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SB: Dawgs Drop Game 2 in Mississippi State Series

.No. 13 Georgia dropped game two of the series to No. 12 Mississippi State (29-5, 2-3) on Saturday afternoon at the Jack Turner Stadium, 3-2, to slide to 22-8 (2-3) on the season.

SOFTBALL | vs. No. 12 Mississippi State | L, 2-3

Fast Facts:

• RHP Addisen Fisher made the start for Georgia, going 5.0 innings with five hits, three earned runs and two strikeouts. Fisher slides to 7-1 on the season, suffering her first loss in the circle. RHP Presley Harrison pitched the final two innings in relief, surrendering just one hit and striking out three batters.
• Georgia scored its two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Senio Jaydyn Goodwin kicked things off with a solo shot – her sixth of the season – to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 advantage. Later, pinch hitter Brooke Smith laid a sac bunt to drive in another Bulldog runner.
• Mississippi State added one run off an RBI single up the middle in the top of the fifth before successive home runs to lead off the sixth inning sealed the win for the visitors.
• Georgia maintains a 36-33 all-time series advantage over the visiting Bulldogs.

Key Quotes:
Georgia Head Coach Tony Baldwin
On the game…
“Just the epitome of what college softball is about. It’s two good teams making plays, having at-bats. They got off a couple big hits there, and that’s the difference of the game. I just thought we didn’t string together enough quality at-bats to put a few more runs on the board, but I thought Addi [Fisher] was commanding the ball really well. Super proud of the way Presley [Harrison] came in at the end. I thought the defense was really sharp, and at the end of the day, it was a one-run ball game, and we came up just short.”

On the message going into tomorrow…
“Tomorrow we have to find a way to match the energy and competitiveness that today’s game brought and just figure out how to string together a few more at-bats. At the end of the day, this game could have gone either way, just like last night’s, so we have to find a way to make it go our way tomorrow.”

Up Next:
No. 13 Georgia and No. 12 Mississippi State will square off in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+. Tomorrow is also Dad & Daughter Day at The Jack.

BSB: Six Home Runs Lift UGA over TAMU, Clinch Series

Sixth-ranked Georgia hit six home runs in an 8-2 series-clinching win over No. 21 Texas A&M Saturday in front of a crowd of 6,925 at Blue Bell Park.

Fast Facts

• Sixth-ranked Georgia entered Saturday with an NCAA-leading 72 home runs and tied a season-high with six more home runs to clinch an SEC road series at No. 21 Texas A&M.
• Junior Matt Scott (4-0) earned a win by taking care of the final five innings, allowing a run on five hits with six strikeouts. Junior Dylan Vigue started for the Bulldogs and provided four innings.
• Senior Jordy Oriach smashed his fourth home run of the year, including his second in the series, to put Georgia in front 1-0 in the second inning. 
• In the third, Georgia crushed back-to-back home runs for the sixth time this season as Tre Phelps and Daniel Jackson went deep. It was the 10^th of the year for Phelps and team-leading 15^th for Jackson to make it 3-0.
• With a solo home run in the 3rd inning, Jackson extended his hitting streak to a career-best 21 games.
• Senior Kolby Branch’s solo home run in the fourth chased Aggie starter Weston Moss (3-2). He had allowed just four home runs on the season coming into Saturday before the Bulldogs hit four off of Moss. In the sixth, Branch (2-for-4, 3 RBI) added a two-run blast to make it 6-2. It marked the fourth time this year that he has hit two home runs in a game. He now has 48 for his career. 
• Today marked Georgia’s first series win in College Station. Coming into the series, the Bulldogs were 2-10 all-time in College Station while the Aggies were 14-0 at home this year.

Key Quotes

Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson

On Saturday’s series-clinching victory…

“Once again our offense set the tone. We got a couple of big hits early. We kept hitting those solos (home runs), don’t get me wrong, you like hitting those solos, but it’s good to have a couple guys on. How about that the job Matt Scott did today? He took care of the last five innings. He was lights out, had command, was throwing strikes, executing two-strike pitches. He was pretty much flawless. Dylan (Vigue) had to grind today. He was able to execute in some big situations.”

 Daniel Jackson | C | Jr. 

On the Saturday win and team’s six home runs…

“It feels incredible to go on the road and take a series in the first two days. The most important thing is to stay focused for tomorrow. You can’t leave one on the table. You don’t want to look back at the end of the year and wish you would’ve focused better and won one more. The Georgia Bulldogs know how to use the ballpark to our advantage. We feel good at this ballpark like we do at Foley Field.” 

Up Next

Georgia (20-4, 4-1 SEC) concludes the SEC series against the Aggies (17-5, 1-4 SEC) on Sunday with first pitch set for 4 pm ET. The game will be available on the SEC Network and the Georgia Bulldogs Sports Network.

WTEN: Georgia Blanks Auburn, 4-0

The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs (12-3, 7-2 SEC) defeated No. 4 Auburn (24-2, 8-1 SEC), 4-0, handing them their first loss of conference play Saturday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Fast Facts

• Georgia holds a 62-10 advantage in the all-time series against Auburn.
• The Bulldogs handed the Tigers their first SEC loss of the season.
• Georgia ended Auburn’s streak of 25 consecutive doubles points in dual matches.
• The No. 7 Turkish duo of Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert earned the first doubles win, defeating No. 20 Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat, 6-3.
• Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win over No. 16 Ava Esposito and DJ Bennett on court one.
• No. 6 Mert put Georgia on the board in singles with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 55 Ekaterina Khayrutidinova at the No. 2 position.
• Dong extended the lead, defeating No. 122 Refaat, 6-2, 6-2, for her fifth consecutive singles victory.
• Lopata clinched the match for the Bulldogs on court one with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 43 Bennett, marking her second win over Bennett this season after a three-set victory in the ITA Indoor National Championships semifinals, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Results

Doubles:

1. Anastasiia Lopata/Patricija Paukstyte (UGA) def. #16 DJ Bennett/Ava Espositio (AU): 6-4

2. #7 Deniz Dilek/Aysegul Mert (UGA) def. #20 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AU): 6-3

3. Anastasiia Gureva/Emma Dong (UGA) vs. Ekaterina Khaurutdin/Ashton Bowers (AU): 4-5, unfinished

Singles:

1. #28 Anastasiia Lopata (UGA) def. #43 DJ Bennett (AU): 6-3, 6-2

2. #6 Aysegul Mert (UGA) def. #55 Ekaterina Khaurutdin (AU): 6-1, 6-1

3. #68 Deniz Dilek (UGA) vs. #94 Angella Okutoyi (AU): 0-6, 6-5, unfinished

4. #42 Anastasiia Gureva (UGA) vs. #38 Ashton Bowers (AU): (2)6-7, 3-2, unfinished

5. Emma Dong (UGA) def. #122 Merna Refaat (AU): 6-2, 6-2

6. #97 Sofia Rojas (UGA) vs. #49 Ava Esposito (AU): 7-6(5), 2-2, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1); Singles (2, 5, 1)

Key Quotes

Head Coach Drake Bernstein 

On the match…

“I’m really proud of this community for showing up the way that they did out here.

It provides for a great setting to play tennis. I’ve said it before, I think this is the greatest place to play college tennis because of days like today. The community’s a big part of that…This team has worked their tail off. I’m really proud of the way that they went about competing today. We talk about doing what we do with love, and that was really evident today. Proud of our team, ready for the next.”

Senior Anastasiia Lopata

“I think it’s definitely a good win for us because it gives us a chance to compete for the SEC title in the regular season. We are just going to keep doing our best in the next matches. Keep working and keep getting better.”

Up Next

The No. 1 Bulldogs continue SEC play in Fayetteville to take on the No. 50 Arkansas Razorbacks on Friday, March 27 at 5 p.m. ET at the Billingsley Tennis Center.

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