It doesn't matter how prepared one believes he might be. That initial foray into SEC action can occasionally leave a bitter taste, especially if you’re a freshman pitcher.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Friday night’s opener against Tennessee was one of those occasions. The Vols beat up three of Georgia’s freshmen to the tune of nine runs, to roll 11-6.
“I think it played a huge role. Unfortunately, I think we played to the uniform a little too much [more] than we played to the player and the game. I think they made a little too big a deal of it,” assistant coach Scott Daeley said. “I know we wound up scoring six runs, but the hitters were sped up as well.”
The trio of Luke Wagner, Charlie Goldstein, and Liam Sullivan didn't do themselves any favors, combining for eight walks in three-plus innings. Sullivan was responsible for five, two coming with the bases loaded before he gave up a grand slam in the fourth to establish a 9-0 Tennessee lead.
Georgia would go on to walk 12 in the game, three coming with the bases loaded.
The game’s final outcome was not the only bad news for Georgia.
In the bottom of the fourth, freshman Corey Collins lined a two-out single for the Bulldogs’ first hit, only to come up grabbing the back of his right leg and having to leave the game.
Daeley did not have update after the game.
“Initially, it just tightened up on him. But we’re going to have to look at it tonight and tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll look at it tomorrow and see where we are.”
It just wasn’t Georgia’s day.
Earlier, the school announced that head coach Scott Stricklin tested positive for Covid-19 and was quarantining for at least the weekend.
“We went to lift yesterday. I guess it was post-practice, and we get back and all of a sudden we don’t have our head coach for opening night,” second baseman Josh McAllister said. “It was weird. Coach Stricklin, his pre-game speeches, we really seemed to focus, and we missed that tonight.”
Wagner (3-1) did not make it out of the second.
After giving up a leadoff home run to Liam Spence, Wagner issued a pair of walks in the second and was 2-0 on the No. 8 hitter for Tennessee when pitching coach Sean Kenny went to the bullpen.
Goldstein would get out of the inning thanks to some good fortune, when a wild pitch bounced off the backstop and right back to catcher Fernando Gonzalez. Jordan Beck attempted to score from third, but was met easily at home by Gonzalez, who put down the tag.
Unfortunately for Georgia, Tennessee (16-3, 1-0) was not done. Not by a long shot.
After two third-inning runs off Goldstein made the score 3-0, the Vols exploded for six more in the fourth off of Sullivan. Back-to-back walks with the bases loaded put Tennessee back on the board, before Jake Rucker stepped up and hit a grand slam that just skimmed over the wall in right.
“I just think in some of these situations, your heart rate goes up, you get excited, and it’s hard to slow down,” Daeley said. “But we feel great about Luke, we feel great about Charlie, and we feel great about Liam. They’ll be better for this going forward.”
Georgia (13-4, 0-1) would scratch back with a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth, the latter two scoring on a double to center by Riley King.
Cole Tate made it 10-6 in the seventh when he scored on a wild pitch, before the Vols added a run in the eighth after Jack Gowen, Hank Bearden, and Collin Caldwell held Tennessee to two runs over the final five.
