Georgia baseball’s offense left for Nashville red-hot off a series win over No. 2 Arkansas and a midweek victory against No. 14 Georgia Tech.
That offense fell flat at Vanderbilt’s Charles Hawkins Field, and the No. 5-ranked Bulldogs (33-8, 10-8 SEC) suffered their second sweep of the season on Saturday. The No. 19-ranked Commodores (30-10, 11-7) sealed the sweep with another dominant day on the mound and a 5-2 win.
UGA lost 3-1 on Thursday and 13-7 on Friday, thanks in large part to 40 strikeouts over the series.
Georgia totaled just 17 hits on the series with seven walks.
The Bulldogs didn’t seem to make many adjustments, as they had as many hits (5) on Saturday as they did on Thursday. UGA struggled to score inside the park, as nine of its 10 runs were off homers.
Robbie Burnett gave Georgia a brief lead on Saturday with one of those homers, a 352-footer just over the left-field wall.
Georgia lost the lead almost as quickly as it earned it, though, as Vanderbilt tied the game on a fielder’s choice in the next half inning.
Then the Commodores took the lead for good with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth. UGA starter Leighton Finley’s day ended shortly after, finishing with three earned runs on five hits and a walk in five innings.
Slate Alford scored Georgia’s second run on another solo shot in the sixth before Vanderbilt scored two insurance runs in the seventh.
UGA coach Wes Johnson recognized how good Vanderbilt’s pitching staff could be before the weekend started. The longtime SEC pitching coach compared the Commodores’ arms to top two teams Texas and Arkansas.
Johnson’s assessment certainly proved true, as the Bulldogs seemed to struggle as much at the plate as they did a couple weeks ago at Texas. The Longhorns swept Georgia for the first time this season, the Bulldogs scoring just eight runs all weekend.
“We didn’t do a good job with two strikes and backing the ball up or being competitive with two strikes,” Johnson said. “The guys are going to get in there on Monday, roll up our sleeves and get better.”
Vanderbilt didn’t dominate the Bulldogs with one kind of pitching. The Thursday night ace, JD Thompson, bulldozed UGA’s lineup with powerful fastballs and sweeping sliders.
Game three starter Connor Fennell didn’t have the same velocity, but he made up for it with off-speed excellence and accurate fastballs.
“That guy didn’t give us a chance,” Johnson said. “That guy was really good today.”
Georgia did see couple of strong starts on the mound in the series, as Finley and Brian Curley combined to allow five earned runs in 11 innings pitched.
UGA is back in action with another ranked matchup, this time visiting No. 3 Clemson at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
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