By Jake Mastroianni
The one thing you know about Kentucky baseball the last few years is they want to try and get you to play an ugly game. That isn’t meant as disrespect; it’s a method that helped them get to the College World Series last year.
And with the state of Georgia’s pitching, getting an ugly series was an easy result. Both teams combined to walk 43 batters, hit 23 batters, and had 10 wild pitches in the three games.
As discussed in our series preview article, these were the top two teams in the conference in getting hit by pitches, and that held true this past weekend.
However, to the Bulldogs' credit, they managed to trudge through the mud and won the series thanks to their powerful lineup.
Along with all of those free passes handed out by both teams, Georgia won the series because they out-hit Kentucky 35-27 and out-homered them 11-5.
Game 1: Georgia 12, Kentucky 6
Perhaps it was opening night jitters for SEC play, but Friday’s game was about as ugly of a Friday night SEC game as you’ll see.
There were 3 errors in the game (all by Kentucky), there 8 hit batters (4 by each team), 18 walks (11 by Kentucky), 3 wild pitches, and a balk.
Georgia starter Charlie Goldstein only recorded 1 out before getting knocked out of the game in the first inning.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 6-2 lead after 2.5 innings and it looked like they were going to cruise to a win, but you cannot count out the Georgia offense at home, no matter the deficit.
They’d score 1 run in the third, 1 in the fourth, 2 in the fifth, 3 in the 6th, and 3 in the seventh.
Ryland Zaborowski hit the game-tying homer in the fifth. Robbie Burnett had the go-ahead single in the sixth and put the game away for good with a 3-run homer in the seventh.
Kolten Smith, DJ Radtke, Tyler Mcloughlin, and Zach Harris settled things down on the pitching side for Georgia to finish the game with 7 scoreless innings, only allowing 3 hits.
While Georgia won this game, leadoff man Ryan Black left with a leg injury, and Kolten Smith was removed due to an injury as well. Smith has been battling injuries all year.
Game 2: Kentucky 10, Georgia 7
This time, Kentucky took a more commanding lead and then held on for dear life late.
A Luke Lawrence 2-RBI single in the fourth inning gave Kentucky a 9-2 lead. But again, you can’t count out this Georgia offense at home.
They answered right back with home runs from Zaborowski and Slate Alford in the fifth, and then an RBI single from Christian Adams in the seventh made it a 9-5 game.
That seventh inning could have been a lot bigger if it weren’t for the defensive play of the weekend by Patrick Herrera.
He would then homer in the eighth inning to give Kentucky a little more breathing room, but Henry Hunter hit a 2-run homer in the eighth to get them within 3 runs.
In the ninth, Georgia brought the tying run to the plate, but Scott Rouse struck out Kolby Branch to end it and give Kentucky their first SEC win of the season.
The two teams combined to hit four batters each in this one again, but Kentucky did a better job limiting the walks with only three compared to seven for Georgia.
Ben Cleaver started the game for the Wildcats and lasted 4.2 innings – the most of any starter over the weekend. While Clouse did a great job finishing off the game over the final four frames.
Game 3: Georgia 17, Kentucky 10
The craziness of this series continued into Sunday where for the second time in the series Kentucky saw the first three batters of the game cross home plate.
But once again, the Georgia offense came storming back with their relentless attack. They scratched back with 1 run in the bottom of the first and another in the second before taking a commanding 9-4 lead after a 7-run third inning.
In that 7-run third, Kentucky right fielder Shaun Montoya almost made a great diving catch that would have ended the inning, but instead, it popped out of his glove and allowed Georgia to clear the bases.
The Wildcats weren’t done though as they scored 2 runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to tie the game at 10. However, Georgia responded with 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth and 2 more in the seventh to put the game away for good.
Brian Zeldin threw some big innings for Georgia late, striking out 7 batters in 3.2 innings. He managed to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh when Kentucky was looking to get back in the game. Zeldin struck out Kentucky’s eight and nine hitters to end the threat.
Georgia’s Henry Hunter capped off a monster weekend with 2 home runs on Sunday, giving him a total of four against Kentucky in the series.
Other takeaways from the weekend
Everyone knows about the powerful bat of Slate Alford, but he also really impressed with the glove and arm at third base.
Georgia head coach Wes Johnson moved Alford to the leadoff spot with Black injured, and on Sunday finally moved Ryland Zaborowski up to the third spot after his hot start to the season. That top 5 of Alford, Burnett, Zaborowski, Phelps, and Hunter is as dangerous as any team in the country.
Tyler Bell had an up-and-down first SEC weekend as a freshman, but overall impressed with 3 total hits, a walk, and 3 RBI. He also looked smooth at shortstop defensively.
Kentucky loaded the bases in the first four innings of the game on Saturday, and scored 17 runs combined in the first three innings of all three games.
If Georgia is going to compete with the top of the SEC, they have to get their pitching healthy, and then have them pitch likely they’re capable. That includes guys like Charlie Goldstein, Kolten Smith, and Leighton Finley. While the offense has the ability to come back from any deficit, consistently putting yourself in a big hole to begin each game won’t work against the top of the SEC.
What’s next:
Kentucky has a mid-week game against Murray State before hosting Auburn who is coming off a home series win against Vanderbilt.
Georgia does not have a mid-week game as they prepare for a trip to their rival Florida who will be playing angry after getting swept by Tennessee.
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