A quick glance at his bat followed by a deep breath is Cole Tate’s routine every time he comes to the plate.
The Bulldog senior says it's his way of calming down and making sure the moment never gets too big. Saturday afternoon against Tennessee, Tate followed his familiar script when he strolled to the plate with two outs, runners on second and third, and Georgia trailing Tennessee by a run.
It paid off. Tate responded with a line drive single to left off senior closer Redmond Walsh (2-1), bringing home Chaney Rogers and Riley King with the tying and go-ahead runs, lifting the Bulldogs past the No. 10 Volunteers, 5-4.
“The key is always to keep battling, never to give up on an at-bat,” Tate said. “He (assistant coach Scott Daeley) always talks about having the same approach—don’t change your swing, take the same swing, no matter what the situation.”
Tate’s hit followed an excellent bunt by Shane Marshall to put runners at second and third. It also picked up leadoff hitter Ben Anderson who popped up for the second out just before Tate’s heroics.
Assistant coach Scott Daeley, who continues to fill in for head coach Scott Stricklin while he recovers from Covid, said Tate was the perfect player to be at the plate in that situation.
“We have two guys, Cole and Chaney Rogers, and I think they were perfect examples,” Daeley said. “They each have one hit, and both were huge hits. Those guys don’t waste hits very often. Usually, when they’re getting hits, they’re getting game-tying and game-winning ones, or getting a rally started. You need your older guys to come through to win games like this, and that’s what they did today.”
Three innings earlier, it was a two-out single by Rogers in the sixth that put the Bulldogs (14-4) up before the Vols (16-4) reclaimed the lead in the seventh on a two-run homer by Jake Rucker.
Reliever Ben Harris (2-0) made sure that would be all the runs for Tennessee, retiring all six batters he faced over the final two innings with four strikeouts.
“Whenever they call my name, I want to be ready,” said Harris, who transferred a year ago from Virginia. “Whatever they want me to do, I want to be that option.”
Georgia outhit the Vols 10-6, getting two hits each from King and Parks Harber.
The game began auspiciously.
On Friday, it was a leadoff home run by Liam Spence that quickly put the Volunteers on the board. Saturday, it was a leadoff error by Cole Tate at short on a ball hit by Liam Spencer, which Tennessee used to grab a quick 2-0 lead.
Starter Ryan Webb seemed to have trouble gripping his pitches, and the Vols would take advantage. A bases loaded shot played Spence for the first run, before an infield hit drove home the second. Webb’s second walk loaded the bases before the senior came back to strike out the next two batters to end the inning.
Webb would retire 12 straight before Spence’s one-out single to start the top of the fifth. The hit signaled the beginning of the end of the day for Webb, who went 4.2 innings, allowing three hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts.
Bulldog pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts.
“For him to get us to that fifth inning, and dominate to the fifth, that played huge,” Daeley said. “All those pitchers did a great job.”
Daeley’s post-game kudus also applied to reliever Darryn Pasqua, who took over in the fifth with the bases loaded and two out. Pasqua would get out of the inning, however, when he retired Jordan Beck on a flyout to left.
Georgia would cut the lead to one on a sacrifice fly by King, who'd later tie the game with an RBI double in the sixth.
Following a walk to Luke Wagner and King’s RBI double, Rogers singled through the hole between second and first. Josh McLaughlin scored easily from third, but King was called out at home to end the inning.
The home plate umpire initially ruled King safe, as the Bulldog senior appeared to beat the throw However, the replay correctly showed that his foot did not touch the plate.
Georgia’s lead would not last long.
In the seventh, Pasqua hung a slider to Rucker, who went deep over the fence in left to put the Vols back up 4-3. But Georgia ultimately won the game in the ninth on Tate’s two-run single.
NOTES: Georgia and Tennessee wrap up their series at 1 on Sunday. Jonathan Cannon (1-0, 0.00) will start for the Bulldogs … Daeley said freshman designated hitter Corey Collins is day-to-day, but didn't play today after suffering an injury to his lower extremities in Friday’s game.
