(Photo by John Kelley)
The Bulldogs upset the Yellow Jackets, as the Georgia baseball team cruised to a 3-1 win over 19th-ranked Georgia Tech Tuesday in front of 1,758 at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Junior Andrew Gist (3-1) was masterful, turning in a career-high eight innings with no walks and six strikeouts for the victory. He surrendered a leadoff home run in the ninth to Ryan Peurifoy on a 3-2 offering and was lifted in favor of sophomore Blake Cairens. The blast ended a streak of 18 consecutive scoreless innings by the Bulldog pitching staff against Tech dating back to last season. Cairens struck out the side for his second save.
Georgia (18-16) broke through first with a two-out rally in the fifth. Sophomore Mitchell Webb collected his second hit of the day when he smacked his fifth double of the year. Senior shortstop Nick King followed with an RBI-triple, the first of the year and third of his career, for a 1-0 lead. In the sixth off Tech reliever Ben Parr, Trevor Kieboom reached on a walk to extend his on base streak to 12 games. He moved in to scoring position on a walk to Daniel Nichols and then scored on a base hit by freshman Michal Curry.
Georgia turned a couple of impressive double plays on the night. In the third, junior centerfielder Stephen Wrenn ran down a shot off the bat of Ryan Peurifoy and then fired back to first to end the third. In the fifth, freshman second baseman LJ Talley made a diving stop of a liner by Tristan English and then doubled off Kel Johnson at first.
In the eighth, Wrenn smacked a two-out double and scored on a base hit by Keegan McGovern for a 3-0 advantage.
Tech senior right-hander Cole Pitts (3-2) went five innings and allowed one run on five hits with three strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen. Tech got an inning apiece from Ben Parr, Burton Dulaney, Micah Carpenter and Matthew Gorst. Tech dropped to 23-9 after the latest loss to the Bulldogs.
“We played really well, and it all started with Andrew Gist’s performance on the mound tonight,” Ike Cousins Georgia Baseball coach Scott Stricklin said. “That’s the pitcher we recruited and the one that led his junior college team to the JUCO World Series. That’s the best we’ve seen him pitch. Blake (Cairens) came in there in the ninth in a pressure situation and did a great job too. The double plays we turned killed their momentum too. We got some clutch two-out hits.”
Georgia, which snapped a four-game losing streak Tuesday, improved to 4-7 against top 25 teams this year. Currently, they are in a stretch of 22 straight games against ranked opponents.
The Bulldogs play host to No. 2 South Carolina (28-5, 10-2 SEC) Friday in a three-game series. First pitch at Foley Field will be at 7:04 p.m and be available on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network from IMG.