4/20/19 5:00pm
#5 Georgia Sweeps #21 Missouri Behind 1-Hitter
By. Andrew Rodberg (twitter/www.twitter.com/404thebeat)
ATHENS, Georgia —On Saturday afternoon, the Dawgs headed to Foley Field looking for the clean sweep of the #21 Missouri Tigers. In doing so, they sent out pitcher Tony Locey to face Missouri’s TJ Sikkema.
With a 12:00 noon start time, many fans were in attendance before G-Day, that would occur just a few short hours later. Locey, who has been a workhorse for the Dawgs, came out in the top of the 1st and showed that he was not going to be bullied as he struck out the first three batters. With the Dawgs coming up, they did what they do best…jump on the starting pitchers right away and wreak havoc. With that being said, Riley King doubled and Aaron Schunk followed it up with a single to put the Dawgs at the corners. A wild pitch scored King to put the Dawgs up 1-0 after one inning.
The second inning was pretty quiet for the Tigers as Locey had yet another 1,2,3 inning. In the third inning, the Dawgs really imposed their bats on Sikkema. Aaron Schunk earned himself another single and LJ Talley made him pay with a 2-run homer to follow. With that home-run Talley gave the Dawgs a 3-0 lead.
After sitting down the Tigers dominantly through the first three innings, Locey had some difficulty in the fourth. Locey had some trouble locating the strike-zone and walked three batters followed by a hit by pitch and a 2 RBI single to allow the Tigers to cut into the lead. With a 2 run fourth inning the Tigers looked to tie the game but the Dawgs had other plans.
LJ Talley continued to disrupt Missouri’s pitchers as he reached base for a third time in the form of a walk. He was then able to force a balk and a wild pitch to get him to third base in the bottom of the fifth. The Dawgs had some difficulty bringing Talley home, but a passed ball by Sikkema allowed him to steal home and give the Dawgs a 4-2 lead.
With Locey’s pitch count rising, the Dawgs allowed him to work the sixth with hopes of getting out of it quickly and efficiently. Locey was able to sit down three of the four batters with one walk to end his outing and put him in line for the win. (Locey ended his outing with 6IP, 1 hit, 2ER, 5BB’s, 5K’s)
The Dawgs then turned to their reliable bullpen by calling upon recently reinstated Ryan Webb (who had previously been injured) to work the seventh inning. As the seventh got underway, Webb looked comfortable and it showed as he sat down the line in order on 13 total pitches. With Webb coming back, the Dawgs now look to bolster their already SEC best bullpen.
The eight and ninth innings were awarded to Zac Kristofak as Aaron Schunk was unavailable to pitch after getting the nod the night before. Kristofak the “other” closer for Georgia looked strong and commanded the strike-zone by sitting down all six of his batters while not allowing a single hit. Kristofak earned his 5th save and helped the Dawgs pitch a 1-hitter on their way to victory.
With the Dawgs closing out the game and winning with a 4-2 victory, the Dawgs swept the #21 Missouri Tigers and secured their 33rd win of the 2019 season.
The Dawgs now have two days off before facing the #11 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Tuesday at SunTrust Park. The game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network at 7:00pm
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