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Vanderbilt made a matchup of SEC ranked teams look rather easy, sweeping Georgia in front of its home fans in Nashville to send the Bulldogs to yet another road sweep.
The 19th-ranked Commodores (30-10, 11-7 SEC) put the finishing touches on the weekend sweep with a 5-2 victory on Saturday. The win followed a 3-1 victory over Georgia (33-9, 10-8) on Thursday and a 13-7 beatdown of the Bulldogs on Friday.
Georgia was swept on the road for the second straight SEC series, following a sweep at the hands of Texas in Austin 2 weekends ago. In between those 2 road sweeps, though, the Bulldogs won 2 out of 3 at home against fellow powerhouse Arkansas, so lately it’s been a roller coaster for Georgia.
Leighton Finley gave Georgia a solid pitching performance on Saturday, but the Bulldogs were held to 5 hits and are now 2-7 in their past 9 SEC games. Finley threw a season-high 96 pitches, allowing 3 runs over 5 innings while striking out 8, walking just 1 and allowing 5 hits.
Connor Fennell struck out a career-high 11 batters and didn’t walk anyone for Vanderbilt. He allowed just 3 hits in 5 2/3 innings 2 days after teammate JD Thompson struck out 14 in the Commodores’ series-opening victory over the Bulldogs.
It was Vanderbilt’s second straight home sweep of Georgia.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
