Friday, March 19
Athens, Ga.
6:00 p.m.
University of Georgia
13-4, 0-1
6
vs
11
Tennessee
16-3, 1-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Tennessee
1
0
2
6
0
1
0
1
0
11
11
0
Georgia
0
0
0
0
2
3
1
0
0
6
9
3
No. 10 Vols Beat Georgia 11-6
March 19, 2021 | Baseball
ATHENS----Tenth-ranked Tennessee defeated seventh-ranked Georgia 11-6 in the Southeastern Conference opener Friday at Foley Field.
The Volunteers (16-3, 1-0 SEC) took a 1-0 lead on a leadoff home run by Liam Spence. It was only the second run allowed by freshman Luke Wagner (3-1) on the year, both on solo shots. Georgia turned to freshman Charlie Goldstein with one out in the second. UT extended its lead to 3-0 in the third and made it 9-0 with a six-run fourth off freshman Liam Sullivan. Jake Rucker had the big hit in the frame, connecting for a grand slam.
UT starter Chad Dallas went 6.1 innings to improve to 3-0, allowing six runs on nine hits with nine strikeouts. Dallas had retired 11 straight before a two-out single by freshman Corey Collins. Georgia pushed across a couple of runs in the fifth as freshman Fernando Gonzalez and junior Ben Anderson picked up an RBI apiece to make it 9-2. Trailing 10-2 in the sixth, the Bulldogs (13-4, 0-1 SEC) got a two-out, two-run double from graduate Riley King and an RBI-single from freshman Parks Harber to cut it to 10-5. Each team would add one more run for the final. Georgia employed six pitchers on the night with Jack Gowen, Hank Bearden and Collin Caldwell taking care of the final 5.2 innings.
It was announced earlier Friday that Georgia's Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin would miss the series after testing positive for COVID-19. Associate head coach Scott Daeley will serve as head coach in his absence.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch slated for 1:02 p.m. The game will be available on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Georgia's Acting Head Coach Scott Daeley
On the game...
"Unfortunately I think we played to the uniform a little bit more than we played to the player. The common theme for the first three pitchers is they went out there, they were all freshmen. I think they made a little bit too big of a deal of it. Tennessee ended up scoring nine runs, and our hitters sped up as well. The guy (Chad) Dallas, he's got good stuff, and he's got a good arm but, some of the balls we were swinging at, we were swinging like he was throwing 98 miles per hour and he was throwing 93. So, I think the whole team, we've been playing great defense, we didn't do that today. There's a lot of things out there that we've done a good job with that we couldn't do today and for whatever reason, we sped up. It's an SEC game, and were just not just concentrating on playing the game of baseball."
Coach Daeley
Jack Gowen, RHP, Jr.
On the game...
"It's human nature to speed up when it's a SEC game and to try and not to is easier said than done. There's a learning curve and that comes with experience. You just have to trust that you're talented enough and somebody believed in you and you just have to find your confidence and your comfort zone. It takes a little bit, but it'll come."
Josh McAllister, 2B, Jr.
On SEC Opening Night without Head Coach Scott Stricklin...
"It was weird. We get locked in when Coach Stricklin gives us the pregame speech in right field before the game, and we missed his presence tonight. It was just weird without him here."
On his first SEC Game
"It was the first SEC game for a lot of us in the lineup. My first at bat was not outstanding but eventually we settled down, and we'll learn from it."
The Volunteers (16-3, 1-0 SEC) took a 1-0 lead on a leadoff home run by Liam Spence. It was only the second run allowed by freshman Luke Wagner (3-1) on the year, both on solo shots. Georgia turned to freshman Charlie Goldstein with one out in the second. UT extended its lead to 3-0 in the third and made it 9-0 with a six-run fourth off freshman Liam Sullivan. Jake Rucker had the big hit in the frame, connecting for a grand slam.
UT starter Chad Dallas went 6.1 innings to improve to 3-0, allowing six runs on nine hits with nine strikeouts. Dallas had retired 11 straight before a two-out single by freshman Corey Collins. Georgia pushed across a couple of runs in the fifth as freshman Fernando Gonzalez and junior Ben Anderson picked up an RBI apiece to make it 9-2. Trailing 10-2 in the sixth, the Bulldogs (13-4, 0-1 SEC) got a two-out, two-run double from graduate Riley King and an RBI-single from freshman Parks Harber to cut it to 10-5. Each team would add one more run for the final. Georgia employed six pitchers on the night with Jack Gowen, Hank Bearden and Collin Caldwell taking care of the final 5.2 innings.
It was announced earlier Friday that Georgia's Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin would miss the series after testing positive for COVID-19. Associate head coach Scott Daeley will serve as head coach in his absence.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch slated for 1:02 p.m. The game will be available on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Georgia's Acting Head Coach Scott Daeley
On the game...
"Unfortunately I think we played to the uniform a little bit more than we played to the player. The common theme for the first three pitchers is they went out there, they were all freshmen. I think they made a little bit too big of a deal of it. Tennessee ended up scoring nine runs, and our hitters sped up as well. The guy (Chad) Dallas, he's got good stuff, and he's got a good arm but, some of the balls we were swinging at, we were swinging like he was throwing 98 miles per hour and he was throwing 93. So, I think the whole team, we've been playing great defense, we didn't do that today. There's a lot of things out there that we've done a good job with that we couldn't do today and for whatever reason, we sped up. It's an SEC game, and were just not just concentrating on playing the game of baseball."
POSTGAME VIDEOS
Coach Daeley
Jack Gowen, RHP, Jr.
On the game...
"It's human nature to speed up when it's a SEC game and to try and not to is easier said than done. There's a learning curve and that comes with experience. You just have to trust that you're talented enough and somebody believed in you and you just have to find your confidence and your comfort zone. It takes a little bit, but it'll come."
Josh McAllister, 2B, Jr.
On SEC Opening Night without Head Coach Scott Stricklin...
"It was weird. We get locked in when Coach Stricklin gives us the pregame speech in right field before the game, and we missed his presence tonight. It was just weird without him here."
On his first SEC Game
"It was the first SEC game for a lot of us in the lineup. My first at bat was not outstanding but eventually we settled down, and we'll learn from it."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chad Dallas (3-0)
L: Wagner, Luke (3-1)
Batting:
2B: Liam Spence 1 ; Jordan Beck 1
3B: Evan Russell 1
HR: Liam Spence 1 ; Jake Rucker 1
RBI: Liam Spence 4 ; Pete Derkay 1 ; Jake Rucker 5 ; Jordan Beck 1
SH: Pete Derkay 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Liam Spence 3 ; Pete Derkay 1 ; Jake Rucker 1 ; Jordan Beck 1 ; Evan Russell 1 ; Max Ferguson 1 ; Connor Pavolony 3
HBP: Drew Gilbert 1
Batting:
2B: King, Riley 1
RBI: Anderson, Ben 1 ; King, Riley 2 ; Harber, Parks 1 ; Gonzalez, Fernando 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tate, Cole 1 ; McAllister, Joshua 2 ; Rogers, Chaney 2 ; King, Riley 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
3B
/ Baseball
INF/OF
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
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