April 26, 2006
Athens, Ga. – Josh Morris led a 16-hit attack with two hits and four RBI, and Gordon Beckham drove in three runs with a pair of hits to lift Georgia past Georgia Tech, 12-6, Wednesday night at Foley Field.
Tech, the nation’s No. 5-ranked team, fell to 32-10 overall with an ACC series at Boston College scheduled for this weekend. Georgia improved to 25-16 and is headed to Florida for an SEC series this weekend. The teams, whose season series is tied at a win apiece, will meet for a third time May 10 at Turner Field.
The Bulldogs struck for four runs in the first inning against Tech starter Chris Hicks (3-1). The first four batters of the game got hits for the Bulldogs before Hicks could get an out. He got the first two men out in the second, but the next eight Georgia batters reached base, and the Bulldogs added six more runs for a 10-0 lead.
In the second, Jonathan Wyatt singled and stole second, Joey Side walked, and Beckham singled home Wyatt to chase Hicks from the game. Josh Morris, who had singled home a run in the first, greeted reliever Ryan Turner with a three-run homer to make the score 8-0. Another walk, a hit batter and RBI singles from Matt Olson and Ryan Peisel plated two more runs.
Beckham singled home runs in the first and second innings and notched his third RBI with a bases loaded walk in the fifth. Matt Olson and Wyatt each added three hits for the Bulldogs.
Georgia starter Nathan Moreau (4-1) breezed through the first three innings, allowing just a walk and a hit, before Tech scored twice on three hits and a Bulldog error in the fourth. Moreau went five innings in his seventh start of the year, scattered five hits and a walk and struck out six batters.
Matt Wieters belted a solo home run, his sixth of the season, in the fourth inning for Tech, but the Bulldogs added a pair of runs in the fifth on three hits, a hit batter and a bases-loaded walk to make it 12-2. Jeff Kindel connected for his sixth, also a solo shot, in the sixth off Georgia reliever Trevor Holder, sparking a four-run rally that closed the gap to 12-6.
Georgia avoided allowing the game to get tighter when center fielder Joey Side made a diving catch of Wieters’ long drive for the third out. Jason Fellows and Rip Warren kept the Jackets off the scoreboard the rest of the game, scattering two hits.
Hicks, in his second start of the year, was charged with seven runs in just 1.2 innings in the loss, while Turner surrendered five runs in 2.2 innings.
