Final Score: Lipscomb: 3, Georgia: 8
Location: Athens, Ga. (Foley Field)
Records: Lipscomb: 9-5, Georgia: 11-3
THE SHORT STORY
Lipscomb Baseball struggled to find timely hits as it fell to No. 18 Georgia 8-3 Friday afternoon at Foley Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lipscomb got out to a good start when leadoff hitter,
John Shields, made contact and beat out an infield single to get things going. After reaching second on a ground ball, Shields scored when
Malik Williams doubled to right field for an early 1-0 lead.
Kaleb Kantola earned his fourth start on the mound for the Bisons and had a good start to his outing. He struck the first man out that he saw and got a quick fly ball for two outs. Georgia tied it up with a solo home run, but Kantola punched another out to keep things tied, 1-1 after the first inning.
In the top of the second,
Ethan Stamps notched the Bisons' third hit of the afternoon with a one-out single to right field, but the Bulldogs turned a double play to keep Lipscomb scoreless.
Georgia took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second when it took advantage of a few walks to load the bases. A hit batsman with nowhere to put him scored the go-ahead run, but Kantola got a fly ball to limit the damage and strand the bases juiced.
Georgia transfer,
Caleb Ketchup singled to start Lipscomb's half of the third inning, but three-straight strikeouts stranded him. The Bulldogs threatened to expand its lead in the bottom of the third after a leadoff hit and a walk, but three straight fly balls, including an impressive diving catch in left field by
Rudy Maxwell, stranded both runners as Georgia kept the 2-1 advantage through three innings.
Once again, the Bisons got the leadoff man aboard in the top of the fourth when Williams was hit by a pitch, but that was as far as he got. Georgia extended its lead in the bottom of the fourth after a pair of walks and a bunt single loaded the bases with two outs.
Chandler Giles, who came on in relief after the first two walks, forced a double play ball. The ground ball scored a run, but quickly put two outs on the board. Giles did a good job to limit what could've been a big inning for the Bulldogs and struck out the next batter to keep the Georgia advantage to just 3-1.
The Bulldogs mounted another two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth, adding a pair for a 5-1 lead after five innings.
Once again, the leadoff batter,
Maddux Houghton, reached base with a single in the top of the sixth, but he was stranded. In the home half of the inning, the Bulldogs added another with a solo shot over the right field fence for a 6-1 lead.
Mason Lundgrin worked a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh which Stamps followed with his second hit of the day. The pair advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch. A pair of strikeouts threatened to strand them both, but
John Shields hit a hard ground ball to second base and reached when the second baseman overthrew the bag. Shields tried to make it to second and was thrown out, but not before both Lundgrin and Stamps crossed home plate to cut the Georgia lead 6-3.
In the bottom of the inning, the Bulldogs answered with two unearned runs of their own, making the score 8-3 in favor of Georgia through seven complete innings.
Lipscomb had another chance in the top of the eighth with a pair of base runners aboard with two outs, but they were stranded. After a scoreless eighth, the Bisons needed a big rally in the top of the ninth to stay alive. Lipscomb was unable to get anything going in the top of the ninth and fell 8-3.
HERD NOTES
- Stamps had Lipscomb's only multi-hit game with a pair of singles.
- Six different Bisons notched hits on the afternoon.
- Lipscomb went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
- The Bisons batted .556 from the leadoff position.
UP NEXT
The final two games of the series will be played Sunday, March 12 as a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. CT at Foley Field.
