LSU Gold

Georgia Evens Baseball Series

by Sidney Kleinpeter
Printable Box Score Box Score +0
Georgia Evens Baseball Series

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU designated hitter Matt Gaudet collected four RBI, but the Georgia offense pounded out 15 hits to power the Bulldogs past the fourth-ranked Tigers  12-6 Saturday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.

With the loss, the Tigers (22-4) drop to 6-2 in SEC play. The Bulldogs (10-16) improved to 2-6 in the league with the win.

LSU won Game 1 of the series on Friday night, 4-3. The three-game set will conclude Sunday at Noon in Alex Box Stadium. LSU will send sophomore right-hander Joey Bourgeois (3-1) to the mound. Georgia will counter with sophomore right-hander Michael Palazzone (0-1).

The game will be televised on both Comcast Sports Southeast and Cox Sports Television, and can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network. Live stats and audio are available at www.LSUsports.net. The game may also be viewed online at www.ESPN3.com.

Austin Ross (3-2) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits through five innings. Jeff Walters (1-2) earned the win for the Bulldogs, allowing four runs on eight hits in six innings of play.

Gaudet paced the LSU offense, going 4-for-5, including his league-leading 11th home run of the season.

“This was just not our day,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Georgia played a great game and they deserved to win. I thought we swung the bats pretty well, but a lot of balls were hit into the teeth of the wind. I’m certainly not taking away anything from Georgia; they have a lot of talented ball players and they outplayed us today.

“We’ll look forward to coming to the ball park tomorrow with a chance to win the series.”

Georgia jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning. A fielding error by LSU allowed Peter Verdin to reach second base. The next batter, Levi Hyams, singled up the middle to score Verdin and put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0.

LSU responded by manufacturing a run of their own in the bottom half of the first. Mikie Mahtook led off with a double down the left field line, Tyler Hanover moved him to third on a groundout and Blake Dean drove him home on an RBI groundout to first to tie the game 1-1.

Georgia regained the lead in the top of the third on a two-run homerun to left by Hyams, giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage.

The Tigers pulled within a run, 3-2, in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Hanover, scoring Mahtook who doubled earlier in the inning.

Georgia increased its lead in the top of the fifth inning, scoring a run on back-to-back doubles by Verdin and Hyams to put the Bulldogs up 4-2. Following a walk to Zach Cone, Robert Shipman singled up the middle scoring Hyams and Cone and giving the Bulldogs a 6-2 advantage.

LSU added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on a two run blast over the left field bleachers from Gaudet, cutting the Tigers deficit to 6-4

The Bulldogs added a run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by catcher Christian Glisson to increase its lead 7-4. Georgia added three more runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Kyle Farmer and a two RBI single by May to put the Bulldogs up 10-4.

The Tigers plated a run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Gaudet to make the score 10-5.

Georgia scored two more runs in the ninth on a two-run homerun by Farmer to give the Bulldogs a 12-5 lead.

LSU added a final run in the ninth on another RBI single by Gaudet, driving in pinch-hitter Grant Dozar to make the score 12-6.

LSU coaching legend Skip Bertman was honored prior to the game as his jersey No. 15 was unveiled on the grandstand fascia of Alex Box Stadium. Bertman coached the Tigers for 18 seasons (1984-2001), directing LSU to five NCAA championships.

Georgia 12, LSU 6 (Apr 03, 2010 at Baton Rouge, La.)
———————————————————————-
Georgia…………. 102 031 302  – 12 15  1      (10-16, 2-6 SEC)
LSU………………. 101 020 101  –  6 12  1      (22-4, 6-2 SEC)
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Pitchers: Georgia – Jeff Walters; Justin Earls(7); Steve Esmonde(9) and Christian Glisson;
Carson Schilling.
LSU – Austin Ross; Mitch Mormann(6); Chris Cotton(7); Ben Alsup(9) and
Micah Gibbs.
Win-Jeff Walters(1-2)  Loss-Austin Ross(3-2)  T-2:55  A-10835
HR UGA – Levi Hyams (1); Kyle Farmer (1).
HR LSU – Matt Gaudet (11).
Actual Attendance: 7468