The 14th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs clinched the series against the Albany Great Danes following a 7-6 walk-off Saturday in front of a Foley Field crowd of 2,622.
Cole and Connor Tate, Georgia’s identical twin graduates, combined to go 7-for-10, each homered and then keyed the two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and nobody out, Connor smacked a double and then after an intentional walk to Corey Collins, Cole delivered the game-winning single to left. It was Georgia’s only lead of the afternoon and marked the third career walk-off single for Cole. He came through on Opening Day in 2020 versus Richmond and last year to beat No. 10 Tennessee.
“I thought we showed some toughness,” said Georgia’s Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin. “We’ve had two close games, and that’s what you want early in the season. We’d love to sit back in a rocking chair and win by 10 runs but that doesn’t happen in college baseball. Everybody is good. They’re old and experienced. We knew it was going to be a challenge. We were able to fight back when things didn’t look like they were going our way. I was really encouraged by our kids not giving up.”
Redshirt junior Carson Dunkel gave the Great Danes (0-2) their first lead of the game with a solo home run in the third inning. Albany shortstop Brad Malm would extend the lead with a two-run shot of his own to push the lead to 3-0. Albany would tack on another in the inning as Liam Sullivan exited the game after allowing four earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
Sophomore Will Pearson replaced Sullivan and posted career-highs with three scoreless innings and three strikeouts while Collin Caldwell followed with a career-high five strikeouts over the next two frames.
The Bulldogs (2-0) got on the board in the fourth inning following a solo home run to left center field from Connor Tate, which was the first of three extra-base hits of the afternoon. Following a quiet fifth inning, the Bulldogs would add another run thanks to back-to-back doubles from Connor Tate and sophomore Corey Collins to make it a 4-2 game. The double by Collins extended his hitting streak to 10 games, dating back to last season.
Georgia would tie the game in seventh after a two-run home run from sophomore Parks Harber. The Great Danes would break the tie in the eighth after Brad Malm launched his second two-run home run of the day to make it 6-4. The Bulldogs would rally back in the bottom half of the inning following a line-drive home run to right center from Cole Tate. After a pair of Bulldog singles and a wild pitch, graduate Chaney Rogers tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Sophomore Luke Wagner came on to pitch the ninth inning and worked around a one-out jam with runners on second and third to keep the game locked at 6-6. He would pick up the win while Connor Eisenmann (0-1) got the loss.