Jump To Top of Page
SB: Third-ranked Georgia evens the series with Tennessee, rubber game today
Emily DigbyThe third-ranked Georgia softball team defeated No. 6/4 Tennessee 3-2 on Saturday to even the weekend SEC series at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
Georgia is now 31-7 on the season and 7-4 in SEC play. Georgia delivers Tennessee its first loss at home this season, snapping a 16-game win streak at home dating back to last season. The Lady Vols’ last loss at home was May 7 of last season.
Madison Kerpics worked two and a third innings in her start, allowing two runs on four hits. Shelby Walters (7-2) earned the win in relief, pitching four and two-thirds scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. She walked none and struck out five. She retired 14 of the 15 batters she faced.
The Bulldogs were held to just four hits in the game, narrowly being outhit 5-4. Emily Digby’s second inning triple and Sarah Gordon’s fifth inning home run provided all of Georgia’s run production.
A leadoff Sydney Chambley single and a walk to Sydney Kuma set the table in the second. Both runners scored on a triple dropped down the right field line by Digby to put Georgia in front 2-0.
Back-to-back hits put two Lady Vol runners on to start the bottom of the third. An RBI hit through the left side plated the first Tennessee run, then a sac fly plated the second to tie the game at 2-all.
Gordon’s leadoff home run in the fifth put the Bulldogs back in front, 3-2. The blast proved to be the game-winner.
After Gordon’s go-ahead home run, Walters retired the next nine batters, including striking out the side in the seventh, to secure the victory for Georgia.
Sunday’s rubber match is slated for an 11 a.m. first pitch live on ESPN2.
Highlights
Box Score
BSB: Dawgs win wild game in Starkville after ejections
Clayton Chadwick’s ninth-inning home run and 4.1 scoreless innings of relief by Brian Zeldin led 24th-ranked Georgia to a thrilling 3-2 win over 19th-ranked Mississippi State Saturday in front of a crowd of 13,477 at Polk-Dement Stadium.
Following a play at the plate where State threw out Dillon Carter as the potential go-ahead run to end the top of the eighth, MSU catcher Johnny Long kneed Carter twice and stood over him, causing both benches to empty. A 39-minute delay followed as the umpiring crew, with the aid of officials in the SEC office in Birmingham, reviewed video to see who would be ejected per NCAA rules for personnel who leave the dugout or bullpen to enter the field at the time of a potential altercation. The penalty is ejection and suspension for the team’s next game.
When play resumed in the bottom of the eighth, a host of players on both teams were unavailable to play as they had been ejected. This led to Georgia pitcher Josh Roberge playing left field and Chadwick moving from left field to the infield (playing second base and later third base) for the first time in their careers. Zeldin continued to blank MSU as he tossed 4.1 scoreless innings for the win.
Georgia (24-7, 5-6 SEC) looked to have a big first inning, loading the bases with one out. Freshman Tre Phelps made it 1-0 with a run-scoring single. However, State got out of further trouble as sophomore Jrrangelo Cijntje came back to strike out Kolby Branch and got Chadwick to flyout. MSU took a 2-1 lead in the third on a two-run single by Dakota Jordan. Sophomore right-hander Leighton Finley minimized the damage in the frame when he picked off David Mershon at second and struck out Hunter Hines.
All-America Charlie Condon tied the game with a two-out, solo blast in the fifth. It was his 20th home run of the season and 45th of his career. He became the first Bulldog to have a pair of seasons with at least 20 home runs. Condon’s career home run tally now ranks in a tie for third in school history with catchers Doc Brooks (1991-2001) and Roger Miller (1986-89).
With one out in the ninth, Chadwick crushed his fourth home run of the year, a solo shot off Cam Schuelke to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. In the ninth, Zeldin struck out the side for his third win as MSU dropped to 20-12 overall, 5-6 in the SEC.
“I don’t know where to start on this one tonight as it’s the craziest game I’ve been a part of as well,” said Georgia’s Ike Cousins head baseball coach Wes Johnson. “I talk a lot about believing in yourself and enjoying hard things, and how hard things can make you better, not just in the game of baseball but in life. Clayton Chadwick is one of our best outfielders. He happens to misplay a ball tonight, it happens. He was resilient. I told him, you’re going make a play that’s going to win us this ball game. I didn’t realize it was going to be a homer, but it was and we were very resilient. It was a total team win.”
Johnson added he was pleased with how Zeldin performed even after the lengthy delay in the eighth.
“He came up huge on the mound, and then he’s got to bat in the ninth too,” Johnson said. “He kept grinding and made pitches all night. I feel good about our lineup for Sunday. We won’t have a lot of subs, but we’ll be fine. It was exciting at the end.”
Neither starter factored in the decision. Cijntje was lifted after five innings, allowing two runs on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. Finley gave the Bulldogs 4.2 innings, surrendering two runs on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
The rubber game of the series will be Sunday with first pitch at 2:02 p.m. ET, and the game will be available on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Brawl Video
Chris Lemonis – MSU Coach’s Postgame Pressser
Box Score
MGOLF: UGA ends regular season with Calusa Cup beginning today
The Bulldogs lineup will consist of graduates Connor Creasy, Ben van Wyk, senior Caleb Manuel, junior Buck Brumlow and freshman Camden Smith.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Dates: April 7-9, 2024
Location: Naples, Fla.
Course: Calusa Pines Golf Club
BULLDOG BULLETIN
The Calusa Cup: The event is held at the Calusa Pines Golf Club, played as a par 72 and measured at 7,203 yards in total. The course, which opened in 2002 and was designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, holds a 75.3 rating with a 148 slope. The first and second rounds will tee off at noon ET on Sunday and Monday respectively, with the final round on Tuesday slated to begin at 8 a.m.
This will mark the third year in a row that Georgia has competed in the Calusa Cup. The team finished in sixth with a 24-over, 888 total in 2022 and in fifth with a 21-over, 885 finish in 2023.
The field of eight is comprised of host Iowa, No. 16 Florida, No. 15 Georgia Tech, No. 34 Wake Forest, No. 28 Purdue, Miami (OH) and Nebraska. This will mark the third straight tournament in which the Bulldogs will compete alongside the Yellowjackets.
Last Time Out: Georgia captured its second tournament championship of the year, taking The Goodwin title after a one-under-par, 839 total on March 30 at TPC Harding Park.
Georgia’s third-round score of five-under, 275 was the second-lowest round of the event. The Bulldogs beat out nine teams ranked in the top 50 to win in its first year competing in the tournament. After claiming the Puerto Rico Classic championship in February, the program has now collected multiple team titles in a season for the fifth time in the last six years.
Georgia finished one stroke ahead of second-place Utah. Host No. 44 Stanford came in third with a four-over, 844 finish, followed by No. 8 Tennessee and No. 15 Georgia Tech in fourth and fifth respectively.
The team was paced by van Wyk, who capped off the weekend t-3rd. After carding a three-under, 207, the graduate earned his best finish of the year and his fourth career top-five result. Van Wyk finished the event with the second-best average on par fives at 4.17, earning three birdies and an eagle on the course’s two par five holes.
Dawgs in the Polls: On Scoreboard Powered by Clippd rankings that were refreshed on Wednesday, April 3, Georgia moved up to No. 20 in the team rankings following a first-place finish at The Goodwin. Van Wyk leads the team with a No. 73 ranking, fellow grad student Creasy comes in at No. 94 and junior Brumlow rounds out the Bulldogs in the top 100 at No. 97.
In the PGA TOUR University rankings, van Wyk moved up to a season-best of No. 28 after a third-place outing in San Francisco. Creasy also moved up to personal-best of No. 35, while Manuel sits at No. 65.
Golfer of the Week: After earning his fourth career top-five finish, graduate van Wyk has been named the Southeastern Conference Golfer of the Week, the league office announced on Wednesday afternoon.
The George, South Africa native earned his best finish of the season of t-3rd at The Goodwin, shooting three-under-par, 207. His total first and second rounds of 69 and 67 upped his season total of rounds in the 60s to seven and is now at 30 in his career.
Van Wyk began the tournament with an eagle, finishing number 10, a 562-yard hole, in three strokes on round one. He finished as one of eight in the 168-golfer field to card an eagle and one of 15 to shoot a round of 67 or better.
Brumlow and Behold: Junior Brumlow led the team with a top 10 individual finish at the Linger Longer Invitational, posting a score of 208 and 8-under and earning a career-best finish of t-4th. Brumlow is one of three Bulldogs to have competed in all eight events this season, finishing in the top 20 in half.
Creasy Springs Forward: Creasy, a native of Abingdon, Va., has saved some of his best golf for his final collegiate semester. Since the team’s final event of the fall at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic, the graduate student has five consecutive top-15 finishes. Creasy’s best event of the semester so far came at the Puerto Rico Classic, where he finished tied for third place at 14-under, also helping him earn his first SEC Golfer of the Week recognition.
Jump To Today’s Discussion Thread
My brother recommended I might like this web site He was totally right This post actually made my day You cannt imagine just how much time I had spent for this information Thanks