Pitching rough in Georgia’s opening series loss to Georgia Southern
Feb 14, 2014; Lakeland, FL, USA; A baseball lies on the grass during the Detroit Tiger
Pitching wasn’t exactly the highlight of this weekend’s opening series between Georgia and Georgia Southern. It’s great if you were a fan who loves to see runs scored, but if you’re one of the people who enjoy seeing pitching duals and defensive gems (I’m raising my hand here) this wasn’t the series for you.
Georgia dropped two of the three to lose the series to Georgia Southern, and the pitching staff/defense managed to let up 30 runs throughout three games. That’s ten runs per game. And the last time I checked these teams were still using BBCOR bats.
This pitching is going to be something to monitor as the season goes along, because the Bulldogs aren’t going to be having a whole lot of success unless the run prevention takes a u-turn.
Game 1
The series started out with a doubleheader on Saturday thanks to the weather, and the Dawgs dropped the first game 9-3.
Georgia’s starting pitcher Sean McLaughlin only managed to go 1.2 innings, as he let up four runs, four hits and a walk almost immediately. David Sosebee did a nice job to stop the bleeding for the Dawgs, tossing 3.1 innings and letting up just one run, but Georgia Southern scored four more against Luke Crumley in the final four frames.
Offensively, LF Hunter Cole did most of the work for UGA, going 3-4 with one run scored.
Game 2
The Bulldogs struck back in the second game of the day, and pummeled Georgia Southern to the tune of an 11-3 victory.
The top of Georgia’s lineup was extremely effective in this one, with the first four batters combining for nine hits and nine runs. As a team, the Bulldogs scored 11 runs and had 11 hits, so the top of the lineup definitely carried most of the load. Just like game one, Cole did a lot of the damage, with a 3-5 game including two RBIs and two runs. RF Conor Welton also had a three-hit game for Georgia out of the two-hole.
The pitching in this one was also much better than game one, with Ryan Lawlor eating six innings for UGA and allowing just three runs. Jared Cheek and Robert Tyler combined for the final three frames and didn’t allow a single hit, walk or run.
Game 3
Game three definitely the worst game of the series for Georgia. They got destroyed in this one, losing 18-4.
The Eagles scored eleven runs in the third inning of this one to immediately put the game out of reach, but kept the offensive display on for the rest of the game as well. In the end, six Georgia pitchers combined to allow 21 hits and five walks. Dylan Cole was the only pitcher to leave the mound without letting up a run–he pitched the final inning and gave up just one hit before ending the beat down.
Scott Stricklin told GeorgiaDogs.com about the disappointment of the pitching in this opening series:
"“We came in expecting to win the series; we had a chance to do that today. Georgia Southern played well, and you’re not going to win games when you give up 11 runs in an inning. This is a big bump in the road, but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. I know our pitching is better then what we showed this weekend.”"
We certainly hope so.