Auburn Outlasts Georgia In 14 Innings

Friday, April 30

Athens, Ga.

7:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

27-15, 10-10

Auburn

18-21, 4-16

Auburn

Georgia

May 01, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score Game42

ATHENS, GA.-- Auburn beat No. 20 Georgia 10-6 in 14 innings Friday at Foley Field after the Bulldogs rallied twice to extend the contest.

The Bulldogs (27-15, 10-10 SEC) trailed 5-3 in the 12^th and 6-5 in the 13^th, before a four-run 14^th by the Tigers proved to be too much as the game lasted four hours and 31 minutes. In the 14^th, Auburn (18-21, 4-16 SEC) surged ahead on a run-scoring double from Ryan Dyal and then added home runs from Ryan Bliss and Rankin Woley.

The Bulldogs fell to 3-1 in extra innings this season while Auburn improved to 3-5. Both teams scored a pair of runs in the first. Auburn got a two-out, RBI-double from Steven Williams, and he scored on a base hit by Brody Moore. Georgia answered, loading the bases on three straight hits and then Connor Tate and Corey Collins picked up an RBI apiece with a sacrifice fly. Garrett Blaylock extended his on base streak to 19 games with a single in the frame. In the third, Tiger first baseman Tyler Miller, who has a team-leading 12 home runs, drove one deep to center, and Ben Anderson jumped at the wall and brought it back for an out.

Dyal led off the fifth with his first career home run to put the Tigers in front 3-2. Tate tied the game when he blasted his team-leading 10^th home run, the eighth in SEC action, in the bottom of the sixth off Carson Skipper. Tate now has reached base safely in 22 straight games. Collins followed with a bunt single, and Auburn went to the bullpen for Carson Swilling. The Bulldogs eventually put runners at second and third with one out, and Swilling retired freshmen Parks Harber and Garrett Spikes to keep it a tie game.

In the ninth, Woods made an excellent defensive play on a bunt attempt by Steven Williams as the Bulldogs were in a defensive shift. Then, the Tigers got a pair of hits to put runners at the corners with one out. Woods came back to register a couple of strikeouts to send it to the bottom of the ninth at 3-all. In the 12^th, Ryan Bliss's two-run double put the Tigers back in front 5-3. Georgia answered in the bottom of the inning as Harber led off with a single. With one out, Ben Anderson smashed a game-tying two-run home run off Cody Greenhill. It was Anderson's third of the year. An unearned run in the 13^th forced the game to the 14^th.

Sophomore Will Morrison (1-0) got his first win by pitching the final 2.2 innings while Bulldog junior Darryn Pasqua dropped to 2-3. The rubber game of the series will be Saturday with first pitch slated for 12:02 p.m. The game will be available on the SEC Network and can be heard on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

Georgia's Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
On the pitching
"When you use that many guys, they're [Auburn] are in the same position. Both teams exhausted the bullpens to do everything they could to win this game and when you lose it stings a little bit extra because, heck, now we have to look to tomorrow and what do we do with pitching. We'll figure it out. It was a really tough one to lose. Jonathan Cannon, I didn't think he had his best stuff, but he battled. That's one of my favorite outings from him because he didn't have his best stuff, but he got through it and was really good once he got out of that first inning. Jaden Woods deserved to get the win and we just couldn't get it done for him. We had a couple of opportunities and we didn't take advantage of them."