May 5, 2012
ATHENS, Ga. - Auburn and Georgia played a back-and-forth baseball game for 11 innings and it was Auburn coming up on the short end, falling 6-5 when Georgia scored an unearned run with two outs in the 11th inning. The loss dropped Auburn's record to 25-21, 10-13 SEC while Georgia improved to 27-20, 11-12 SEC.
"You get two good clubs going at it and they were able to piece something together there in the end," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "That is a tough one. We didn't do some base running things that we need to be better at and we lost the ballgame today."
Tied at 4-4 after the 10th, Auburn took a one-run lead in the top of the 11th as Caleb Bowen dropped a double just inside the chalk down the right-field line to score Justin Bryant from second and a 5-4 lead.
Georgia answered by getting the leadoff hitter, Jonathan Hester, aboard on a five-pitch walk to start the bottom of the 11th. A groundout moved him into scoring position for nine-hole hitter Conor Welton, who singled to put runners on the corners. Derek Varnadore then induced a bouncer out of top-of-the-order hitter Curt Powell to Creede Simpson at second, but it was too slow for Simpson and Dan Glevenyak to turn tow, allowing Hester to trot home with the tying run. Glevenyak, however, compounded the problem by short-hopping his throw to Garrett Cooper at first, allowing Powell to get to second. Kyle Farmer then went 1-1 off of Varnadore before rapping a sinking liner into center that Auburn centerfielder Ryan Tella could not catch up to fast enough, allowing Powell to score the winning run as he was off with the crack of the bat.
The loss spoiled what had been a solid relief outing from Varnadore (2-7), who worked 5 2/3 innings and struck out six. However he was touched for five hits and walked three, with two of those walks coming around to score, getting tagged for three runs.
Justin Bryant, who finished the game 4-for-4, hit his eighth career home run, a solo shot, in the second to put Auburn up 1-0. It was his third career homer at Foley Field.
Georgia used three straight singles to start the second but Auburn starting pitcher Danile Koger was able to avoid the big inning, getting a pair of fielder's choices and two pop-ups to end the inning allowing just a single run on a Welton grounder that tied it at 1-1.
Auburn regained the lead in the fourth, 2-1, as Simpson stole his 18th base of the year, went to third on the thrown down to second that scooted into center and scored on a Cooper groundout.
Georgia answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth as Colby May walked, went first-to-third on a Welton single and scored on a Koger wild pitch to make it 2-2.
Auburn again took a one-run lead, 3-2, in the fifth as Jay Gonzalez singled, stole second and scored on a Bobby Andrews single into the left-center gap. Georgia tried to answer in the bottom of the frame as Farmer tried to score from second on a Levi Hyams two-out single but Tella nailed him at the plate with a strike to Blake Austin. It was Tella's fourth outfield assist of the season.
Koger finished the game allowing two runs on six hits and a walk before being lifted at the start of the sixth.
Simpson then led off the sixth with his third home run of the year for a 4-2 lead.
Georgia used a walk and doubles off the bats of Farmer and Brett DeLoach to tie the game at 4-4 in the seventh off of Varnadore. The two runs were the first allowed by Varnadore out of the bullpen this year after he threw nine combined shutout innings in his first three-plus relief appearances.
Welton finished the game 2-for-3 with two walks for Georgia.
Bryan Benzor (5-4) earned the win out of the Georgia bullpen despite allowing the 11th-inning run.
Auburn will try to salvage the final game of the series on Sunday as it sends Trey Cochran-Gill (4-1) to the mound opposite Georgia's Luke Crumley (1-2). First pitch is set for 1pm CT.
Georgia 6, Auburn 5 (May 05, 2012 at Athens, GA)
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Auburn.............. 010 111 000 01 - 5 13 3 (25-21, 10-13 SEC)
Georgia............. 010 100 200 02 - 6 11 1 (27-20, 11-12 SEC)
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Win-Bryan Benzor(5-4) Loss-Derek Varnadore(2-7) T-3:31 A-2438
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