The ninth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs defeated The Citadel, 9-0, tossing a one-hitter Tuesday evening in front of a crowd of 3,602 at SRP Park.
Four Georgia pitchers – Logan Moody (1-0), Justin Glover, Ryan Webb, and Zac Kristofak – combined to strike out nine batters in Georgia’s fourth one-hit pitching performance of the season. In his second-career start, Moody, a right hander from LaGrange, Ga., notched his first-career win after going five innings, while striking out four, and yielding the lone hit to the visiting Bulldogs. The redshirt-junior faced the minimum amount of batters through four inning thanks to two 6-4-3 double plays.
Georgia (34-12) put a stop to its season-long losing streak at four by recording its first game of at least six runs since March 9th. The Bulldogs led 2-0, before breaking the game open in the eighth inning by a tone of seven runs – Georgia’s fourth time this season scoring at least that mean in an inning. The Citadel Bulldogs fell to 10-33 on the season.
Three Georgia Bulldogs – Riley King (2-4, 2RBI, R, 2B), Cam Shepherd (2-5, 3RBI, R, HR), and John Cable (2-4, RBI, R, 2B, BB) – led the offense with multi-hit games.
Georgia gained the game’s first run in the fourth inning on account of small ball. To start the frame, junior first baseman Patrick Sullivan singled and freshman catcher Shane Marshall reached on a hit-by-pitch. Freshman leftfielder Randon Jernigan executed a sacrifice bunt to move both Bulldog runners over, and then leadoff hitter Tucker Maxwell plated Sullivan on a sacrifice fly.
More small ball added a run in the sixth inning, making it a 2-0 lead. Marshall and Jernigan walked to start the inning, which forced The Citadel to call on the bullpen for the fourth time. Next, Maxwell earned his second sacrifice of the game, but this time of the bunt variety to put two runners in scoring position. Fittingly, King notched the RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring Marshall.
The seven-run eighth put the game out of reach with only three outs for The Citadel to work with offensively as the away team. Jernigan scored off a wild pitch and Maxwell touched home on a King double for the first two runs. After a LJ Talley walk, Cable doubled off the right-field wall, plating King. Next, Shepherd hit the scoreboard beyond the left-field wall for a three-run home run. Lastly off a pinch hit, junior Austin Biggar singled in freshman right fielder Chaney Rogers for Georgia’s ninth run.
Dawg Tracks
-Junior centerfielder Tucker Maxwell recorded his 30th RBI of the season.
-Freshman leftfielder Jernigan reached base three times, but finished 0-1, because he had two walks, was hit by a pitch and laid down a sacrifice bunt.
– The Bulldogs entered the contest leading the nation in fewest hits against per nine innings with an average of 6.25. Also opponents were hitting just .197 going into the game. Tonight
-Logan Moody tops his previous career-high of four scoreless frames that he achieved last time he was on the rubber in the marathon Clemson game.
Coach’s Corner
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
On bouncing back with a big inning and limiting The Citadel to one hit…
“It was important for us to get back on the winning track, no question about it. It feels good to get a [win] and get some momentum going into this weekend with Florida. I thought the pitching was outstanding, that was the story. Logan Moody was great for us. We had four double plays so defensively; we made the plays we needed to. The eighth inning was the difference. I thought we had some good at bats early but didn’t get rewarded for them but the guys kept grinding it out and we found a way to put up seven in the eighth.”
On getting momentum back going into an SEC weekend with Florida…
“We needed to get some momentum back going into this weekend. It’s a huge weekend with Florida coming in. They’re playing much better and we know it’s going to be a great challenge and we’ve got three sellouts waiting for us at Foley Field. I know our guys are excited to get back to Foley to play at home and it’s going to be a huge weekend for us.”
Up Next
Georgia plays host to Florida for a three-game set this weekend, starting with a Friday 7 p.m. ET first pitch.