COLUMBIA, S.C.— Eighth-ranked Georgia overcame three deficits to beat No. 22 South Carolina 8-7 Saturday and clinch an SEC road series in front of a crowd of 7,210 at Founders Park.
The Bulldogs (17-2, 2-0 SEC) have won eight in a row. Also, they've captured their sixth straight series over the Gamecocks (14-5, 0-2 SEC).
USC took a 1-0 lead in the second when Luke Berryhill led off with his sixth home run of the year. In the third, Bulldog junior Aaron Schunk (2-for-4, 2 RBI and a Save) tied the game with a two-out, run-scoring single. USC got a pair of home runs in the third as part of a four-run outburst to build a 5-1 advantage. Ian Jenkins led off with his second home run. Then Andrew Eyster lifted a two-run blast to right field to highlight the scoring. It marked the first time this season that the Bulldogs had surrendered a home run with a man on base; the previous nine were all solo shots.
Georgia responded with its own four-run frame in the fourth to make it 5-all. The Bulldogs got an RBI-single from Tucker Maxwell, a two-run single from Riley King, and Schunk tied it with a sacrifice fly. Junior Will Proctor started the bottom of the inning in relief of C.J. Smith, and the Gamecocks reclaimed the lead , 6-5. Georgia went on top 7-6 in the fifth, courtesy of an RBI-double by Chaney Rogers and an RBI-groundout by Maxwell. A one-out RBI-single by Mason Meadows made it 8-6 in the sixth.
Proctor (3-0) picked up the win after going 1.1 innings with three strikeouts. Schunk registered his seventh save. Freshman Cole Wilcox provided 2.2 scoreless innings of relief while Zac Kristofak retired one of the two batters he faced in the eighth before the Bulldogs looked to Schunk. The Gamecocks had made it an 8-7 game without the benefit of a hit in the frame. Schunk finished with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings.
Game three of the series is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. and will be on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
NOTES:
Talley extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games. ... Schunk is 7-for-7 in save chances on the year plus his first inning single gave him a nine-game hitting streak. ... Sophomore Chaney Rogers made his fifth career start including his first at first base after junior Patrick Sullivan was a late scratch due to an illness. ...Eight different Bulldogs collected a hit and five had at least one RBI
Head coach Scott Stricklin
On the win…“We got a lot of really good baseball players, a lot of hard-nosed guys that play with a chip on their shoulder. They play with a lot of confidence. There was no panic when we got behind. Our guys love this atmosphere and they’re excited. They are very hard to rattle.”
On the bullpen…“The bullpen did a great job to help out C.J. (Smith) who wasn’t as sharp as he normally is. We were down 5-1 in the fourth inning, and we had a ton of great at bats and came back. All the guys in bullpen came through, and it was really a game we had to grind out to win.”
