To beat Kentucky, you have to keep Wildcat first baseman T.J. Collett under control. With 10 home runs on the year, that sometimes can be easier said than done.
Saturday night at Foley Field, Collett twice popped up at the most inopportune times.
That included the ninth inning, when freshman pitcher Jaden Woods came in with two outs in relief of Ben Harris, getting Collett out on a fly ball to left, preserving an 8-7 win.
“He’s one of the best hitters, not only in the league but in the country,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said of Collett. “But we brought the freshman in and he got it done.”
Harris, who retired Collett in another key spot in the fifth with runners on second and third with one out, entered the ninth with a three-run lead and was one out away from the win.
That was until leadoff hitter Austin Schultz launched a two-run homer, bringing Collett to the plate with the tying run.
Unfazed, the freshman Woods ran the count to 2-2 before getting Collett to fly out to short center for his first career save.
“Ben Harris (3-0) was gassed. He gave us everything he had, but just kind of ran out of gas,” Stricklin said of the lefty, who allowed three runs in 4.1 innings with a walk and six strikeouts. “Schultz was going to be his last batter. Credit to Schultz, he knew the fastball was coming.”
Georgia (22-12, 6-8) jumped on Kentucky (22-10, 7-7) quickly, with the first two batters reaching base before Corey Collins launched a three-run homer deep over the fence in right-center field. It was his sixth of the year.
But the Wildcats bounced back.
Kentucky used solo home runs by Oraj Anu in the second and Collett in the fourth off starter Jonathan Cannon to draw within one.
Garrett Blaylock answered in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer off the batter’s eye, only to have the Wildcats tie the game with two runs in the fifth.
A two-run single by Chase Estep brought Kentucky even, before a passed ball on Collins moved runners to second and third with nobody out.
However, that would be all the Wildcats would score.
Cannon-who gave up six hits and four runs, enticed Schultz to pop up on the infield. That’s when Stricklin brought in Harris to face Collett, Kentucky’s leading hitter who had homered in the fourth.
Harris retired Collett on a pop-up to third before striking out John Rhodes to keep the game tied.
“That’s just one of those things where you’ve got to come in and do the job for your team,” Harris said. “To do that, you need to be in control and know what you need to do. It’s just about staying out of the big moment, taking a deep breath.”
The score stayed that way until the sixth. That’s when the Bulldogs scored twice to go back up 6-4, getting a big single by Riley King on an 0-2 pitch before pinch-hitter Chaney Rogers brought home Blaylock with a sacrifice fly.
Friday, King came up in almost the exact same situations but failed to execute. This time, he came through just fine.
“That felt good. I was just trying to help the team win any way I can,” King said. “The bunt didn’t happen, but I was able to step in there and good things worked out.”
In the eighth, a pair of hit batters brought up Jacob Plastiak, who singled to center driving in a run to cut the lead to 7-5. However, on the play, Oraj Anu tried to get to third but was promptly gunned down by Anderson in center, sending the game to the bottom of the eighth with the Bulldogs hanging on to their two-run lead.
The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the eighth on a squeeze by Luke Wagner, which turned out to be the difference in the game.
Collins led the Bulldogs with a pair of hits to go along with a career-tying four RBI while Blaylock went 3 for 4, the second time this year he has had three hits in a game.
Georgia and Kentucky wrap up their series Sunday at 1.
