Considering it had dropped four straight games to Georgia Southern—including all three matchups last season—Tuesday afternoon’s contest in Statesboro was not your typical midweek affair for visiting Georgia.
This one had a bit of extra intensity.
On this occasion, the results were more to the Bulldogs’ liking. Scott Stricklin’s squad used solid pitching and a calculated gamble in the ninth inning to beat the Eagles at J.I. Clements Stadium, 5-2.
With the Bulldogs leading 5-1, an RBI double by Jason Swann drove in GSU’s second run, but more importantly brought the tying run to the plate with two out.
However, with two-hole hitter Mason McWhorter and his 32 career home runs at the plate, Stricklin decided to take a chance. Georgia elected to walk the Cumming native and bring up the potential winning run in the form of Austin Thompson—who was batting .394 on the year.
Considering McWhorter almost hit one out two innings earlier, only to be denied by a great catch in center by Ben Anderson, Stricklin decided the gamble was worth taking.
It worked. As Will Pearson coaxed Thompson's pop-up to catcher Fernando Gonzalez to preserve the win.
“He (Pearson) loves to compete. He loves to be put in those spots, and when you walk the tying run and put the go-ahead run on the plate, it makes you really nervous,” Stricklin said during his post-game show on the Georgia radio network. “You start to see some bad visions in your head. But we felt that was the best move. (McWhorter) was the guy we kind of circled—don’t let him beat us—and it was a tough matchup, right on left. So, we made the decision to walk him. That’s what I told Will: We’re going to walk this guy, and you’re going to get the next out. He said, ‘Yes Sir,’ and got it done.”
The win boosted Georgia’s record to 10-3, while Georgia Southern falls to 6-6.
“We tell the players all the time we like to look smart. When we say bunt, and you get the ball down, we look like geniuses. If you bunt and pop it up, it’s like what the heck are you bunting for,” Stricklin said. “Baseball, you can be second-guessed all-day long, but you’ve got to make the decisions you think are best for the time, and that’s what we thought was the best decision.”
Besides making the home run-saving catch against McWhorter, Anderson also enjoyed his best night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs score. Anderson was hitting just .103 when play began, but he raised that number over 100 points by the end of Tuesday’s game.
“It was good to see him get a bloop hit. He’s hit so many balls hard this year and made outs. So as soon as he got the bloop, I’m like, hey, it evens out sometimes,” Stricklin said. “He’s still owed about three or four more jam-shot bloops, but it was good to see him get three hits.”
Freshman Corey Collins also broke out of a recent slump, banging out a trio of hits and getting the Bulldogs’ first two RBI. Catcher Fernando Gonzales also enjoyed a two-hit day for Georgia, which outhit the Eagles 13-11.
Starter Jonathan Cannon and reliever Charlie Goldstein were two other big storylines for the Bulldogs.
Cannon (1-0) pitched a pair of scoreless innings, giving up just two hits with a strikeout in what was his first action of the season since coming down with mononucleosis over a month ago. Working on a careful pitch count, the sophomore only went two innings, but still got credit for the victory, since it was predetermined that he would only go a couple of innings.
“It was great to see Jonathan back on the mound,” said Stricklin. “He gave us two scoreless innings and looked good. It’s a big boost to our team to get him, Ryan Webb, and Michael Polk back. Charlie came in after Jonathan and did a nice job, as did our bullpen. Offensively, I thought we grinded it out and found ways to score. We had good at-bats and managed to increase our lead when we got the chance.”
Goldstein followed with four innings of one-run ball, scattering four hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
Darryn Pasqua went two thirds of an inning, with Collin Caldwell taking just one pitch to escape the seventh—though that pitch would have left the park if not for Anderson’s great catch.
Pearson went the final two innings for Georgia, setting the Eagles down in order in the eighth before Georgia Southern scratched across a run in the ninth.
NOTE: According to Stricklin, this weekend’s series with Lipscomb is still on, despite some recent issues with Covid, which caused the Bisons to cancel their past six games.
“I talked to Jeff Forehand, their coach, yesterday, and their first day of practice will be Thursday,” Stricklin said. “They come out of quarantine on Thursday, will jump on the bus and practice at our place on Thursday, and as of this moment, we’re still good to go.”
