Georgia baseball drops heartbreaker at LSU on walk-off home run

Georgia baseball couldn’t escape the hallowed grounds of Alex Box Stadium with a series win on Sunday, falling to traditional powerhouse LSU when closer Jaden Woods surrendered a walk-off home run in a 4-3 loss.

“It was a heartbreaker today, to be that close and not come away with a series win in this place, the fans were really loud and there’s a lot of energy here,” UGA coach Scott Stricklin said. “We had them and let it slip away. It’s disappointing.”

The No. 14-ranked Bulldogs (30-14, 12-9 SEC) had a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning before Cade Doughty launched a two-run bomb into the Left Field Landing to seal the win for the No. 22-ranked Tigers (29-14, 12-9).

It would have been the kind of win that registered with the NCAA Baseball Tournament selection committee, as Georgia scrambles for high enough ground to host an NCAA Regional with series against Vanderbilt, No. 1 Tennessee, and Missouri remaining.

UGA returns home to play Kennesaw State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday before playing host to Vanderbilt for a pivotal weekend series starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Stricklin, who felt the pain of missing out on last year’s NCAA Baseball Tournament on account of key losses to Georgia Tech, pledged his team will be ready for the Commodores.

“I feel bad for the team,” Stricklin said. “It was tremendous effort and we just came up a little short. Certainly, we can take a lot of positives away. ... We’ll be ready Tuesday and then a big SEC series at home against Vanderbilt.”

The Bulldogs do still hold the No. 2 spot in the East. Thanks to nonconference series wins over No. 24-ranked Georgia Southern and No. 25-ranked Wofford, they also have the No. 4 RPI ranking in the country.

UGA’s defense faltered at times, but consistently battled back to keep LSU at two runs until the ninth inning. Chandler Marsh, Davis Rokose, and Ben Anderson all delivered in the clutch in high-stakes situations to maintain a Georgia tie or lead.

Starting pitcher Liam Sullivan’s day ended in the fifth inning after LSU’s Dylan Crews hit his second solo homer and another Tiger runner reached third base with one out. Marsh entered and got two groundouts to keep the score at 2-2.

Sullivan, who fanned six, allowed six hits and two walks for two earned runs in 4.1 innings.

Marsh walked the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh inning. Davis Rokose relieved the freshman and fanned Tre’ Morgan, again preserving the tie.

UGA’s Ben Anderson plated Buddy Floyd in the top of the eighth to take a 3-2 advantage. Anderson also played the hero in the bottom half of the inning. With runners on first and second and two outs, Crews hit a line drive into center field that would have easily tied the game had Anderson not made a Superman-like diving catch to end the inning.

Georgia stranded all seven of LSU’s runners in scoring position.

Woods, who gave up a three-run bomb in Saturday’s win, entered to close out the Tigers before Jacob Berry reached on a leadoff single and Doughty whacked his walk-off homer.

LSU hit nine home runs this weekend, three in each game. 16 of its 17 runs were scored on long balls.

Fernando Gonzalez led the Bulldogs, who combined for four hits and a walk for two earned runs, at the plate. Gonzalez was 1-for-3 hitting with a triple and an RBI. The catcher was also thrown out trying to score from third on a hesitant baserunning decision in the fifth inning.

“You want to win every series you play, and we know it’s going to be battle every weekend especially on the road,” Stricklin said. “We will bounce back. This is a tough, resilient group.”