Miracle at Foley Field

Connor Tate smiled that he’s not a believer in Deja vu. Perhaps, he should reconsider his thinking.

For the second straight week, Tate’s grand slam in the ninth tied the game, bringing up Parks Harber who homered off the batter’s eye one pitch later to give Georgia a dramatic 9-8 win Saturday over No. 5 Arkansas.

“I don’t know if I believe in that,” Tate said. “Well, maybe a little bit.”

Last Friday at Florida, Tate’s grand slam in the top of the ninth tied the game against the Gators 10-10, enabling the Bulldogs to ultimately win, 13-11.

Saturday’s slam was arguably more impressive. Considering the situation, it was certainly timelier as it allowed the Bulldogs (23-17, 7-11) to sweep the No. 5 Razorbacks (30-10, 11-7) for only the second sweep for the Bulldogs in the history of the series, with the only other coming in 2000. It was the first sweep against a Top 5 team since Georgia took three from Mississippi State in 1993.

With the Bulldog still buzzing after Tate tied the game, Harber stepped to the plate with just one thought on his mind against reliever Ben Bybee. Look fastball.

He got one and sent the ball flying high toward center field. Jace Bohrofen drifted back but could only drop his head after the ball bounced off the batter’s eye, sending the Bulldogs exploding out of the dugout to celebrate the Saturday miracle.

“I thought it was gone, but I never have a good enough feeling, so I was busting it around first base just trying to pick up the extra base,” Harber said. “But I don’t remember it. I blacked out. But that was just awesome for our team, just a huge momentum builder, and a great week of baseball. This is just a start.”

If a team ever needed a little good fortune to come their way, it was the Bulldogs, who struggled out of the gate in SEC play, starting 1-9 in the conference. Since then, the Bulldogs have won 6 of their last eight SEC games, all against top-10 ranked teams.

Head coach Scott Stricklin feels the momentum his team was desperately seeking has arrived.

“That’s what I told the guys. It’s turned. You’ve got to make your breaks, you’ve got to make your momentum, and you need to do some things to turn it around,” Stricklin said. “It’s turned. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to stay there, you’ve got to keep going.”

Georgia hosts Georgia State in a non-conference game on Tuesday before closing out the season with series against Ole Miss (Oxford), Tennessee (Athens), Missouri (Columbia), and LSU (Athens).

“Sweeping this series has definitely put us in the right direction,” Tate said. “We’ve just got to keep being ourselves and playing our game.”

In a bit of irony, one day after Georgia’s 6, 7, 8, and 9 hitters each hit home runs. Saturday, the big three of Tate, Harber, and Charlie Condon joined the long ball fun.

Condon’s bomb was one of the longest witnessed at Foley Field in recent memory.

Trackman estimated the bomb, which flew high over the light standard in left-center field, to be 475 feet with an exit velocity of 111 mph. The home run was his 18th to go along with 55 RBIs.

Razorback third baseman Caleb Cali almost beat the Bulldogs by himself by going 3 for 5 with two homers and five RBIs. But after seldom-used Jarvis Evans (1-0) retired Arkansas in the ninth, Georgia went about the business of mounting a comeback the Foley Field crowd of 3,688 will not soon forget.

After Mason LaPlante led off with a walk, Ben Anderson singled, bringing up Condon who singled through the hole in left. LaPlante normally would have scored on the way, but third base coach Scott Daeley wasn’t taking chances and held him up at third.

That brought up Tate, who on a 1-2 count, sent Bybee’s pitch bye-bye over the fence in left.

Harber didn’t wait around. He jumped on the first pitch he saw from the Razorback reliever and launched it for the game-winner.

“That’s probably the 10th time since I’ve been here, close ball game late when I’ve come up with the bases loaded,” Harber said. “I just tried to slow it down. I was still excited and fired up about Connor’s grand slam. After that, I knew we had a chance.”

NOTE: Stricklin passed on some good news about pitcher Jaden Woods (arm fatigue), who did not pitch this weekend.

“I’m encouraged. Three days in a row he’s given us the thumbs up and said, ‘I feel better, I feel better.’ He’s going to throw (Sunday), and if he feels good he’ll throw again Monday,” Stricklin said. “He probably won’t start next weekend (at Ole Miss), but hope to have him available late in games.”

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