BATON ROUGE, LA. – Cade Doughty’s two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth off Jaden Woods rallied 20th-ranked LSU past No. 16 Georgia for a 4-3 walk-off Sunday in front of a crowd of 10,481 at Alex Box Stadium.
Georgia (30-14, 12-9) carried a 3-2 lead to the ninth and was 24-0 when leading after the eighth inning this season until Sunday. With the win, the Tigers (29-14, 12-9 SEC) claimed the rubber game of the series. Georgia is now 13-for-14 in save situations this year. Sunday marked the first time since 2010 that the Bulldog lost on a walk-off home run, and that was a 4-3 decision at Florida.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to a leadoff home run by Dylan Crews. It came on an 0-2 count and was his 12th home run of the year. Georgia went on top 2-1 in the fifth. Parks Harber led off with a single and advanced to third on a Chaney Rogers base hit. Josh McAllister tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Then, Fernando Gonzalez gave Georgia the lead with his first career triple as Rogers raced home to make it 2-1. Buddy Floyd followed with a ground ball to short and Gonzalez attempted to score but was thrown out at home.
LSU starter Samuel Dutton was lifted in favor of Grant Taylor. Ben Anderson smashed a ball to left field but Drew Bianco made a running catch at the wall to end the rally.
In the bottom of the fifth, Crews launched his second home run of the game and 13th of the year to tie the game. With one out and a runner at third, Georgia turned to freshman Chandler Marsh to keep it a tie game. He did just that. With the infield in, Jordan Thompson lined one back to Marsh, which he fielded and threw him out at first. Then, he got Tre Morgan to ground out to send it to the sixth at 2-all. Marsh, who matched his career high with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh when the Tigers loaded the bases. Georgia brought in Davis Rokose, and he struck out Morgan to keep the game tied.
In the eighth, Georgia pushed across an unearned run due in part to a failed pickoff attempt. With one out, Buddy Floyd was hit by a pitch. Pitcher Devin Fontenot’s throw to first bounced and got past Morgan and allowed Floyd to advance to third. Then Ben Anderson’s fly ball to left was caught near the Bulldog bullpen in foul territory. Josh Pearson’s throw home was not in time as Floyd slid home to put the Bulldog back in front 3-2. LSU tried to rally in the eighth.
The Tigers drew back-to-back walks with two outs. Georgia brought in Will Pearson to face Crews. On a 3-1 count, Crews lined a sinking liner to centerfield that Anderson charged in and made a diving catch to protect the Bulldog lead and send it to the ninth.
“It was a heartbreaker today, to be that close and not come away with a series win in this place, the fans were really loud and there’s a lot of energy here,” said Georgia coach Scott Stricklin. “We had them and let it slip away. It’s disappointing. I feel bad for the team. They left everything on the field and battled so hard. It was tremendous effort and we just came up a little short. Certainly, we can take a lot of positives away. You want to win every series you play, and we know it’s going to be battle every weekend especially on the road. We will bounce back. This is a tough, resilient group. We’ll be ready Tuesday and then a big SEC series at home against Vanderbilt.”
Neither starter factored in the decision as both left in the fifth. Georgia’s Liam Sullivan went 4.1 innings and gave up a pair of runs on six hits with six strikeouts. Dutton lasted 4.2 innings and surrendered two runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Paul Gervase pitched the ninth and picked up a win to improve to 2-1 while Jaden Woods got the loss to fall to 1-1. Woods is now 3-for-4 in save situations this year.
Georgia returns to Foley Field Tuesday when it begins a four-game home stand. First up, the Bulldogs play host to Kennesaw State (26-17 add SUN) at 6 p.m. The game will be available on SECN+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. The Bulldogs outslugged the Owls 17-15 in Kennesaw on April 12.
