When Scott Stricklin talked before the year about how he envisioned the back end of Georgia’s bullpen shaking out, his hopes were that Jaden Woods and Jack Gowen would be the two pitchers he could count on to effectively close out games.
Friday’s 4-3 win over Texas A&M worked just as he hoped it would.
Woods and Gowen combined to hold the Aggies to one run over the final 3.1 innings, with Gowen striking out Troy Claunch with runners at first and second to end the game.
“That’s kind of how you draw it up,” Stricklin said. “Jack’s the guy you want. He’s got really good stuff, you know he’s got the fastball, you know it’s coming, but it's got a really good rise and it’s really hard to hit.”
After a one-out walk by Woods in the ninth, Gowen came into the game but soon found himself in a pinch after third baseman Parks Harber bobbled a grounder putting runners at first and third.
Dylan Rock followed with a sacrifice fly, followed by Jack Moss who singled up the middle putting the tying run at second.
Claunch was next, and after fouling off three straight 2-2 pitches, Gowen came back with a high fastball that the Aggie catcher swung through to end the game.
“I’m a fastball pitcher and I think everyone in the stadium knew a fastball was coming,” said Gowen, who picked up his sixth save. “If he was going to be on it and hit it, he was just going to be on it. He was just going to beat me. But it was going to be my best versus his best. That’s the mentality I had going into it. I was just going to keep grinding and hope that I’d outlast him.”
That’s exactly what happened.
After the final out, Gowen stared into the Georgia dugout while his teammates rushed the field to celebrate the win that pushed the Bulldogs’ record to 26-9, 9-5 in the SEC. Texas A&M falls to 21-13, 7-7 in the SEC.
Georgia struck for the game’s first run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Ben Anderson, although it felt like the Bulldogs should have tallied more after loading the bases with only one out.
The third inning was more to their liking.
Run-scoring singles by Connor Tate and Fernando Gonzalez sandwiched around an RBI grounded by Harber for a 4-0 lead.
The Aggies touched starter Luke Wagner for a run in the fourth, but it could have been much worse.
Texas A&M loaded the bases with nobody out before Kole Kaler truck out. Jordan Thompson followed with a slow grounder to short that the Bulldogs almost turned for an inning-ending double play, but the runner was ruled safe with a run scoring on the play.
That brought up leadoff batter Brett Minnich, but Wagner – who scattered five hits in four innings - got him swinging to end the inning and keep the score 4-1.
“That was huge. We’re going to need him, we’re going to need everybody,” Stricklin said. “We would have liked him to go five, but four we were good with. I thought he did a great job.”
Freshman Chandler Marsh (2-0) took over for Wagner to start the fifth and after retiring the first three batters he faced, gave out a two-RBI double to Kaler to draw A&M within 4-2.
Woods would escape further trouble when he struck out Thompson to end the inning. Woods went 2.2 innings for the Bulldogs, walking just one with five strikeouts.
“When we’re going well and we’re stringing good efforts, the next guy will follow, just because of the passion we have down in the bullpen,” Woods said. “We had that tonight.”
This and that
… Parks Harber’s second-inning single gave him a 10-game hitting streak, a career best.
… Connor Tate had his 17th-multi hit game and fourth three-hit game this season.
… With the save, Georgia is now 10 for 10 in save opportunities this year.
… The series concludes Saturday at 4. Liam Sullivan (3-1, 3.57) will pitch for Georgia.
