Georgia bounces back to claim series in rubber game vs. Missouri
Georgia Baseball put together a good week, going 3-1 with a series victory in the SEC over Missouri to wrap this up. The Bulldogs secured the three-game set with a Saturday rubber-game 10-7 win that featured a standout pitching performance from Kolten Smith and the 24th home run of the season for Charlie Condon, good for the NCAA lead.
Starting things off with a run-rule win over Kennesaw State on Tuesday. Kolby Branch went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI, one of three UGA players with multiple RBI alongside Condon and freshman Tre Phelps. The Bulldogs knocked 20 base hits in the 15-5 win and got the help of eight different pitchers.
Turning the attention to the weekend, Georgia won Thursday thanks to two home runs from Condon including a season-long 457 foot one to put the Bulldogs on the board. It was his fourth game this year with multiple home runs.
After falling behind early, UGA jumped ahead 11-1 with a combined 10 runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Jarvis Evans gave Georgia 5.1 innings with a career-high nine strikeouts before handing the ball over to Blake Gillespie, Josh Roberge, Christian Mracna and Kolten Smith. Missouri would make things interesting, but the deficit was too large to overcome.
Friday saw a lower scoring affair with things going to extra innings tied at 5. It looked as if Georgia would steal one in the bottom of the ninth, tying it and having a runner on third with no outs. The Bulldogs couldn’t get Kolby Branch home however, one of 15 in total that they would leave on base. Missouri meanwhile would plate one in the tenth to take it, 6-5.
Wes Johnson’s squad claimed the series on Saturday, taking an early lead and running with it the rest of the way. Missouri tied it at 5 in the fourth inning, but UGA poured on four more with Slate Alford, Logan Jordan and Fernando Gonzalez bringing runs home. That made it 9-5, and it was 10-5 after eighth. While Georgia did give up a home run in the ninth, it came with two outs and ultimately didn’t make any difference.
“Our guys, they’re really good at responding,” Johnson said. “We had, obviously, a lot of adversity on the road in this league for a while. So, being able to come out today in a really good game. We jump out, they punch back, tie it up, and then we are able to punch back again. Credit to our offense, but also Kolten Smith was electric today.”
With the win, Georgia is now 27-9 on the season and 7-8 in the SEC at the halfway point of conference play. The Bulldogs gets a bit of a break, taking off from Saturday to Friday with no midweek contest. Ole Miss makes the trip to Athens for a three-game stand Friday-Sunday with all three games airing on SEC Network+. The Rebels are coming off of an emotional in-stat series against arch rival Mississippi State in Oxford this weekend. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:00 p.m. ET.
