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With the victory, Georgia clinches its second straight weekend series. UGA improves to 13-14 overall and 5-3 in conference play, while MSU falls to 19-8 and 4-4. Georgia has now won eight of the past nine series with MSU, including five straight here.
Georgia trailed 1-0 before scoring four times in the home half of the sixth inning Saturday afternoon. With one out, the homestanding Bulldogs strung together four straight hits off MSU starting pitcher Chris Stratton.
Brett DeLoach then launched a three-run home run and Jonathan Hester followed with his third home run of the season to give Georgia a 4-1 lead.
"We are competing well in all phases of the game," MSU designated hitter Trey Johnson said. "It's just a matter of playing a complete game and putting everything together. Winning the Sunday game gave us a real big lift at Vanderbilt so hopefully we can come out and get that kind of win tomorrow."
MSU scored first Saturday afternoon. In the fifth inning, Trey Johnson ripped a two-run double off the base of the outfield wall. Jonathan Ogden then went up the middle with an RBI-single.
Staked to the 1-0 lead, Stratton was brilliant until hitting some struggles in the sixth inning. UGA pieced together four consecutive one-out hits to do all of their offensive damage.
In the ninth inning, MSU scored again but could not produce a game-tying run. With one out, Jarrod Parks ripped a double to right center. After a pop-up, Cody Freeman lined an RBI-single.
For MSU, Stratton (4-2) worked six innings, allowing seven hits and four runs (all earned), with seven strikeouts and two walks. Tim Statz, Victor Diaz and Caleb Reed followed in relief.
MSU finished with six hits, including a pair of hits by Ogden. Georgia finished with seven hits. DeLoach and Peter Verdin each multiple hits.
MSU is scheduled to start junior left-hander Nick Routt (0-0, 1.29 ERA), while UGA is scheduled to start junior left-hander Craig Gullickson (2-1, 5.21) in a 1 p.m. contest today.