Ugly night at the ball park

After his team played what Scott Stricklin claimed were its two-best games over the weekend against Georgia Tech, Tuesday night’s contest against visiting Georgia Southern left much to be desired.

Not only were the fourth-ranked Bulldogs unable to solve Eagle starter Tyler Owens (1-0); they were ultimately outplayed in every facet by the visitors from Statesboro, who eased to a 6-3 win before a Foley Field crowd of 2,195.

“You’re not always as good as you think you are; this game can humble you really quickly. Anyone can beat you on any given night, but there are enough older guys on this team that know that,” Stricklin said. “We’ve got to come back ready to play, ready to compete, and prove we’re a better team than what we were tonight.”

The Eagles (5-5) outhit Georgia (11-2) 13-7 and took advantage of three Bulldog errors, which accounted for two unearned runs.

“No question, you’ve got to make plays and a couple of them were routine plays,” Stricklin said. “They made the plays, we didn’t; they had better at-bats than us, they pitched better than us, and they beat us in every facet of the game.”

Georgia Southern struck first off redshirt freshman Garrett Brown, scoring three times in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by Christian Avant and Jason Swann, before adding a third when Patrick Sullivan let a hard grounder go right through his legs.

Owens, meanwhile, held the Bulldogs to just one hit over the first four innings, getting some help when center fielder Parker Biederer robbed Tucker Bradley in the first of what would have been a two-run home run.

“The momentum switched really quickly in the first inning. Tucker hits a ball that any other day I think is gone here,” Stricklin said. “But the wind kind of died; it didn’t carry as much as I thought, but Biederer made a great play. It was high enough where he could get to the fence, time his jump, and rob a home run. So instead of 2-0, it’s 0-0 and they’ve got all the momentum, and from there on out, they dominated the game.”

Little went right for the Bulldogs after that.

The Bulldogs' third error of the evening led to Georgia Southern making it 4-0 in the sixth before adding two more in the seventh, on a single by Avant through a drawn-in infield.

Cole Tate drove in two of Georgia’s runs with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, and an RBI single in the ninth. An RBI single by Chaney Rogers made it 6-3 after Tate’s RBI hit in the ninth

Garret Brown (1-1) took the loss for the Bulldogs after allowing six hits and two earned runs in four innings. He was followed by Will Childers, Brandon Smith, Cain Tatum, and Darryn Pasqua, who combined to allow 7 hits and two earned runs over the final five innings.

Boxscore

Freshman pitcher Brandon Smith will undergo an MRI after inuring his elbow in the seventh inning.

“Brandon will get evaluated tomorrow,” Stricklin said. “Right now, there’s not a whole lot you can do until you take a picture. We’re going to have an MRI (Wednesday), but anytime you have to point at the elbow, it scares you. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that he’s OK, but right, we don’t know.”

The freshman from Woodstock came in in the seventh and threw just two pitches before walking off the mound, where he was met by Stricklin and team trainer Sean Boland and immediately taken into the clubhouse.

Center fielder Randon Jernigan was forced to leave the game after making a diving catch in the ninth.

With a runner at first, Jason Swann hit a line drive that the sophomore laid out to snag, but he was slow to get up, bringing Boland sprinting out from the dugout.

“Randon actually hit his head on the ground. I thought it was his shoulder. I had visions of Tucker Bradley, the way he hit the ground, but actually he hit the ground and hit his head,” Stricklin said. “He felt better when he came in the locker room, and is getting evaluated right now, as we speak, but hopefully it’s just a little bit of a headache, and he feels better (Wednesday), But we’ll have to evaluate that as we go.”

Jernigan was able to walk off the field under his own power.

…With his fourth-inning walk, Tucker Bradley has reached base in all 13 games this season.

…Riley King made his first start of the year at third base, the fourth different position he’s played this year. King has also started in right field, second base, and left field.

Georgia and Georgia Southern resume their three-game series Wednesday night at SRP Park in North Augusta. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.