UGA Baseball: Bulldogs Cruise Past Owls Again
| Team | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2 | |
| 15 | 11 | 1 |
ATHENS, Ga. – Fourth-ranked Georgia cruised past Kennesaw State 15-1 Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 2,172 at Foley Field.
Georgia (8-1) grabbed an early 3-0 lead. Ben Anderson led off with a single and scored on Cam Shepherd’s (2-2, 2 HRs, 5 RBI) blast into the trees over the centerfield wall. Tucker Bradley (2-3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) followed with his fourth home run of the year, giving the Bulldogs back-to-back home runs for the first time since Keegan McGovern and Michael Curry did it against Troy in 2018.
In the third inning, Kennesaw State (4-4) catcher, Tyler Tolve, recorded an RBI single, shrinking the Bulldog lead to 3-1. However, Georgia quickly responded with a nine-run outburst to build a 12-1 advantage after three innings.
Following a double from Anderson and a walk from Shepherd in the third, Bradley smashed a two-run double to centerfield. Later in the inning, the Bulldogs added seven more runs, with an RBI single from Riley King, a 2-RBI double from Cole Tate, an RBI double from Shane Marshall, and a 3-run home run from Shepherd to cap the scoring.
Georgia starter, redshirt freshman Garrett Brown (1-0), pitched five innings, striking out a career high eight batters, while only allowing three hits and one run for his first win. Relievers Logan Moody, Brandon Smith, Cain Tatum, and Michael Polk each pitched a scoreless inning.
In the sixth, junior Kaden Fowler extended Georgia’s lead with his first career hit, which was a solo home run off of the scoreboard in right field. Georgia picked up two runs in the seventh for the final. KSU starter Luke Torbert dropped to 0-2, allowing nine runs on eight hits in two innings.
Dawg Tracks
– Redshirt freshman Garrett Brown made his second career start, both against Kennesaw State. He set new career highs with 8 strikeouts and 5 innings pitched as he earned his first win.
– In the third inning, senior Cam Shepherd hit his second home run of the night, for his second career multi-home run game. He now has blasted 21 home runs for the Bulldogs.
– Junior Tucker Bradley now has three 3-RBI games on the year.
– Sophomore Ben Anderson scored three runs in the game for a team-leading 16 on the season, which ranks second in the SEC.
– In his second plate appearance as a Bulldog, junior Kaden Fowler hit a home run. He hit 18 HRs over two seasons for Barton Community College before transferring to Georgia.
– Georgia had nine different players score a run, with four scoring multiple runs.
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
On bouncing back from Sunday’s loss…
“I think we just needed to get our focus back. I didn’t think we played particularly well on Sunday. We were a little sloppy so I thought we cleaned that up really well tonight. Garrett Brown gave us a great start. That was the key to getting this win tonight. We needed a good start out of Garrett Brown and then just the top of the order, Ben Anderson, Cam Shepherd, and Tucker Bradley, those three guys really set the tone in the first inning. We put up a big number [of runs]. I think we pitched well and it was good to see everyone contribute.”
Player Perspective
Cam Shepherd SS
On his two home runs…
“I just tried to put my best swing on it. I feel like I did that a lot last week and didn’t have a lot of balls fall so that is what I was working on yesterday during the off day. I just put my best swing on a good pitch to hit and it worked out for me today”.
Up Next:
#4 Georgia plays host to #17 Georgia Tech (6-1) Friday at Foley Field with first pitch set for 5 p.m. (SECN+).