Columbia News

No. 9 Georgia defeated the University of Missouri baseball team 9-2 on Friday night in the opening game of their Southeastern Conference series at Taylor Stadium.

Georgia pitcher Brian Curley delivered seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and striking out six. Curley improved his season record to 3-2. Missouri’s Brady Kehlenbrink started for the Tigers, matching a career high with six strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings while giving up just one hit.

Georgia built an early lead through home runs by Nolan McCarthy in the third inning and Kolby Branch in the sixth. The Bulldogs expanded their advantage with a three-run rally in the seventh inning, highlighted by Slate Alford’s RBI single and Branch’s two-run triple.

Missouri scored its first run on Pierre Seals’ solo home run in the eighth inning, his fifth of the season. Georgia answered in the ninth with an Alford home run and a three-run triple from Christian Adams. The Tigers added another run in the bottom of the ninth on a Jackson Lovich sacrifice fly but left a runner stranded to end the game.

Seals led Missouri’s offense with two hits in five at-bats, bringing his total to eight multi-hit games this season and increasing his Division I career home runs to 15, second among active Tigers behind Lovich. Branch led Georgia with three hits and three RBIs.

With this win, Georgia now leads Missouri 18-16 all-time in their series. Missouri played error-free defense for the fourth time in five games since April 24. Lovich extended his streak of reaching base to 15 consecutive games and has recorded a hit in each of his last seven SEC contests dating back to April 17 against Oklahoma.

Kehlenbrink’s outing marked a career-best for innings pitched and matched his personal best for strikeouts set earlier this season against Ole Miss. Josh McDevitt provided relief for Missouri, pitching a season-high 1 1/3 innings and tying his career high with three strikeouts.