After suffering losses in the previous two games against the Missouri Tigers, the Bulldogs ended their season on a high note by avoiding the series sweep with a walk-off win ahead of NCAA tournament next week.
It was a tough start to the series for the Dawgs, who were outscored 20-6 in the first two games, and just barely avoided having the 10-run mercy rule put into place in either one as well. Although each game would start close, it would only take a few innings for the Tigers to take control.
In game one, the score sat at 1-1 until the third inning, when the Tigers began slowly crossing the plate at first before blowing the game open with a grand slam from Missouri’s Luke Mann. The blast gave the Tigers a six-run lead, and from that point the game was in hand. Spencer Miles, the starting pitcher for the Tigers, threw incredibly well, allowing only two runs on seven hits while striking out a whopping 12 batters in the 11-3 victory
The second game started out similar to the first, as the game was incredibly close until the third inning. There were only three runs scored, but they came off of a home run by first baseman Torin Montgomery, and the Dawgs managed to get one of the runs back in the fourth. That would be where the positives would end for UGA though, as the Tigers would go on to score four more runs in the next inning, including another three-run shot from Montgomery, and continue to score in four out of the five remaining innings en route to a 10-3 win.
As game three was the final home game of the regular season, the seniors graduating from the team were honored before the start of the game, and the rest of the team made sure the nearly 3,000 people who came to send the team off did not leave disappointed
Similar to the first two games, Missouri struck first with a run in the first inning thanks to an RBI double from Montgomery. This time however, the Bulldogs would not allow the game to get away from them, as they capped off a six-run third inning with a bases clearing triple from first baseman Chaney Rogers. Although the Tigers began trying to come back as the game went on, the Dawgs seemed to match their scoring every chance they got. That was until the seventh inning however, as the Tigers exploded for seven runs off of two hits to take a 10-7 lead.
Fortunately for spectators, the Dawgs immediately began chipping away at the lead in the eighth inning, and after tying the game in the bottom of the ninth off an RBI single from sophomore Parks Harber, an errant throw from the Tigers’ second baseman allowed Dwight Allen II to score the game-winning run for the Bulldogs.
“It was a really gutsy win, and I’m really proud of them. What a way to end the regular season,” said head coach Scott Stricklin.
Although the Bulldogs were eliminated from the SEC tournament by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round, they will still qualify for the NCAA tournament, with seeding determining if and where they will need to travel.