The Georgia baseball team fell in the eleventh inning by a score of 6-4 to the University of Kentucky in the opening game of its three-game series.
 
 

A double by the Wildcats shortstop Trey Dawson brought in two runs in the eleventh for his team who trailed for the first 8 2/3’s of the game. The Wildcats tied the game up in the top of the ninth, which began with them trailing the Bulldogs by a score of 4-1. They earned three two-out runs in the inning knocking Aaron Schunk off the mound and bringing on Zac Kristofak earned an out immediately.
 
 
Kristofak was outstanding on the mound and taking away Schunk’s ninth-inning struggles, the Bulldogs pitching as a whole was very dominant for the majority of the night. The outstanding pitching all started with starter Chase Adkins.
 
 
Adkins gave his team six innings of one-run three-hit ball and had six strikeouts on his tally as well. Adkins looked very comfortable in every inning except the fourth, which is the only inning in which he gave up a run. He settled in early sitting down the Wildcats in order through the first three frames and he was able to stay in command for the majority of his outing.
 
 

“I thought Chase threw the ball really well and competed and gave us six strong innings,” said Stricklin.

 
 
Kevin Smith followed up Adkins and gave the Bulldogs two scoreless innings and two double plays killed the Wildcats chances at scoring during his time on the mound. Double plays and great defense was a theme on the night for the Bulldogs.
 
 
L.J. Talley and Patrick Sullivan both pulled off double plays magnificent double plays and Tucker Maxwell was a web gem machine in center field. He robbed the Wildcats of hits and runs on two different occasions with a diving catch and a leaping catch at the wall. The Bulldogs pitching and defense was the highlight, while the offense struggled to get anything going.
 
 
Adam Sasser and Keegan McGovern both hit impressive two-run home runs to give their team the lead, but ultimately it was not enough in the end. The Bulldogs overall played very well in this game in each aspect, but they just could not close the door on the Wildcats.
 
 

“They had some really good at-bats there in the ninth, they battled and competed, found a way to get on base and then they had some clutch hits,” said Stricklin. “I thought it worked out the way that we wanted it to work out up until the ninth and, you know what, it happens in baseball.”

 
 
Stricklin said that the message to the team after a tough loss like this was that “We’ve been here before.”
 
 
The Bulldogs will hope that their pitching, hitting, and defense work this well together in all nine innings tomorrow as they will close out the series in a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. If the Bulldogs win one of tomorrow’s two games, they will match their win total from last season which was 25.