ATHENS, Georgia – The No. 15 Texas A&M claimed early leads of 2-0 and 4-3 but succumbed to a surge in the middle innings by the No. 24 Georgia Bulldogs in an 11-5 loss at Foley Field Thursday afternoon.
The Aggies were doomed by the middle third of the game as Georgia put up three runs in the fourth and four runs in both the fifth and sixth frames.
Michael Helman stretched his hit streak to 20 games with a double in the first inning. The string is now tied for the ninth longest in school history, equaling Cliff Pennington’s 20-gamer in 2004. Helman finished the game 3-for-4 with one walk, two doubles and two runs. Braden Shewmake was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Cole Bedford went 2-for-4 with a home run.
Aggie starter Stephen Kolek (3-3) labored through 4.2 innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four. Landon Miner worked 2.0 scoreless innings, scattering two hits while striking out two.
Texas A&M dropped to 20-7 overall and 2-5 in the SEC. Georgia improved to 20-6 overall and 6-1 in the SEC.
SCORING SUMMARY
T1 | With one out, Helman legged out a double on a hit to rightfield, moved to third on a single by Shewmake and scored on a wild pitch. A&M 1, UGA 0.
T3 | DeLoach and Helman started the frame with a walk and Shewmake pushed both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Hunter Coleman plated DeLoach with a sacrifice fly. A&M 2, UGA 0.
B4 | With one out, Aaron Schunk poked a single to leftfield and Keegan McGovern drew a walk. A deep fly ball to right by Michael Curry moved Schunk to third and he scored when Cam Shepherd gapped a double to left-center. Sasser knocked in two runs with a single to rightfield to give the Bulldogs’ their first lead of the game. UGA 3, A&M 2.
T5 | DeLoach drew a leadoff walk and was replaced at first when Helman hit a fielder’s choice grounder to short. Shewmake followed by belting his third home run of the season over the rightfield fence. A&M 4, UGA 3.
B5 | Mason Meadows drew a leadoff walk, but was retired at first trying to go to third on after an error on Tucker Maxwell’s bad sacrifice attempt resulted in a throwing error by Kolek. Maxwell stole second and scored the equalizer on Tucker Bradley’s single to centerfield. Schunk was hit by a pitch. After McGovern flied out to center for the second out of the inning, Curry hit a three-run home run to centerfield to put the Bulldogs back in front. UGA 7, A&M 4.
B6 | With one out Meadows drew a walk and scored on Maxwell’s home run to rightfield. After Bradley and McGovern walked, Curry knocked in a run with a single. Georgia tacked on one more when Shepherd was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Sasser drew a walk. UGA 11, A&M 4.
T8 | Foster led off with an infield single, but he was erased as a frozen rope to short resulted in a double play. Bedford followed with his second home run of the season, over the leftfield wall. UGA 11, A&M 5.
NEXT UP
The Aggies and Bulldogs face off for game two of the series Friday at 6:02 p.m.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics