The Diamond Dogs’ three-game weekend series with in-state rival Georgia Tech began with a close call in game one on Friday in Athens at Foley Field where No. 4 Georgia just edged the 17th-ranked Yellow Jackets 6-5. Saturday’s game two was a different story, however, as the Bulldogs squashed Tech 12-0. It was the first shutout a UGA baseball team has had over a Georgia Tech team on their campus since 1964.
UGA sophomore right-hander Cole Wilcox brought the heat and dominated the 26 Tech batters he faced through seven innings of work, striking out 11 and only allowing 3 hits. And as dominating as the Bulldogs’ were on the mound, they were equally so behind the bat at the plate.
Georgia drew first blood in the second inning when sophomore catcher Shane Marshall executed a flawless squeeze-bunt to score junior Cole Tate from third to put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard 1-0. Tucker Bradley led off the third inning with his SEC-leading sixth home run of the season to put Georgia up 2-0. The Bulldogs would open up the floodgates in the top of the ninth.
Georgia would put up eight runs in the ninth and it was Cole Tate again getting the scoring started as he reached home plate on fielder’s choice to put the Dawgs up 5-0. Yellow Jacke head coach Danny Hall made the decision to call up Ben King from the bullpen to relieve Jackson Finley after Finley walked Patrick Sullivan to load the bases. King would proceed to walk the next three Bulldog batters, and Chaney Rogers, Buddy Floyd, and Ben Anderson all reached home on those bases-loaded walks. With Georgia up 8-0, senior shortstop Cam Shepherd delivered the coup de grâce with a grand slam.
Senior Justin Glover relieved starter Cole Wilcox at the bottom of the eighth for the Bulldogs and would retire the Tech batters one-two-three. Glover would stay on the mound in the bottom of the ninth and sat down the Yellow Jacket batters one-two-three in succession again to give Georgia win number ten on the season and clinch the series with Tech.
Shutout ✅
— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) March 1, 2020
Road Dub ✅#UnfinishedBusiness | #DawgsOnTop pic.twitter.com/6i11xr8tNG
You can catch the full boxscore from Saturday’s Georgia-Georgia Tech baseball game by CLICKING HERE.
The Diamond Dogs have a chance to sweep the Yellow Jackets in game three on Sunday to close out the weekend series. That game will be at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, GA and is set for a first pitch at 2:00 p.m. ET. After Sunday’s game, Georgia will play host to the Georgia Southern Eagles on Tuesday, March 3rd for a 5 p.m. ET late afternoon affair at Foley Field in Athens.