Wildcats Beat Bulldogs 6-1

Friday, April 16

Athens, Ga.

6:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

21-12, 5-8

Kentucky

22-9, 7-6

Kentucky

Georgia

April 16, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score Game33

ATHENS, Ga.--- Kentucky defeated No. 20 Georgia 6-1 Friday at Foley Field in the opening game of a Southeastern Conference series.

The Wildcats (22-9, 7-6 SEC) got eight solid innings from Cole Stupp who allowed just one run on 10 hits with a walk and eight strikeouts for the win. The Bulldogs left 11 men on base and fell to 21-12 overall, 5-8 in the SEC.

In the third, Kentucky grabbed a 1-0 lead courtesy of a two-out, run-scoring single by T.J. Collett. A sacrifice fly from Ryan Ritter made it 2-0 in the fourth. They had a chance for a big inning, putting two in scoring position with two outs, but senior left-hander Ryan Webb came back with his seventh strikeout of the contest, getting Chase Estep. Georgia looked to answer as the first two Bulldogs in the bottom of the frame reached on base hits before Stupp retired the next three to maintain the edge. Georgia would strand a couple more runners in the sixth. In the seventh, the Wildcats added a pair of unearned runs on bases-loaded walks for a 4-0 lead. Webb went 6.2 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts in dropping to 2-2.

Bulldog senior Garrett Blaylock matched his career high with another three-hit game including a double in the eighth. He would score on a base hit from Riley King for Georgia's lone run. The Wildcats added two more insurance runs in the ninth for the final.

Game two of the series will be Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:02 p.m. ET and be televised by the SEC Network and can be heard on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

Georgia's Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
On the runners left on base…
"Yeah, no question. I just got the report, and I am looking at it right here, yeah 11 left on base. That is a lot of ducks out there that didn't score. We had some chances; we had guys on first and second, nobody out in the fourth, and you got Riley King up there a fifth-year senior and feel pretty good about letting him swing. Especially, when they shortened up their defense and brought some guys in like we were going to bunt. So, lots of holes out there that we felt like the right thing to do was swing away, and it didn't work out. But we wanted to go for the knockout punch and have a big inning instead of giving them an out and moving things over for the back end of the order. So, that is why we did that, but at the end of the day you have to get hits with runners in scoring position and we did not do it."

Ryan Webb, Senior, LHP
On his performance on the mound tonight…
"It was just one of those days where my fastball command just isn't what it normally is. It was almost like every time I would call in, it would go out, up, down, vice versa. I felt really good about my slider and my change-up tonight, and I think that they bailed me out a little bit. My defense played great behind me. So, when I don't have my best strikeout stuff, at least, my defense is picking me up making great plays left and right. That makes it a lot easier on me as a pitcher, even when I don't have my best day."

Garrett Blaylock, Senior, 3B
On the team leaving runners on base tonight…
"Unfortunately, that's disappointing. I felt like we could get a couple hits, and then couldn't really seem to get that one hit to deliver a couple of runs. So, that's pretty disappointing, especially when Coach [Stricklin] said when Ryan is on the mound, let's get some run support for him. He pitched a heck of a game, but we just couldn't get that one hit in the big moment."

POSTGAME VIDEOS

Coach Stricklin