After a competitive home stretch that consisted of a five game-winning streak and one loss, Missouri Baseball headed to Athens to face off against Georgia in a three-game series.

The first game allowed both teams to show off their offenses with high-scoring innings. With two outs in the first inning, senior infielder Trevor Austin walked to start the offense. A wild pitch to junior catcher Jedier Hernandez moved Austin to second. Hernandez brought him in on the next pitch with an RBI double to center field. 

Georgia evened things up in the bottom of the third with a home run from sophomore infielder Charlie Condon. 

The Bulldogs took the lead with two rallies in the fourth and fifth innings. The fourth inning consisted of five hits from the Bulldogs, scoring four runs and making it 5-1 Georgia.

Georgia started up another rally, hitting three RBI singles and a three-RBI double. Missouri went scoreless, falling behind 11-1.

Missouri found their rhythm in the sixth inning, leading off with a walk on Hernandez. Freshman outfielder Kaden Peer brought him in during the next at-bat with a home run to right field. With one out, graduate infielder Matt Garcia hit a triple and freshman infielder Drew Culbertson was walked. Both runners werebrought in by a double from sophomore infielder Brock Daniels. An error from the second baseman on the next at-bat allowed Daniels to score. Missouri closed the score gap to 11-6.

Missouri scored four runs in the next two innings. The comeback was short as Georgia matched them with four runs of their own, Missouri falling 15-10

In the second game, Georgia got an early lead with a home run by junior infielder Slate Alford in the bottom of the second. In the bottom of the third, Georgia scored off a failed pick-off attempt to first base. They proceeded to load the bases with a hit and two walks, scoring from a third walk for a three-run lead.

Missouri got their first run in the fifth inning, Culbertson got on base with a single before advancing on a steal and an out.. A wild pitch on Peer’s at-bat opened the way for Culbertson to score.

Georgia made it 4-1 in the sixth inning with a quick run from freshman infielder Trey King after he reached on a fielder’s choice and reached home after two singles.

Missouri heated up in the seventh inning, starting with freshman designated hitter Thomas Curry getting walked before Culbertson laid down a sacrifice bunt to get him to second. Freshman outfielder Tucker Moore got on base with a single before sophomore outfielder Jeric Curtis hit another single,scoring Curry and advancing Moore to second. With two outs Austin crushed the second pitch straight to center field for a three-run home run for the first lead.

The eighth inning went scoreless, but in the bottom of the ninth Georgia got two quick hits from pinch-hitter graduate infielder Paul Toetz and sophomore infielder Kolby Branch. A double from Branch brought in Toetz to tie the game 5-5 and sent it to extra innings.

Peer opened up the 10th with a single and got to second due to an error. Hernandez was next up, hitting a ground ball to second base who made an error on the play, bringing in Peer to win the game for the Tigers 6-5.

With the series tied 1-1, both teams went into the third game with bats blazing. Georgia led the game off with five runs in the first two innings. Two doubles from Toetz and graduate outfielder Logan Jordan that brought in two runs. Condon scored the final two runs with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second giving them a 5-0 lead.

In the third inning. Curtis, Peer and Austin were all walked to start the inning and loaded the bases. After two runs and two more on base Daniels came up and cleared the bases with a two-RBI double down the middle, which cut the deficit to one.

Missouri evened things out in the top of the fourth inning with a lead-off home run from Moore. 

Georgia regained their lead in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases up early with three walks. Two runs were scored off of a single from Alford, and one more off a sacrifice fly to center field from Jordan. The Bulldogs reloaded the bases after two more walks, scoring Alford on the second one. 

The game went scoreless until the bottom of the eighth inning when Georgia scored Alford again off a single from graduate outfielder Clayton Chadwick.

In the ninth inning, with one out Lovich reached first base after the first baseman dropped the throw. Garcia brought him in the next at-bat with a home run to right field. Missouri ended the game losing 10-7 and the series 2-1.

Edited by Dylan Heinrich

Copy edited by Hannah Taylor

Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com