For the second consecutive day Missouri posted a walk-off, this time 5-4 to complete a sweep of Georgia Sunday at Taylor Stadium.
The Tigers (30-20, 10-17 SEC) rallied past Georgia who fell to 28-24, 10-17 in the SEC. It marked the fourth time this season the Bulldogs lost after taking a lead to the ninth in an SEC contest.
In the first, Bulldog Charlie Condon added to his SEC Freshman record for home runs by blasting a 3-2 offering from Logan Lunceford off the scoreboard for his 24th of the year. Condon is now in third place in school history for home runs in a season, trailing only Gordon Beckham who hit 28 in 2008 (71 games) and Rich Poythress who had 25 in 2009 (62 games). Graduate Connor Tate followed Condon with his 15th home run of the year to put the Bulldogs in front 2-0. The Tigers cut it to 2-1 in the second on a two-out run-scoring double by Ty Wlmsmeyer. In the third, Tate reached with a two-out single and then junior Parks Harber made it 4-1 with his 17th home run. In the bottom of the inning, Missouri got a solo home run from Trevor Austin to make it a 4-2 contest.
Following a leadoff walk to Condon in the fifth, Lunceford was lifted in favor of Brock Lucas. He finished the frame and then the game went into a lightning/rain delay that lasted three hours and 35 minutes. When play resumed, graduate Kyle Greenler took the mound. Georgia junior left-hander Charlie Goldstein started and provided four innings and allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and one strikeout. Lunceford surrendered four runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in his outing.
In the fifth, Wilmsmeyer reached on a leadoff single, stole his team-leading 21st base, took third on an infield hit by Cam Chick and then scored on a two-out wild pitch to make it 4-3. The Tigers went to their bullpen to start the sixth in left-hander Jacob Hasty. In the seventh, Georgia missed an opportunity to build on their lead as Sebastian Murillo and Mason LaPlante reached on back-to-back singles and Ben Anderson moved both into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Condon drew a walk to load the bases. Tiger reliever Kyle Potthoff came back to retire Tate and Harber to keep it a one-run affair. The Tigers put a pair on with two outs in their half of the seventh and Collin Caldwell stuck out Ross Lovich to cap two scoreless innings of relief. Sophomore Chandler Marsh took care of the eighth for the Bulldogs. He hit the first batter he faced and then registered three straight strikeouts of the heart of the Tigers order.
In the bottom of the ninth, the rain returned and Dalton Bargo drew a leadoff walk. Marsh was lifted in favor of graduate Dalton Rhadans. Wilmseyer reached on a bunt single. Matt Garcia put down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with one out. Georgia brought in freshman closer Leighton Finley. Chick lined his first pitch in to right field for a two-run single for the game-winner.
“It’s incredibly disappointing, that’s two games in a row we can’t shut them down late in the game,” said Georgia’s Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin. “We had too many uncompetitive at bats. We had opportunities to score after the rain delay. We had the bases loaded with one out and don’t score. Bottom line, we got beat this weekend.”
Potthoff struck out five over the final three innings to improve to 2-0 while Rhadans fell to 3-2.
Georgia returns home and plays host to Western Carolina Tuesday. First pitch at Foley Field will be at 6:02 p.m., and the game will be available on SEC Network and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.