Despite some nice wins, it’s been a somewhat frustrating start for Georgia’s baseball team.
Difficult weather conditions, too many walks for Wes Johnson’s liking, and some untimely hitting have been an early bugaboo for the Bulldogs the first week of the season.
Such was the story once again Tuesday night in Marietta against Kennesaw State, before an ejection of Johnson in the seventh seemed to spark the Bulldogs, who rallied with four runs over the final three innings for a 6-4 win.
“We were doing anything to get these guys jump-started. You know, it was a long weekend and a long road trip. We got back home, and we had to get back over here. …,” Johnson said in his postgame radio interview. “Conditions weren't great here. We didn't have any good... I don't want to go through all that. We just … we had to get them jump-started.”
With freshman Bryce Clavon at the plate, Johnson was tossed after arguing about a call by the home plate umpire who called a strike on Clavon, claiming he did not step into the batter’s box in the allotted amount of time.
Though Johnson denied the intent, the ejection had its effect as Georgia seemed to take a cue from its skipper before rallying back for the win.
“I mean, they threw a pitch clock violation at us. There's no pitch clock here. There's nowhere to see it, so we had no idea. It’s a pivotal point in the game. We're fighting, we're clawing, we're scrapping,” Johnson said. “It was just another place where the conditions and the environment we're playing in aren't conducive for us. I thought their guy was out in the first inning, and then I thought our guy was safe in the third. But you can't replay. There's no replay here. We were kind of wearing it a little bit, and yeah emotions, you know, they boil over sometimes.
But intentional or not, Georgia responded.
The Bulldogs rallied with home runs, first in the seventh by Slate Alford and the eighth by Ryan Black to tie the score before taking the lead with two in the top of the ninth.
After Clavon led off the inning with a bloop double for his first career hit, the freshman scored on a wild pitch before a hard single to right by Black drove in Alford for the sixth run.
Transfer Brian Curley would record the save, working around a one-out error by Alford at third to strike out the final two batters for his first save as a Bulldog.
Tuesday’s lineup featured some changes from the weekend in Wilmington.
Robbie Burnett not only moved from second base to right field but bumped up to the leadoff spot after stealing seven bases in four games.
With Burnett and second, that opened the door for Black to make his first start after transferring from Texas Arlington.
Black led Georgia’s nine-hit attack by going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Kolten Smith made the start after back spasms forced him to miss Friday’s opener against Quinnipiac.
The senior just wanted to shake off some rust but wound up being changed with four runs over the first 1.2 innings.
But like they did in Sunday’s finale against UNC-Wilmington, Georgia’s bullpen responded.
Seven pitchers blanked the Owls on three hits over the final 7.1 innings, which allowed Bulldog bats to claw back into the game.
A two-run fourth cut the score in half, although Georgia left the bases loaded after doing so with just one out.
Of Georgia’s relievers, transfer Justin Byrd impressed the most.
Byrd went two innings, striking out five while facing the minimum six batters, before DJ Radke, Jordan Stephens, Davis Chastain, Tyler McLouglin (1-0) and Curley blanked Kennesaw State, striking out 13.
The Bulldogs improve to 4-1 ahead of their season opener on Thursday against Illinois-Chicago.
“We got to get some guys off to a better start. We got to quit giving up four runs in the first two innings and putting our offense behind the eight ball,” Johnson said. “We'll address that with our guys who are going out and starting, and we'll go from there. But all in all, man, you know, these are the kind of wins you're able to pull back and look and go, okay, we showed fight again tonight. Our team’s got some fight."
