For More Baseball Photos CLICK HERE
Senior Cole Tate tied a school record with two triples including a two-run shot to rally No. 21 Georgia past Missouri 7-5 in 10 innings Saturday at Taylor Stadium.
With one out in the first, Tate collected his first career triple but he was stranded as the Bulldogs left 11 men on base total including five at third base Saturday. The Tigers (12-24, 5-12 SEC) took a 2-0 lead in the third. Josh Holt, Jr., had a run-scoring double and then later stole third and came home on an errant throw to third on the play to make it 2-0. Georgia tied the contest in the fourth. Connor Tate extended his on base streak to 17 games with a leadoff double. With one out, Riley King (3-for-5, 3 RBI) collected an RBI-single, Garrett Spikes reached with a base hit and Chaney Rogers made it 2-all with an RBI-single. King’s solo home run to start the sixth put the Bulldogs in front 3-2. However, the Tigers responded in the bottom of the frame to reclaim a 4-3 advantage off sophomore right-hander Jonathan Cannon as neither starter factored in the decision.
Georgia (25-13, 8-9 SEC) jumped back in front 5-4 in the seventh when Garrett Blaylock came through with a one-out, run-scoring single, bringing Cole Tate in after a leadoff walk.
Junior left-hander Ben Harris came on for Cannon in the sixth and retired 11 straight Tigers including six via the strikeout. Then with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Tre Morris reached on a walk. Luke Mann followed with a high pop up to left field that swirled in a heavy wind and ultimately bounced out of second baseman Buddy Floyd’s glove as pinch-runner Ty Wilmseyer raced home to tie the contest. Harris came back to strike out Mike Coletta, and the ball bounced in front of Corey Collins who opted to throw to third and Mann slid in safely. Harris responded by recording his career-high eighth strikeout, retiring Holt to send the game to extra innings.
In the 10th, Rogers (3-for-3) reached for the fifth time in the game with a one-out walk. With two outs, Floyd reached on error by Mann at second. Cole Tate smashed a ball to right center for a two-run triple as the Bulldogs surged ahead 7-5. In the bottom of the inning, junior Darryn Pasqua came in and picked up his second save. Harris improved to 4-0, pitching four hitless frames while Tiger reliever Lukas Veinbergs fell to 1-2. The Bulldogs are now 3-0 in extra-inning games this season.
The rubber game of the series will be Sunday at 2:02 p.m. ET. The game will be available on SEC Network+ and can be heard on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Georgia’s Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
On the game…
“The 27th out is always the hardest one to get, and we just didn’t want to get it for whatever reason. The pop up drops; we’re playing no doubles defense so we’re playing deep, the wind is blowing out, it was just an in-between ball. You couldn’t have thrown it any better. The two guys almost collided. Then, we get the third strikeout, and we don’t throw to first. It was just one of those things where we didn’t want to win the game in the ninth. I’m glad Ben Harris got the win. He pitched well enough and deserved it. Darryn Pasqua came in there and got it done. This was a really good win for us when we didn’t play very well. We had plenty of opportunities to score runs and didn’t do it, but we got the ‘W’ and now have a chance to win a series.”
On Cole Tate’s 10th inning two-run triple…
“He got ahead in the count (in the 10th), and he’s a good low ball hitter. He got a ball down in the zone and smoked it in the gap.”