Thriller at Foley

It’s early, still very early to be talking about the 2019 college baseball season, and especially when you compete in the meat-grinder that is the SEC.

However, with two conference series down, Scott Stricklin’s Bulldogs are certainly showing like they belong.

Sunday, No. 5 Georgia made it two SEC series in a row, hanging on to a thrilling 9-7 victory over No. 10 LSU before a rowdy Foley Field crowd of 3,042.

“It’s a good feeling to step on the field and know we’re every bit as good as them. I think we’re really good, too, and that’s a good feeling. This is the fourth time we’ve played them since I’ve been here. These are the first two wins we’ve got, and to be honest, every time we stepped on the field, I felt we needed some things to go our way to win,” Stricklin said. “They were just so good, they never made mistakes. They didn’t make many mistakes this weekend, either. We were just able to find a way to win.”

After splitting the first two games--LSU 1-0 on Friday and Georgia (21-3, 5-1) 2-0 on Saturday--it looked like Sunday’s finale was headed in that direction again, until both squads found success against the other’s respective bullpen.

Leading 6-2, LSU (17-7, 4-2) struck for four runs in the eighth against Zac Kristofak and Justin Glover, before Aaron Schunk escaped further damage, stranding runners at first and second.

A two-run home run by Austin Biggar and a solo shot by Tucker Maxwell pushed the Bulldogs’ advantage to 9-5, but there was still more drama to come.

After cutting the lead to 9-6, LSU had the bases loaded with one out when Brandt Broussard hit a hard grounder, right at second baseman LJ Talley, who bobbled the ball, but recovered and threw to first for the out with a run coming home from third to make the score 9-7.

One out still remained, but Schunk escaped further trouble when he enticed Brock Mathis to bounce to third, right at Connor Tate who stepped on the bag for the final out.

“I just felt relief that I could throw a ground ball there,” said Schunk, who picked up his ninth save. “I’ve got a good defense behind me. I knew what happened with LJ doesn’t always happen, but I just tried to throw another ground ball, and that’s what I was able to do.”

Tony Locey (4-0) got the win for Georgia, despite not having the best of control.

The junior walked five in his 5.1 innings with just one strikeout, but was able to grind through, until Zac Kristofak took over with Georgia leading 4-1 after a third-inning grand slam by John Cable.

Cable’s blast off starter Eric Walker (1-1) came after an intentional walk to Talley, giving his Cable his third homer and second grand slam this year.

The Bulldogs weren’t done.

Georgia added a run in the seventh, when Maxwell singled, stole second and then third, before coming home when the throw from catcher Mathis to third sailed into left field.

As it turned out, the runs were needed.

In the eighth, LSU struck for four runs, getting home runs from Josh Smith off Kristofak and a two-run from Daniel Cabrera off Justin Glover, to draw within 6-5.

Cole Wilcox came in, but didn’t retire a batter, walking the first Tiger hitter on four straight pitches before giving up a single and had a 2-0 count on Brandt Broussard before Stricklin went to Schunk, his closer.

The junior did just what he was supposed to, retiring the next two batters to get out of the inning.

Biggar and Maxwell would provide the insurance and capper to what would become a winning afternoon.

After Chaney Rogers coaxed a walk, Biggar, who had the game-winning hit on Saturday, hit a high fly ball that kept carrying and didn’t land until it fell just inside the line at the 314 mark for a huge two-run home run.

One batter later, Maxwell launched one of his own, high over the scoreboard in right-center field and off the back fence.

In the ninth, LSU looked like it was about to get a quick two runs--that is, until left fielder Randon Jernigan leaped high with his glove over the left field fence to rob Zach Watson of a two-run homer. The Tigers ultimately did score two more before Schunk retired Mathis for out No. 3 in the ninth.

“That was stressful. What a game,” Cable said. “This team never gives up. We keep fighting. LSU has a lot of great players. What a series, what a game.”

In the bottom of the third, Riley King and Schunk singled with two out, with both runners moving to second and third on an error by Tiger left fielder Daniel Cabrera.

After an intentional walk to LJ Talley, Cable jumped on the first pitch he saw and launched a no-doubt grand slam that landed just short of the back fence in right field.

“They walked him, and honestly, I hadn’t had a very good series to that point,” Cable said. “But I had a chip on my shoulder going up there, got the pitch, and really unloaded on it.” He wasn’t the only one.

Biggar’s two-run homer in the ninth, followed one batter later by Maxwell’s solo shot, gave Georgia the lead it would not relinquish.

Leading 9-5 in the bottom of ninth, Jernigan saved a pair of runs when he jumped with his glove over the fence in left to rob Watson of a two-run home run.

“When the ball was off his bat, I didn’t think he got it, but all of a sudden he gets to the wall and I’m like ‘Oh, no,’” Stricklin said. “It was a great catch and it was just so demoralizing to LSU. They could not believe he made that catch. It was just a big-time play.”

The win pushes Georgia’s record to 21-3, 5-1 in the SEC, good for a one-game lead over Vanderbilt for first place in the East.

“That’s as good a rotation as you’re going to see in the league. It’s just amazing to me that every year in the SEC, everybody’s pitching just seems to get better and better. Quality arms. They had some arms out of the bullpen, too. It was challenging for our hitters. I think our pitchers were challenging for their hitters, too. It was just a really great series. Unfortunately, we just came up a tad short.” – LSU coach Paul Mainieri.

Stricklin said that catcher Mason Meadows suffered a pair of facial fractures as the result of fouling a ball off his face in the second inning.

“To be honest, that’s good news because I was really worried about his eye,” Stricklin said. “We’re hopeful that the eye is OK. If the eye’s OK, he’s going to be back. Right now, the signs are positive with that, but our trainer felt right at the beginning there was going to be a facial injury.

So, he’s been evaluated, we’ll let the swelling go down and then make a decision what we’re going to do next. The good news is we feel like he is going to be back at some point, when we don’t know.”

Stricklin was unsure after the game if Meadows would be placed in concussion protocol.

“We don’t know yet, we’re still evaluating that,” he said. “There’s no hurry to testing that, so we’ll test that when the swelling goes down to see where he is.”

In other injury news:

● Stricklin said pitchers Ryan Webb (arm) and Will Proctor (arm) will not be able to pitch in this upcoming weekend’s series at Kentucky but hopes to have both back for the following week against Vanderbilt.

● First baseman Patrick Sullivan (concussion) took batting practice Sunday but Stricklin is still unclear when he will be allowed to return.

Georgia travels to Georgia Tech on Tuesday. Gametime is 7 p.m.

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