Game One:
The 15th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs secured a huge 10-0 victory against the Akron Zips Saturday afternoon in Athens Georgia at Foley Field in Game One of a double-header.
Georgia had 10 runs on 15 hits. Garrett Spikes had a career-high today going 3-3 with 2 RBIs. Spikes was a huge contributor to the Dawgs’ offense Saturday afternoon. Dylan Taylor had his first appearance at the plate today and hit a two-RBI single in the eighth inning to end Game 1.
Liam Sullivan went 5 innings for the Dawgs on the mound with only two hits. Will Pearson came in as relief for two innings, striking out one. Coleman Willis made his debut on the mound and recorded two strikeouts.
Georgia struck first in the bottom of the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. Connor Tate hit a single to centerfield and reached 1st base and later scored on an RBI single hit by Spikes. Chaney Rogers then hit an RBI single to centerfield to plate Spikes.
The Bulldogs were walked five times in the fifth inning. Cole and Connor Tate were the Dawgs that crossed the plate in the fifth to extend Georgia’s lead to 4-0.
In the sixth inning, Ben Anderson reached first with a lead-off single and later crossed home plate by a sacrifice pop up to left field by Connor Tate. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 5-0.
In the seventh inning, the Dawgs plated three runs to extend the lead to 8-0. In the eighth, Taylor obtained a two-run RBI to end the game 10-0.
Georgia will be back in action Sunday afternoon looking for the sweep at 2 pm in Athens.
Game Two:
The Zips would get on the board first in the second game of the day as they plated two runs in the first inning. Akron tallied a hit and two walks in the inning as Bulldog sophomore Garrett Brown struggled with his command. Brown finished the inning with two strikeouts and allowed two runs with only one of them being earned. He would be replaced by sophomore Luke Wagner in the second inning.
Redshirt freshman Dwight Allen II would answer with his first career home run to lead off the first inning on a towering shot to left-center field and the Zips lead was cut to one. He became the second Bulldog to that this season after Ben Anderson homered to lead off the season opener last Friday against Albany.
Both offenses would go quiet until the bottom of the fourth inning when Connor Tate led off with a double. Tate would later score on a sacrifice fly to shallow right field by redshirt senior Josh McAllister.
The Bulldogs tacked on two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning after Spikes laced a two-run single to left field, and Georgia took a 4-2 lead. The sophomore from Lawrenceville, Ga. finished the doubleheader going 5-7 with four RBIs.
Wagner, following a walk and a single off of his foot, would be replaced in the sixth inning by junior Nolan Crisp after allowing zero runs on two hits and two walks. Wagner pitched four innings and tallied six strikeouts, both of which are career-highs in a relief appearance for the Pennsylvania native.
Crisp was able to stymie the Akron bats as he worked around the walk and single to keep Georgia ahead 4-2. Crisp struck out Akron freshman Ian Pennington to get out of the jam.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Bulldogs tacked on three more runs following base hits from Chaney Rogers, Cole Wagner and Connor Tate. Georgia now led the game 7-2.
Crisp was able to further keep the Akron bats at bay as he pitched three scoreless innings with no runs, one hit and four strikeouts. He would be relieved by freshman Jake Poindexter in the ninth inning.
Poindexter finished his debut by retiring the only three batters he faced and recorded his first career strikeout as the Bulldogs would beat the Zips 7-2.
Luke Wagner (3-0) pitched four scoreless innings in relief and picked up the win, and Jackson Hickert (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Zips.