ATHENS — Freshman third baseman Parks Harber blasted a solo home run to give No. 12 Georgia a 3-2 walk-off win in 10 innings over Kennesaw State on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs (15-5) employed eight pitchers as part of a staff night starting with redshirt freshman left-hander Charlie Goldstein. The Bulldog bullpen combined to toss 9.1 scoreless innings. Redshirt sophomore Nolan Crisp picked up his first win while Owls closer Jared Rine dropped to 2-2.
The Owls (11-8) took a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-out RBI-double by Terrence Norman and a run-scoring single by Garrett Hodges. KSU junior left-hander Ryan Kennedy pitched six shutout innings before the Owls turned to Nathan Holler and then Anthony Rodriguez. In the seventh, Georgia made it 2-1 on an unearned run as Cole Tate reached on an error and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice by pinch-hitter Ben Anderson. In the ninth, graduate Riley King’s one-out run-scoring double tied the game as Tate raced home following a leadoff single. It was the third hit of the night for King, tying his career high for the fifth time. With one out in the 10th, Harber smashed his second career home run for Georgia’s sixth walk-off the year.
Georgia resumes Southeastern Conference action Friday when it travels to Bryan-College Station to face Texas A&M. First pitch is slated for 7:02 p.m. ET. Last weekend, Georgia went 1-2 here against No. 10 Tennessee while the Aggies were swept by fifth-ranked Florida in Gainesville. Friday’s game will be available on SEC Network with game two and three of the series on SEC Network+. The entire series can be heard on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Georgia's Acting Head Coach Scott Daeley
On the pitching tonight
“I thought our guys did a great job. Obviously, they (pitching staff) kept us in it when we had absolutely nothing going on offensively so you have to give those guys a lot of credit. They just needed to have some success, especially after maybe having a rough weekend or things didn’t go their way. Going out there, finding some success, sometimes that’s all people need, for a ball to find a glove one time and they’re able to take a deep breath and be the guy that they always are.”
Nolan Crisp, RHP, RSo.
On his recent solid outing
"I have been working hard, me and Coach Kenny. I have made some minor adjustments and it has really paid off here as of late.”
Park Harber, 3B, Fr.
On the win helping team’s confidence
"I think in baseball the mental part of the game is huge; and I think if you think you’re going to get the hit or if you’re going to make the play then you’re going to make the play. Then if you don’t think that way you might not be as successful. So, I think the confidence- this would definitely help our confidence level on the team. As Coach Daeley said we are a really good team. So, we need to have confidence in ourselves. I think this would be a big boost heading into the weekend, just to get that W, which is huge.”
Saturday
April 27th, 2024
5:18PM
