University of Georgia Athletics
Walsh, Nichols Seize The Moment At Turner
May 12, 2015 | Baseball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
ATLANTA -- Jared Walsh seized the moment Tuesday at Turner Field. The Georgia baseball senior also savored it.
Daniel Nichols, a junior, did the same, during and after the Bulldogs' 6-0 win over Georgia Tech, who managed just one hit against a quintet of Georgia pitchers.
"Honestly, if you'd have told me coming into the park we were going to combine for a one-hitter, I'd have told you that you were crazy," Walsh said. "The middle of their lineup is outstanding, but we got ahead and made pitches when we needed to."
It was Walsh's final game against Georgia Tech (32-19), which had won the past three meetings with the Bulldogs (25-26), including a 13-6 rout at Foley Field on March 31, and he started on the mound and batted third. It was also his final game at Turner Field, at least in a Bulldog uniform.
"It's just amazing to me that people get used to playing in places so big," Walsh said of the 50,000-seat stadium.
The left-handed pitcher struck out six Yellow Jackets in five scoreless innings. He allowed one hit -- Tech's only hit -- and walked one. He faced 18 batters and threw 68 pitches, 45 of them for strikes.
Walsh was no slouch at the plate, either. He singled in his first two at-bats and walked in his third, scoring on Nichols' three-run homer to center field in the sixth that put Georgia in front 4-0.
Nichols had himself a game with the homer, a double, a single and a career-high five RBIs. Nichols' older brother, Thomas, played for Tech (2008-10), but the first baseman from Leesburg, Ga., said he knew his brother was watching on TV and rooting for him.
"When it comes to football he's a Tech fan, but when it comes to baseball he's cheering for me," Nichols said. "Right now I'm sure he couldn't be more proud of me."
Georgia's two-way player, Walsh has contributed as much as any Bulldog this season, and he quite likes the spotlight. The Duluth, Ga., native played at Peachtree Ridge High School, which is exactly 30.8 miles from where the big-leaguers play on Hank Aaron Drive, according to Google Maps.
On Tuesday Walsh wasn't just playing for his Georgia teammates or the thousands of red-clad Bulldog supporters in the crowd of 18,792 at the Spring Baseball Classic for Kids. Walsh was playing for the family and friends who came to see him, and for the many teammates from Little League and up that never had the opportunities he did, that never got to call a place like Foley Field home for four years and step onto the mound at a big-league park.
"When we were 10 and 11 years old, our coaches would take us to this game all the time," Walsh said. "I never even thought about being in it and to have the opportunities that I have has just been such a blessing."
Walsh is also appreciative of his friends that were suited up in Tech pinstripes Tuesday.
"Matt Gonzalez and I have been teammates for a really long time and Daniel Spingola's the same way," he said. "It's just pretty special to play against those guys."
Keegan McGovern got the Bulldog offense barking with a one-out single to right field in the first inning. Walsh, who normally doesn't bat when he is the starting pitcher, dug in next and drilled a line-drive double to left-center field, putting runners on second and third. Nichols put the Dogs up 1-0 with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring McGovern.
That was all Georgia managed in the first, but it was more than the Dogs scored in nine innings here last season, when Tech blanked Georgia, 2-0, in front of 21,310.
Nichols brought about the first big roar of the night in the sixth. Tech pitcher Cole Pitts had been living on the edge at times in the first five innings and Nichols sent him over it by blasting a 1-1 pitch about 430 feet.
"For me to hit that home run tonight, that's just every kid's dream, to hit a home run in a big-league park like that," Nichols said.
That was more than enough for Georgia's pitchers, who combined for eight strikeouts and five walks.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. You can follow him on Twitter: @TheFrierson and @ITAHallofFame.
