ATHENS — The 18th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs blanked 24th-ranked Mississippi State 11-0 Friday in the Southeastern Conference opener in front of a Foley Field crowd of 3,235.
Georgia (15-3, 1-0 SEC) posted its third shutout of the season behind a dominating performance by junior right-hander Jonathan Cannon as he tossed eight scoreless frames with no walks and nine strikeouts to move his record to 4-1. It marked Georgia’s first shutout in an SEC opener since 2012 when it blanked Tennessee 4-0 in Athens. MSU dropped to 11-8 (0-1 SEC).
“Jonathan (Cannon) set the tone; he was efficient and threw four pitches for strikes,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said. “Our defense tonight was outstanding. Chaney Rogers made some of the best plays I’ve ever seen at first base.
"Dwight Allen made a couple great catches in right field. Overall, we played well and got some big hits. Connor (Tate) got us on the board and Ben Anderson gave us some breathing room with his home run and then we put up a crooked number in the eighth. This was a good win, but we know it’s just the beginning because we got 29 more SEC games to play, and it’s a grind.”
Graduate left fielder Connor Tate provided a 1-0 lead when he led off the bottom of the second inning by launching his third home run of the year. In the third, Georgia took advantage of an MSU throwing error to plate another run. Chaney Rogers reached on a two-out base hit and then scored from first on a miscue by third baseman Kamren James on a grounder hit by Cole Tate to make it 2-0.
Cannon was perfect through four frames before a leadoff double by Logan Tanner. He advanced to third with one out and then was stranded as Cannon battled back to strike out Kellum Clark and got Brad Cumbest to pop out. In the bottom of the fourth, Georgia stretched its lead to 4-0. With two outs, Fernando Gonzalez reached with a single and Ben Anderson followed with a two-run blast to centerfield. It was his fourth home run of the season and extended his on-base streak to a team-best 16 games.
MSU starter Preston Johnson took the loss to fall to 2-1 as he surrendered four runs on six hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts in six innings. In the eight, Georgia added seven runs off the State bullpen for the final with Nolan Crisp taking care of the ninth for Georgia.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch slated for 2:02 p.m., and it will be televised on SEC Network+ and available on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
