In the uber-tough SEC, being able to say you’re .500 in conference play with four weekends to go in the regular season is a very big deal.
Just ask head coach Scott Stricklin.
Following Sunday’s 9-4 victory over Missouri, the Bulldogs (26-13, 9-9) won their third straight SEC series, to pull even in conference play for the first time this year.
"If you'd told me three weeks ago we'd be 9-9 after this weekend, I'd have been thrilled," Stricklin said. "We were 3-6, not really playing great, we were kind of limping and had lost that mid-week game to Georgia Southern—right before we went to Vanderbilt. It wasn't looking great, but the kids turned it around. They've shown a lot of toughness."
With four weekends to go, there’s one very big reason that finishing .500 in league play is so important. It would virtually assure the Bulldogs of an NCAA bid. It won’t be easy.
Georgia, with an RPI of No. 21, entertains Auburn this coming weekend before facing No. 1 Arkansas, then Florida, and finally hosting Ole Miss in the regular-season finale.
Still, Stricklin has no complaints with where his team sits entering Tuesday’s non-conference home game against Georgia Tech.
"It's (the RPI) a mystery to how that works but it's nice to have one sitting there in the top 25," Stricklin said. "As long as we take care of business, the teams that we play have high RPIs, so our RPI is going to remain good."
After dropping the series opener and losing the lead in the ninth Saturday before coming back to win in the 10th (7-5), a four-run sixth took the drama out of Sunday’s finale.
Chaney Rogers and Connor Tate each swung a big bat for the Bulldogs, driving in four and three runs, respectively.
A bases-clearing double in the first put Georgia up quickly 4-0 in the first, with Tate’s ninth homer of the season in the third, extending the margin to 5-1.
The pair, who had two hits apiece, were at it again in the sixth.
That’s when Rogers drove in his fourth run with a second double, followed later in the inning by Tate, who broke the game open with a two-run single to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 9-3.
"Chaney had been scuffling. He took an O-for on Friday, although a lot of guys didn't hit on Friday," Stricklin said. "But he's a veteran player; he just has a knack for getting big hits. That one in the first today was about as big as you can get get."
Jaden Woods, as he has done so often this season, gave Georgia a big boost out of the pen.
The score was just 5-3 in the fifth when the freshman lefty struck out Torin Montgomery and Cameron Swanger with runners at second and third.
In four innings, Woods allowed just one run on three hits, with two walks and three strikeouts. Michael Polk (2-0), who replaced starter Luke Wagner and responded with two innings of scoreless relief, earned the win.
Jack Gowen finished off the game with a scoreless ninth.
Sunday’s victory also ended the weekend on a feel-good note for the Bulldogs, who showed some mettle after nearly letting Saturday’s game get away from them.
In the bottom of the ninth, an error by Buddy Floyd on a fly ball which would have been the final out allowed the Tigers to tie the game.
Undaunted, reliever Ben Harris would escape the inning, and the Bulldogs responded in the 10th with Cole Tate getting a two-run triple, enabling Georgia to claim the bounce-back win.
"There's a lot of teams that would have folded. That was pretty adverse. You can't get much more adverse than that," Stricklin said. "We were three or four inches away from shaking hands, and then, oh, no, we could lose this game. I give Ben a lot of credit for keeping his composure, Cole Tate for getting the big hit, and Darryn Pasqua for getting it done in the 10th."
NOTE: Stricklin said second baseman Josh McAllister's hamstring injury is not as severe, and hopes he'll be able to return to the field.
"It's not as serious. He felt a pull. I think he's obviously pretty paranoid about it. He didn't take batting practice today, and i don't anticipate him being ready to play Tuesday," Stricklin said. "Our hope is he will be able to play this weekend. Again, this pull is not as bad as the last one; it's just one of those things. He felt fine. He hadn't had any issues for the past week or so, and then it goes again. It's probably something he's going to have to fight with the rest of his career."
