ATHENS, GA - What a marathon! The Tigers should have won in 9 innings, but thanks to a walk and an error in left by freshman Elijah Henderson, we saw history made and lost a lot of sleep! The Tigers’ pitchers struck out a school-record 24 in the 3-2 loss and didn’t allow an earned run through 19 innings. It was the longest game in history for both schools, who first played each other in 1900. The combined 50 K’s was just one short of the NCAA record. Monte told me he actually coached in a 22-inning game at CofC in 2014!
The Tigers struck first with a 2-out RBI single by Wilkie, followed by a triple from Hawkins off the wall. Both are GA natives. However, UGA tied the game in the bottom half with the costly walk and error by the Tigers. The Tigers had a runner on 3rd a couple times in extra innings but were never able to push him home. They got the leadoff runner on in 7 of 9 innings at one point but were just 1-17 with RISP!
Unlike the weekend series in Tallahassee, the bull pen was outstanding--particularly Spiers and Sommerfeld, who wound up with the loss. The Tigers made several eye-popping defensive plays in extra innings, but the lone error cost them. Hennessy was also superb in his second start of the season, allowing just 2 hits in 5 innings. Monte wanted to keep his pitch count low so he would be available this weekend against Duke.
Our post-game interview with Monte is below!
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