The Gators (18-13, 7-2 SEC) have won six straight SEC road games while the Bulldogs drop to 10-17 overall and 3-6 in the SEC. Georgia junior closer Joshua Fields came on in the eighth inning and cruised until the 11th. Second baseman Clayton Pisani led off with a base hit. Then, the Bulldogs turned a nifty double play to bring up den Dekker. On a 1-1 offering, he connected for his fifth home run of the season.
Freshman Kyle Mullaney pitched three scoreless innings to move his record to 2-0 while Fields fell to 1-4. He allowed one run on four hits 3.2 innings with a walk and two strikeouts. Florida used six pitchers on the day while four Georgia hurlers saw action in a game that lasted 3:44 plus a 33-minute rain delay in the top of the first.
In the fifth, Florida struck first, getting a two-run infield hit from Cody Neer. Georgia cut the deficit to 2-1 in the sixth and tied the game in the seventh on a two-out, run-scoring double by freshman Rich Poythress (2-for-6). The extra base hit scored sophomore shortstop Gordon Beckham (2-6) who extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games with a single. Georgia missed out on scoring opportunities in the eighth, ninth and 11th frames. Beckham delivered a one-out double in the 11th but Mullaney retired Poythress and pinch-hitter Travis Parrott to end the contest.
“We had our chances but we didn’t come through enough times today,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “That’s the way it goes some times with a young team. However, I thought we competed much better today compared to Saturday. It’s tough on the guys, but they just have to remember to keep battling out there. We got some big outs today by our pitching staff and defensively, we made some nice plays. Overall, we don’t have a lot of room for error right now.”
Georgia returns to action Tuesday when it plays host to Clemson. First pitch will be at 7:06 p.m., and the game will be televised by CSS.