Jaden Woods continues to show why head coach Scott Stricklin and pitching coach Sean Kenny were confident in naming the junior Georgia’s Friday night starter.

After his performance in the Bulldogs’ weather-delayed contest against Georgia Tech, it’s easy to understand why, after throwing six shutout innings of Georgia’s 7-2 win.

“My first two innings, I didn’t have everything I needed. I didn’t have full command, but I was able to get out of (some jams), and that helped set the tone,” Woods said. “But really, just staying focused and taking it pitch by pitch. That’s what was really huge for me.”

Bad weather may have delayed Friday's start for over two hours, but for Georgia and Woods, it was worth the wait as the left-hander turned in his second outstanding game in as many starts despite escaping trouble in the first two innings.

“The breaking stuff got better as the game went on,” Stricklin said. “He had traffic all over the bases in the first two innings, but that’s the competitive nature that he has. He gets better when the pressure goes on.”

Woods was brilliant, allowing just three hits in six innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. Going back to last week’s start against Princeton, the former Houston County standout has not allowed a run in the last 10.2 innings, giving up just four hits, three walks, and 19 strikeouts.

He retired the last 12 batters he faced, coming out after throwing 99 pitches.

“I didn’t even know that,” Woods said of retiring 12 straight. “I was just going out there taking it pitch by pitch, inning by inning. I was just doing everything I could to make it through.”

Strangely enough, Woods did not get off to a particularly good start before rallying to keep the Yellow Jackets (9-1) off the board.

A leadoff single by Jake DeLeo and a double by Angelo Dispigna put runners at second and third with nobody out. But Woods strikes out Stephen Reid and Jackson Finley before getting Jack Rubenstein out on a fly to center.

“That gave us a lot of energy,” Stricklin said of Woods’ Houdini act. “The team is really excited when he pitches, he’s just got to quit digging himself into so many holes. But when he gets out of it, he gives you a lot of energy.”

Like Woods, Georgia’s batters did not seem to mind the fact Friday’s game did not begin until 8:20 due to lightning and rain.

The Bulldogs batted around in the second to grab a 4-0 lead with the bottom two in the lineup accounting for three of the runs.

First, a double down the line on a 0-2 pitch scored Corey Collins from second, followed by Mason LaPlante who laced a triple off the glove of right-fielder Stephen Reid for a 3-0 lead.

“I thought he was going to catch it. He made a good play, but it bounced off his glove and once I saw that, I ran as hard as I could,” LaPlante said. “There was a lot of emotion early on in the game. That kind of settled me in.”

Ben Anderson followed with a fielder’s choice groundout to first scoring LaPlante for the Bulldogs’ fourth run.

The runs kept coming in the third, this time tallying three, two on a ball hit by Cole Wagner that bounced off the second base bag, with a single by Tate later in the inning making it 7-0.

Georgia’s bullpen made sure the score stayed right there.

Kyle Greenler stranded a pair in the seventh before Charlie Goldstein pitched a scoreless eighth before giving up a couple of runs in the ninth to account for the final score.

Boxscore

… Charlie Condon’s first-inning double gave him an eight-game hitting streak. He finished with two hits and is now hitting .543.

… Georgia Tech’s Jack Rubenstein fell victim to the 20-second batter’s clock to end the sixth inning. With a 3-2 count, Rubenstein did not get back in the box in time and was called out by home plate umpire Zack Neff. The strikeout was Woods’ eighth. This is the first year the batter’s clock has been installed, one of the measures taken in college baseball to help speed up the game.

Georgia and Georgia Tech continue their series Saturday in Atlanta at Russ Chandler Stadium at 2 p.m. Liam Sullivan (1-0, 0-0) starts for the Bulldogs against a pitcher to be determined for Georgia Tech. The three-game set wraps up at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville on Sunday at 3. Nolan Crisp (1-0, 3.68) starts for Georgia against Jackson Finley (1-0, 1.00).