ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia took a first inning lead and never relinquished it against Tennessee Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs evened the weekend series with a 3-1 victory at Foley Field.
The Bulldogs faced an early challenge on the mound but Tennessee’s offense struggled badly for the first time in weeks.
Here’s everything to know about the Vols’ game two loss.
Georgia Overcomes Early Adversity
It’s hard to imagine a team facing more immediate adversity than Georgia did Saturday afternoon. Bulldogs’ starter Charlie Goldstein — who has been the Bulldogs’ best pitcher in recent weeks — exited the game after just two pitches.
Maui Ahuna hit a grounder to first and Goldstein came up limping as he went to cover the base. LHP Jarvis Evans entered the game after a long warm up session and promptly turned in a career outing. Entering the game with a 6.52 ERA and just 9.2 innings pitched on the season, Jarvis proceeded to turn in 5.1 innings while allowing just one run.
Evans’ stuff was lackluster at best but the left-hander located his fastball well and had an effective breaking ball Tennessee batters were out in front of frequently.
Tennessee had a few occasions of bad luck with three fly outs to the warning track and a handful of other hard hit outs. But that doesn’t diminish how effective Evans was in a tough spot.
The freshman allowed just six total baserunners and Tennessee didn’t truly threaten until they loaded the bases and pushed him from the game with one-out in the sixth inning.
After the early Goldstein injury, Tennessee looked to have a major advantage. That didn’t turn out to be the case as Evans turned in a strong performance.
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Chase Dollander Struggles With Heart Of Georgia’s Lineup, Excels Elsewhere
Tennessee starter Chase Dollander faced every batter in Georgia’s lineup three times as he tossed six innings for the Vols Saturday afternoon.
Each trip through the order had a similar result as the heart of Georgia’s lineup tallied one run on him each time through while the junior handled the back end of the Bulldogs’ lineup.
In the first inning, Charlie Condon singled before Connor Tate drove him home with a double. In the third inning, leadoff man Ben Anderson singled and Condon walked before advancing 90 feet on a wild pitch. Tate delivered again with a sac fly to centerfield. Condon did it all by himself in the fifth inning, hammering a solo homer to left field.
The top of Georgia’s lineup having success isn’t some massive surprise. Nor is it that Dollander locked down the back half of the lineup. Condon and Tate are two of the SEC’s best bats but the Bulldogs don’t boast a deep lineup.
The damage could have been much worse for Dollander, especially in the third inning when he had to work out of a major jam to allow just one run.
In the end, it was a six inning outing as Dollander allowed eight hits and three earned runs while striking out six. The junior right-hander wasn’t flawless but kept Tennessee within striking distance while getting deep in the game.
Tennessee Can’t Muster Enough Offense
Tennessee entered game two of the weekend series having scored double digit runs in six of its last seven games and five of its last six SEC games.
But the Vols’ bats were largely non existent in game two of the weekend series. Tennessee totaled eight hits and worked three walks but failed to string much of anything together.
Four of Tennessee’s baserunners came in the sixth inning but the Vols scored just one run and stranded the bases loaded after Zane Denton struck out and Christian Scott popped out. That was Tennessee’s best scoring chance of the game and they didn’t capitalize the way they needed.
The Vols’ top bats largely led the way for their offensive struggles in the game two loss. Ahuna didn’t reach base after his infield single to leadoff the game, Blake Burke went zero-of-three with largely uncompetitive at-bats and Jared Dickey went one-of-four.
But it was a team effort of offensive struggles for Tennessee. Not a single Vol had multiple hits and Tennessee had just one hit with runners in-scoring position.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee and Georgia conclude their weekend series Sunday afternoon in Athens. First pitch at Foley Field is at 1 p.m. ET.
