Tennessee earned its first Southeastern Conference victory of the year by holding off a late rally by Georgia, posting a 6-5 decision Friday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Tennessee (15-8, 1-6 SEC) struck first with a run in the first and looked to have more, but Georgia’s defense threw out a runner trying to score. Right fielder Will Campbell fired a strike to second baseman Will Proctor who threw home to Austin Biggar to nab Jordan Rogers at the plate and keep it at 1-0. In the fourth, Georgia tied the contest as Campbell scored on a two-out RBI-single from junior Mitchell Webb. The Volunteers surged ahead with three runs on four hits in the sixth and then added a solo home run from Jeff Moberg and an RBI-triple from Andre Lipcius in the seventh to make it 6-1.
Georgia (11-16, 1-6 SEC) managed to score four runs on one hit in the ninth and had the tying run at second when Zach Warren retired Tucker Bradley to end the furious rally. In the frame, freshman Tucker Maxwell earned an RBI on a bases-loaded hit by pitch; junior Keegan McGovern picked up one RBI on a walk and sophomore Michael Curry smacked a two-run single to make it 6-5.
It was the 13th one-run contest of the season for the Bulldogs, and they are now 4-9 in those games. Tennessee senior right-hander Hunter Martin improved to 4-2, going seven innings and surrendering just one run on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Georgia senior left-hander Andrew Gist dropped to 1-2 after allowing four runs on eight hits but did register a career-high eight strikeouts. Warren notched his first save.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch slated for 2:02 pm EDT and be available on SEC Network+ and the Bulldog Sports Network from IMG.
Dawg Tracks
*Sophomore DH Michael Curry now has a career best 13-game hitting streak after a two-run single in the ninth.
*Freshman 3B Aaron Schunk extended his hitting streak to a career-best seven games with a single in the first and finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
*Junior LF Keegan McGovern extended his on-base streak to 16 games when he was hit by a pitch in the sixth.
*Senior LHP Andrew Gist set a career high for strikeouts with eight in 5.2 innings pitched.
Coach’s Corner: Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
“We have to make more plays; we had some opportunities tonight. We didn’t make errors but didn’t make some plays to win the game. It’s another one-run game, and you can point to seven or eight things that we do differently, and we win that game.”