TUSCALOOSA – Georgia and Mother Nature were both winners in Friday’s doubleheader against Alabama.
After the Bulldogs run-ruled the Crimson Tide 19-3 in Game 1, heavy rain washed out Game 2, with one out in the top of the fifth and Alabama up 6-2.
Georgia had a runner at third and one out with Kolby Branch at the plate before the umpires waved the Crimson Tide from the field.
The two teams waited until shortly before 11 p.m. CT before the game was officially suspended.
Georgia and Alabama played a doubleheader Friday due to fears of bad weather on Saturday. However, Bulldogs and Crimson Tide will attempt to resume Friday’s Game 2 at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday. Game 3 on Sunday is still scheduled for noon local time, although forecasts call for rain through the entire weekend.
“We are going to check first thing in the morning, like around eight, just to see if there's a window, maybe a little earlier,” head coach Wes Johnson told UGASports. “So yeah, whenever that is, we’re going to plan on that. We’ll try to get this one on; then we’ll move on and worry about Game 3.”
Georgia rolled to a 19-3 win in Game 1, scoring 18 unanswered runs after Alabama jumped out to a 3-1 lead.
The Bulldogs hit six home runs, two by Branch, and one each by Slate Alford, Ryan Black, Henry Hunter, and Tre Phelps.
“I mean, gosh, you look, we go all the way up and down that lineup, right?” Johnson said. “Six home runs in that game … Ryan Black had three hits; I thought Henry Hunter had some good at-bats. Slate, obviously, starting us off with the first one.”
In Game 1, starting pitcher Brian Curley struggled early with his command before
Georgia’s bats would respond.
The team’s eight-run fifth represented the Bulldogs’ most in an SEC game this year.
Along with Phelps’ three-run homer to right center and solo shot by Branch in almost the same spot, Hunter also drove in a pair on a flare double to left. The hit came on an 0-2 count.
Phelps and the Bulldogs weren’t done.
His two-run double down in the line in the sixth as Georgia continued to pound the Crimson Tide, getting homers from Hunter, Branch’s second, and one from Black accounted for the final score.
As for Curley (4-2), the senior would grind through five innings, allowing just two earned runs on two hits with four walks and nine strikeouts.
Tyler McLoughlin and Justin Byrd closed out the contest with a scoreless sixth and seventh innings, respectively.
“Brian had to grind, but his stuff, his actual movement profiles were really good,” Johnson said. “He wasn’t throwing it in the strike zone. But then, obviously, when you're able to jump out like that, you're able to use some other guys to finish the game. But no, the offense won that first ball game.”
Kolten Smith never made it out of the first inning in Game 2.
After Georgia grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Alabama chased Smith with four runs in the bottom half.
Charlie Goldstein followed and surrendered a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth, Georgia had Phelps at third with one out and Branch at the plate before the game was suspended.
