ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia handed No. 16 Georgia Tech its first loss of the season, posting a 7-2 victory in front of a Foley Field crowd of 3,227.
Due to inclement weather, the start of the game was delayed two hours and 18 minutes. The Bulldog faithful were rewarded with another efficient start from junior Jaden Woods and an offense that provided an early 7-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs (7-2) recorded 11 hits on the evening with redshirt freshman Charlie Condon, junior Corey Collins and graduate Mason LaPlante collecting two apiece. Sophomore Cole Wagner and LaPlante notched two RBI apiece.
“We lost the first two, and then we won on Sunday last year,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said. “Any time you win on Sunday, it puts a better taste in your mouth, but the bottom line is that we have a chance to win the series Saturday. Hopefully, we can get to Sunday with a chance to win all three. It is going to be tough tomorrow. Playing at their place is always difficult. I know there will be a great crowd, but I know there will be a lot of Dawg fans in Atlanta tomorrow.”
Woods (2-0) tossed six scoreless innings while allowing three hits with eight strikeouts. Over his last two starts, Woods now has pitched 10.2 scoreless innings with 19 strikeouts. Georgia Tech’s (9-1) Dawson Brown (1-1) took the loss after pitching 3.1 innings and allowing seven runs off nine hits with six walks. Georgia got a scoreless inning from Kyle Greenler and Charlie Goldstein took care of the final two frames.
A four-run second inning gave Georgia the early lead. With two runners on, junior Sebastian Murillo doubled to left field to score Collins for the first run of the evening. LaPlante stepped into the box next and cranked his third career triple, his first at Georgia, to score Wagner and Murillo. A ground out from graduate Ben Anderson scored LaPlante for the fourth run of the frame.
The Bulldogs kept the scoring rolling in the third as Wagner doubled to center field to score Collins and junior Fernando Gonzalez. A single from graduate Connor Tate extended his hit streak to 14 games and scored Wagner as the Yellow Jackets remained scoreless, 7-0. The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the top of the ninth to escape the shutout.
“There were some guys that were saying this was going to be one of the biggest series of the year, just from an alumni and a fanbase standpoint,” LaPlante said. “I think the highlight video they showed before the game was, ‘One of the reasons you come to Georgia is to play in one of these games.’ You could tell with the fans they were really getting into it, and that was awesome to see. On Saturday, we’re just going to have to replicate that environment best we can going to their place, and then likewise on Sunday.”
Game two of the series will be played at Georgia Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m.
