Pitching ruled on Thursday night at Foley Field.
Against an Ole Miss offense averaging 7.7 runs per game entering the night, six Georgia pitchers dealt nine innings of two-run ball. But the Rebels (37-16, 17-11 SEC) outdid the Bulldogs (29-22, 12-16), shutting out the home team to earn a 2-0 win in game one of the series.
Ole Miss starter Doug Nikhazy stole the show in Georgia’s first game this season with a full capacity crowd. He struck out a season-high 13 batters in seven innings, limiting the Bulldogs to just four hits.
“That guy’s going to pitch in the big leagues,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said. “He’s ultra competitive, has really good stuff. It tells you how good he is, those last couple innings the velocity dropped but the ball has so much life on it. It jumps on the hitters.”
On a bullpen day for Georgia, starter Luke Wagner recorded just five outs before taking a foul ball off the shin that forced him to leave the game. Sophomore Michael Polk then pitched a career-high 4.1 innings to save the Bulldog bullpen. He exited after the sixth inning having surrendered two runs on three hits.
Polk also issued one of the three walks the Bulldogs allowed on the night. After allowing 15 free passes on Tuesday night at Georgia Tech, Stricklin appreciated the control from his staff.
“When you have a young pitching staff, you have pitchers that tend to nibble a little bit and try to be too fine,” Stricklin said. “That certainly hurt us on Tuesday. Tonight, our guys were aggressive in the zone. It was really encouraging to see. We just need to continue to do that.”
Georgia’s staff surely gained some confidence by holding the explosive Rebel offense in check. To hold that squad, a group that had seven hitters with a .300 or better average in the starting lineup, to just two runs is an impressive feat.
However, two runs turned out to be two too many against Ole Miss. After Nikhazy’s dominant outing, reliever Taylor Broadway recorded the final six outs while allowing one hit and one walk.
For Georgia, the next two games of the series are essentially must-win for the team’s NCAA Tournament hopes. Stricklin still maintained his confidence postgame, saying it’s “all hands on deck” to win tomorrow and build momentum heading into the third game of the series.
This weekend hasn’t started the way the Bulldogs wanted. With arguably the biggest game of the season less than 24 hours away, they can’t afford to dwell on it.
“You flip the page,” catcher Fernando Gonzalez said. “Baseball’s a game that you play every day. Sometimes you do great, sometimes you do bad. You’ve just got to flip the page. Tomorrow’s a new day, and we’ve got to win tomorrow.”