Walk-off homer sinks Georgia, hitting underachieves all weekend in sweep at Texas

UGA entered the weekend with the most home runs in the country before leaving the yard just three times in Austin, all solo homers.

The Bulldog batters were red-hot but had not faced a pitching staff like Texas.

That was clear from the start, as Longhorn ace Jared Spencer dealt 7-2/3 innings of one run ball on two hits, four walks and 11 strikeouts. Spencer led Texas to a comfortable 5-1 win to open the series.

Georgia took a 4-0 lead on Saturday before falling silent after the fourth inning, eventually losing 7-4. UGA finished the weekend with 15 hits, 10 walks, three homers and 38 strikeouts.

Georgia’s top two hitters were part of that lack of production. Robbie Burnett and Ryland Zaborowski were a combined 2 for 21 at the plate, by far their worst combined series effort this year.

UGA coach Wes Johnson, revered for his pitching know-how, has said many times that elite pitching beats elite hitting, and that appeared to be the case in Austin.

Johnson was more optimistic about Sunday’s loss after expressing frustration from the first two losses.

“Today’s the game out of the three you look back and okay, we played good baseball,” Johnson said. “Yeah, we needed to get more hits. We had out chance there in the second and we didn’t cash in on it.

“I thought we pitched well, obviously I thought we played pretty good defense, we’ve just got to iron some things out at the plate.”

The Texas series started what should go down as the toughest two-week stretch on Georgia’s schedule. The Bulldogs will turn right around and go home to host No. 2-ranked Arkansas, which will likely be the top-ranked team in the country by then after Tennessee’s series loss this week.

The Razorbacks will try to avenge the sweep they suffered in Athens as a top-five team in 2023.

Johnson’s pitching staff did look much better on the weekend. Sunday starter Leighton Finley has struggled at times in SEC play, but he allowed just three hits and two walks for three earned runs in five innings.

JT Quinn, Tyler McLoughlin and Zeldin held the Longhorns scoreless until the 10th inning.

Texas drew first blood on Sunday in the second inning with an RBI single into right field. The Bulldogs bit right back with a run of their own in the top of the third as Robbie Burnett tied Texas’ run by drawing a bases-loaded walk.

Leadoff hitter Ryan Black had Georgia’s first two hits of the game. The first was a double on the game’s third pitch while the second didn’t come until the fifth inning.

That was when Black took a 2-1 Georgia lead on his fifth homer of the season. The second baseman slapped a fastball over the right-center field wall for the lead.

Texas shortstop Jalin Flores returned the favor with a go-ahead bomb in the sixth inning. Flores’ two-run homer reclaimed a 3-2 lead for the Longhorns.

Then Nolan McCarthy mashed his second home run of the weekend to tie the game at 3-3. The Kentucky transfer’s homer was almost identical to Black’s, sending a fastball back over the same part of the outfield wall for the equalizing run.

McCarthy was one of the few bright spots for Georgia offensively. He finished the weekend 4-for-12 hitting with three RBI.

“We got in there and fought tonight and it’s like I told them, when you go in there and you fight like this and you throw punches and you just get in there and fight and you just lose, you can live with it a little easier,” Johnson said. “I don’t know that you can ever really live with losing, but at least you can go back and show the progress you made today, get back on the horse.”

UGA will host Presbyterian at 3 p.m. on Tuesday before hosting the Razorbacks this weekend.