provide the momentum needed to roll into this series, so hopefully, Stricklin can take a step back and get his team to buy in.

Georgia’s pitching was another major focus of the evening, or the lack thereof really. Something to notice was Michael Polk. Coming into the third, you could see him struggle a bit, walking some Tigers and eventually getting the bases loaded. But, after a mound visit, he was able to rally for a moment getting two consecutive strikeouts before giving up a Grand Slam that shifted momentum Missouri’s way.

In terms of injuries, Nolan Crip started the game, but was quickly pulled out because of what is thought to be a muscle “twinge.” Garrett Blaylock sustained a black eye after getting hit in the face with a stray pitch. His timeline is unknown. Fernando Gonzalez was taken out of the game because of wrist issues. Such injuries can take weeks to recover from, so this is especially untimely given that this is the last series of the season.

There were some bright spots after tonight’s competition though. Coleman Willis was called up and played for two innings. On Tuesday, he was pulled after just 9 pitches but managed to get 4 strikeouts tonight. “He’s got so much talent and so much upside. We just need to keep giving him opportunities,” says Coach Stricklin.

On leaving Thursday’s loss in the past and moving on to a new game tomorrow, Stricklin had this to say:

“When you wake up in the morning it’s a new day. And we have a chance to even the series with Jonathan Cannon on the mound. Bottom line is we’ve got an older team, an experienced team, and […] a pretty tough team. We didn’t see that tough team today, so that’s the challenge is to make sure we’re the tougher team tomorrow.”