If Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin could clone Jonathan Cannon, there’s no doubt that he would.
Although the junior right-hander has not been perfect this year, he’s been about as sure of a thing on mound for the Bulldogs as it gets.
Friday night in Lexington, Cannon was at it again, allowing just two run over seven innings to pitch No. 17 Georgia a 4-2 win in the first of three games against the Wildcats.
The victory boosts the Bulldogs to 18-4, 3-1 in the SEC East.
Cannon was remarkable.
In his seven innings, he allowed just four hits with zero walks and six strikeouts. In six games this season, Cannon has walked just one batter (against Georgia Tech) in 41.1 innings and that was intentional.
Jaden Woods was not bad himself.
After giving up two home runs against Mississippi State, Woods retired six of the seven batters he faced, allowing just one hit, and striking out five.
“I don’t think you can pitch better than that with Jonathan Cannon and then Jaden Woods going back-to-back,” said head coach Scott Stricklin. “They have really good stuff with lots of strikes, and we didn’t walk anybody. It’s really tough to beat somebody when you’re not giving them any free bases. That’s the best I’ve seen Jaden, the breaking ball is getting better. We played great defense behind them. Offensively, it wasn’t spectacular, but we got it done.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs managed just four runs on seven hits, but it would be enough.
Georgia scored one in the second after loading the bases with nobody out, before Josh McAllister belted a two-run homer run in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.
Kentucky (15-8, 0-4) would cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth only to see Georgia push the margin back to three with an unearned run in the seventh. The Wildcats would scratch across one more run against Cannon in the seventh but would get no closer thanks to Woods who earned his first save this season.
Georgia and Kentucky continue their series Saturday at 2 before wrapping up Sunday at noon. Garrett Brown (0-0, 4.50) will be on the bump for the Bulldogs.
