Bombs away for Bulldogs

Apparently, temperatures rising to the comfortable vicinity of 80 degrees was just what it took to warm up the bats for Georgia which used four home runs to blast Gardner-Webb Sunday, 17-3.

Third baseman Garrett Blaylock accounted for two of the homers, driving in six runs, with Josh McAllister and Chaney Rogers also going deep for the second time this year.

Also, right fielder Connor Tate enjoyed a career afternoon, going 5-for-5 with five RBIs for the Bulldogs (7-1), who pounded out a season-high 19 hits.

“We needed some guys to break out. Garrett Blaylock opens the season for us hitting in the three-hole. He means a lot to us. We need him to be a run producer for us, so it was great to see that bat come alive for us today,” head coach Scott Stricklin said. “We talked to him a little bit before the game about being more aggressive today, and he was. Those two balls he hit combined for about 800 feet. McAllister, Chaney Rogers—all those guys I thought had good, good at-bats today.”

Blaylock’s home run came on the first pitch from starter Casey Young, bouncing off the top of the scoreboard in right-center field. The hit was the first for the third baseman after starting the year 0-for-10.

“Up until today, I’ve taken some pitches that I probably should have swung at, especially early on. But today, I think, started getting back to the approach I’ve talked about early on,” Blaylock said. “The ones I've taken for strikes, I’ve gone back and looked where they were on the play—I didn’t think they were strikes, but I feel like I’m swinging at good pitches. I’m swinging early, and it worked out for me today.”

Georgia added two more runs in the third on an RBI double by Buddy Floyd and a single by Tate to push the lead to 4-1.

Gardner-Webb (1-4) scratched out a run against starter Jaden Woods (4 innings, 2 earned runs) in the fourth before fellow freshman Liam Sullivan took over to start the fifth.

The Bulldogs would pour it on from there, getting McAllister’s second home run in as many days, with Blaylock capping Georgia’s five-run sixth with a three-run shot, giving him a career-best five RBIs.

Georgia capped the scoring with four more runs in the seventh and another in the eighth.

Sullivan (1-0) got credit for the win, striking out five in his two innings. He was followed by Hank Bearden, who gave up a run in the seventh. Bearden was followed by Shane Marshall with a scoreless eighth, then Nolan Crisp, who stranded a pair of runners in the ninth.

“It’s been very important that we’ve (the freshman) been able to get these opportunities,” Sullivan said. “It’s nice to get out there and get exposure from these games. To get those jitters out of the way has really helped our freshman staff.”

Boxscore

Stricklin said that sophomore Michael Polk threw live today before batting practice today and could return as early as next weekend.

If not, the right-hander could be used during the Bulldogs’ game March 9 at Georgia Southern.

Sophomore starter Jonathan Cannon (mono) is also getting close. Although he will not pitch this week, Cannon, too, could pitch an inning against Georgia Southern before getting another opportunity the following weekend against Lipscomb.

Connor Tate’s five-hit, five-RBI performance was not only the first such performances of his career but marked the first five-hit game by a Bulldog since John Cable in 2019.

The game also featured the first career hits by Josh Stinson and Garrett Spikes, both of whom singled in the seventh. Spikes’ hit drove in a run.

Stinson would drive in Georgia’s final run in a grounder to short in the eighth.

Shortstop Cole Tate had to leave the game in the first when he tweaked a muscle trying to beat out an infield hit. McAllister moved over from second to short with Floyd taking over at second.

“He just tweaked it, it’s really minor. If this had been a different circumstance, he probably stays out there,” Stricklin said. “I didn’t see it happen, but he pulled up a little bit lame and Mike Dew our trainer said he might be a full go and as soon as he said that I took him out because you can’t put a restrictor on Cole Tate, because he’s going to go. He doesn’t know how to play half speed, so we took him out just a precaution.”

Stricklin said he hopes his shortstop is back by the middle of the week.

Georgia returns to action Tuesday (5 p.m.) with a road game at Kennesaw State before returning home next Friday for the first of three against North Florida.