TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama avoided a Bulldog series sweep by posting a 3-0 win over 18th-ranked Georgia Sunday in front of a crowd of 3,129 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
In the series, Georgia’s starting pitchers combined to toss 13.2 scoreless innings before allowing a run Sunday. Senior first baseman Drew Williams led off the fourth with a solo home run to give Alabama its first lead of the series. His seventh home run of the year put the Crimson Tide up 1-0. In the fifth, Andrew Pinckney collected his third hit of the afternoon, a two-out, two-run shot to make it 3-0. Georgia had won seven straight in the series.
Bulldog sophomore left-hander Liam Sullivan provided 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts in the loss to fall to 3-2. Alabama starter Grayson Hitt (4-1) earned the win, tossing six scoreless frames with seven strikeouts. Alabama improved to 24-17 overall and 9-8 in the SEC.
“We got quality starts from all three of our starters in the series, and they gave us a chance to win, and today, it was just two pitches that left the park and that was the difference,” said Georgia's IScott Stricklin. “The pitching the entire weekend was very encouraging. Your goal is to win every series, and obviously you want to win every game you play. Realistically, it’s to win every series especially on the road. We came in today with a chance to sweep. It’s disappointing to lose but I thought they pitched really well. They won the battle today, and we won the war.”
Will Pearson got the final out of the sixth and then Davis Rokose took care of the next 1.2 innings with Max DeJong getting the last out of the eighth for the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, Brock Guffey and Dillon Ray handled the final three frames for the Crimson Tide. Ray picked up his fifth save.
In the series, the Bulldogs (28-12, 11-7 SEC) allowed just five runs, and they all came on home runs, three solo and a two-run shot. Also of note, Georgia scored in just two of 27 innings and still won the series. On Friday, they scored four runs in the first in a 4-2 victory and three in the third inning of a 3-0 shutout.
Georgia will return to action Tuesday when it plays host to Georgia State. First pitch will be at 6:02 p.m., and it will be available on SECN+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
