SEC Tournament
NEXT UP: Saturday (Semifinals) - Georgia (44-14) vs the winner of Friday's game between Ole Miss and Arkansas
WHEN: Saturday, Noon ET
WHERE: Hoover Metropolitan Stadium
HOOVER, Ala. – For the second straight day, some late-inning magic resulted, this time a 3-1 victory over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament and the 7th-ranked Bulldogs are moving on to Saturday’s semifinal round.
With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Razorbacks elected to walk Wednesday hero Cam Shepherd in favor of Patrick Sullivan, who foiled Arkansas’ plans by dumping an opposite field double to left, scoring Aaron Schunk and Shepherd for the go-ahead runs.
"I was really on top of the plate. I was just trying to battle and be able to hit it right off the end," Sullivan said. "I got lucky that it found a hole, and that was it."
The neatly placed double would be enough for reliever Ryan Webb (1-0), who, along with Schunk, combined with starter Cole Wilcox on a five-hitter.
But Georgia would have to sweat it out.
In the bottom of the ninth, a pair of two-out singles—one off Webb and another off Schunk—put runners at first and third with two, out before the Bulldog closer struck out Jacob Nesbit to end the game after falling behind 3-0.
The Bulldogs will play the winner of Friday’s Arkansas and Ole Miss contest Saturday afternoon.
Hits were hard to come by for both teams. Georgia (44-14) wasted a chance in the second after a walk was sandwiched in between infield hits. The Bulldogs left them all stranded when Chaney Rogers grounded out to short.
The Razorbacks (41-16) would strike first, scoring a run on a wild pitch before Wilcox stranded a second runner at third.
Georgia, the home team based on the Bulldogs’ higher winning percentage in SEC plays, let another opportunity slip away in the inning’s bottom half. Tucker Maxwell and Riley King both reached to lead off, followed by Schunk, who lined a ball, but right at Razorback left fielder Christian Franklin before grounders by LJ Talley and John Cable ended the inning with runners on second and third.
Wilcox— who allowed the one run on three hits and four walks with five strikeouts—would dodge some bullets of his own, stranding runners at second and third before leaving a runner on base at second in the sixth.
"It's kind of tough when a guy like that shows up on campus—everybody thinks he's going to strike everybody out, throw 98-100 mph," head coach Scott Stricklin said. "Our guys hit him hard in the fall and he got hit hard early in the season, so that's a testament to Cole and what kind of kid he is. He got upset, he got ticked off. The slider's gotten better, the change-up has gotten better. When you can throw 98-100, a slider at 90-91 and a change-up anytime you want, it's really tough to hit."
Arkansas would pull starter Isaiah Campbell after throwing 71 pitches through five in favor of Kole Ramage, who retired all three batters he faced to send the game to the seventh.
Wilcox wasn’t long for the game, eighth.
An error by Shepherd—his first in an SEC game this year—got the inning started for the Razorbacks, followed by one-out walk, which chased the freshman in favor of Webb, who escaped further damage by enticing a double play.
The Bulldogs would tie it up in the bottom of the seventh, using a single by Shepherd and a pinch-hit double by Connor Tate, before Ramage escaped further damage by setting down the next two hitters.
"He's had some big hits for us this year," King said. "There was the one against Kentucky, two weeks ago at Auburn. it's awesome. He always come straight up, he's ready to go."
Webb would set the Razorbacks down in order in the eighth before Sullivan’s double gave Georgia the lead, which Schunk held after giving up a two-out single after replacing Webb (1-0) to pick up his 12th save.
"We just found a way to win," Stricklin said. "Connor Tate came up with the big hit. I thought that gave us some life. We hit some balls early but just didn't have the momentum until Connor got that big double. That was also the best Ryan Webb (2.1 innings, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts) has been since the beginning of the year, and that's a great sign for us if Ryan Webb is going to keep throwing like that."
