Georgia baseball looks to even series at Missouri, turns to pitcher Jonathan Cannon

Georgia baseball looks to even its series at Missouri after a disappointing 6-4 loss on Friday night to the unranked Tigers.

The Bulldogs (24-13, 7-9 SEC) are fighting to get to .500 in league play. Setbacks like the loss to Missouri (12-23, 5-11) won’t help UGA’s hopes of earning an NCAA Tournament bid.

An SEC Network audience will be watching to see if Georgia baseball is a legit contender against the Tigers at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The Bulldogs had won six of eight entering Friday night’s game and was averaging 8.6 runs during that stretch.

Coach Scott Stricklin will give the ball to sophomore pitcher Jonathan Cannon (2-2, 4.06 ERA) to get the team straight while Missouri is expected to counter with Spender Miles (1-6, 7.57 ERA).

On Friday night Georgia trailed 6-1 going into the top of the ninth before finally putting some offense together, albeit, too little and too late.

Stricklin, who recently signed a contract extension, was disappointed his team didn’t come up with the sort of timely hits that separates quality teams.

“We didn’t swing the bats very well today, but we had guys in scoring position because we drew a lot of walks,” Stricklin said. “Bottom line, we didn’t play very well and we got to turn the page and get ready to even it up (Saturday).”

Georgia drew seven walks and had two batters hit by a pitch by Missouri pitcher Seth Halvorsen but couldn’t take advantage, stranding seven baserunners.

“We got the tying run on the on-deck circle, and we started the ninth down five runs,” Stricklin said. “That gave us a little bit of life. It just goes to show every single run is important, and we just didn’t have enough good at-bats.”

UGA senior pitcher Ryan Webb, meanwhile, gave up five earned runs on five hits and an eye-popping 4 walks in just six innings of work, dropping to 2-3 with the loss.

Georgia will look to Josh McAllister to stay hot and re-ignite the offense on Saturday. McAllister hit a three-run home run in the ninth on Friday.

McAllister, who turned 22 on Friday, is now 7-for-18 with 7 RBIs and 6 runs scored since moving to the leadoff spot in last Saturday’s win over Kentucky.

“If I can get on base and someone can score me then that’s all that matters,” McAllister said. “I want to get on base and help the team.”