As the UGA baseball team is in a heated battle with Tennessee for the final spot in the SEC tournament, home runs led to the Bulldogs losing a crucial game to Mississippi State in the opening game of their three-game series by a score of 9-3.
Andrew Gist started the game for Georgia and he had an up and down day as he had multiple innings where he sat down the Mississippi State batters in order, but also gave up multiple home runs. The game was ultimately lost for Georgia in the top of the third as Mississippi State first baseman Brent Rooker hit a deep three-run homer to left field that gave his team a lead that they would not lose.
Gist would give up another two-run home runs in the top of the 6th and that would really put the game out of reach for Georgia. Gist finished with five and 1/3 innings pitched with five strikeouts while allowing five runs on eight hits and one walk. The Bulldogs pitching struggles continued after Gist’s start as each pitcher that followed him in relief allowed at least one run to come across to score during their time on the mound.
The Bulldogs pitching definitely struggled but their hitting struggled just as much if not more as they only had 6 hits on the day. However, They did find other ways to reach base as they earned five walks on the day but could not capitalize with runners on base and with their pitching struggling this led to their downfall. The Bulldogs showed more life in the ninth inning as they earned two of their six hits in that inning but it was far too late at that point.
This game was ultimately a deflating affair for Georgia as they were riding the momentum from winning an away series against Kentucky and defeating Georgia Tech in a hard-fought game at SunTrust park. They will need to bounce back in a huge way in game two of this series if they hope to not only contend in this series, but also for the final slot in the SEC tournament.
Georgia will face Mississippi State in game two of the series at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, May 13th at Foley Field.
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