In his Thursday Zoom session with reporters, Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin talked about eliminating walks and cleaning up other mistakes that have cost the Bulldogs at different times this spring.

Little did he know those same bugaboos would bite his Bulldogs again on Friday night, resulting in a dropped opener to North Florida, 7-4.

“It started with the free bases,” said Stricklin, whose Bulldogs combined for six walks. “We’ve got to play cleaner baseball; we’ve got to play tougher baseball. We did not do that today.”

Three of the Osprey’s seven runs scored after walks, two coming during Austin Bogart’s three-run homer in the second inning after an error by third baseman Garrett Blaylock and a walk by C.J. Smith to Ricky Presno put runners at first and second.

But the real stickler for Georgia came in the bottom of the sixth when the Bulldogs, trailing by just one run, loaded the base with nobody out but failed to score.

A gamble on a short fly to center off the bat of Buddy Floyd failed to pay dividends.

On the play, Marshall tried to tag and score from third. He never had a chance, as Bogar made a nice play in shallow to cut off the slicing fly and throw a strike to home completing the 8-2 double play. Following a pitching change to lefty Eddie Miller, Ben Anderson struck out to end the inning.

Stricklin explained why the decision was made to send Marshall on the play.

“You’ve got the lefty Miller in the bullpen, and you’ve got a really good arm getting ready to face Ben Anderson,” Stricklin said. “With the lefty (Bogart) running that fall and the angle from home plate, we just took a chance there and he made a great play. He made a great throw. We’re trying to tie the game up. We knew Miller was coming in. It was going to be a tough matchup right there, so we just rolled the dice and gambled, but they made the big play.”

Neither team had trouble scoring some early runs.

Georgia jumped out to a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Corey Collins and Marshall, only to have the Ospreys go up by one on a three-run homer by Bogart in the second.

Riley King tied the game for the Bulldogs in the inning’s bottom half with a double to left before North Florida regained the lead with a run in the top of the third.

“We came out hot, which I wish we could do every single game,” Marshall said. “We’ve just got to keep it up.”

Starting pitcher C.J. Smith (0-2) could only go four for the Bulldogs after being charged for all four of North Florida’s three runs. Unfortunately, reliever Luke Wagner fared no better.

Wagner surrendered a home run to catcher Alex Katcher to lead off the fifth and followed that up with a hit batter and a walk. That was enough for Stricklin, who pulled Wagner in favor of freshman right-hander Will Pearson, who after getting an out on a fly to center, walked the next batter to load the bases.

Bogart was up next and was ahead in the count 3-1, only to hit into a 4-6-3 double play allowing Pearson and the Bulldogs to escape further damage.

A solo home run by Connor Tate after Collins lined into a 3-unassisted double play brought the Bulldogs back within one in the fifth.

“That was a big spot, but I just kept telling myself I had to throw a strike and let the defense play behind me,” Pearson said. “I got a strike and (the defense) made a good turn up the middle.”

Unfortunately, the offense was not able to respond in kind, as Tate’s home run was Georgia’s only run from the second inning on before North Florida added some insurance with two runs in the ninth off of Nolan Crisp, one coming on Kachler’s second home run.

Boxscore

…During his Bulldog career, shortstop Cam Shepherd started all 198 games of his Georgia career. Ten games into the 2021 season, three different players have played the position for the Bulldogs-Cole Tate (out with a hamstring), Joshua McAllister and Buddy Floyd, who made his first start at the position on Friday.

…Freshman Garrett Spikes made his first career start in right field Friday. He went 0-for-2 before being pinch hit for by Randon Jernigan in the sixth.

…With three scoreless innings Friday, freshman Will Pearson has not allowed a run in 6.1 innings to start his career.

Georgia and North Florida resume their series Saturday at 1. Senior Riley King (0-0, 0.00) will start for the Bulldogs.