Bama Bats Quiet as Dawgs Clinch Series

The Alabama bats could not get anything going against No. 10 Georgia as the Crimson Tide was shut out for the first time since February 26 against Texas, losing to Georgia 3-0.

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Top 100 draft prospect Jonathan Cannon was on the mound for the first time in 22 days for Georgia due to soreness in his throwing arm. The 6-foot-6 right-hander did not allow a base runner in the five innings he pitched. Since he had missed his previous two starts, Cannon was on a pitch count and was replaced by Luke Wagner after 66 pitches.

"Jonathan Cannon was just outstanding. He would have been good against any team today in any ballpark," Alabama head coach Brad Boahannon said. "He dominated. We were just overmatched for five innings."

Wagner entered and the first pitch he threw was lined into left field by Dominic Tamez to end the perfect game bid. Wagner was able to retire the next three Alabama batters to keep the Tide scoreless through six.

Alabama finally got a runner to second base in the seventh inning as Drew Williamson led off with a swinging bunt that Georgia's catcher threw down the right-field line. A one-out walk to Hamiter put two men on base and brought right-hander Chandler Marsh out of the bullpen.

Marsh walked Owen Diodati after getting Andrew Pinckney to pop out. The walk loaded the bases with two outs and brought up Tamez who lined out to right-center field to end the threat.

Jack Gowen retired Alabama in order in the ninth inning to pick up his second save of the weekend and his eighth of the year. Alabama was held to just two hits on the day.

Parks Harber delivered the game's only run scoring hit in the third inning when he lined a two-out, bases clearing double off the right field wall to plate three runs. William Hamiter hit the wall hard trying to make the play for Alabama and appeared to be shaken up but remained in the game.

Jacob McNairy settled in nicely after the third inning as he was able to finish with three scoreless frames. McNairy allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out five over his six innings.

"Jacob's very mature. He knows he doesn't have time to pout," Bohannon said. If you're a starter we need 85 pitches out of you and you're not always going to have your best stuff."

Left-handed pitcher Jake Leger took over in the seventh and worked two scoreless innings for Alabama. Leger was followed by Luke Holman who worked a perfect ninth.

Jonathan Cannon picked up his seventh win of the year improving to 7-1 while the loss for McNairy dropped him to 4-2. Cannon's ERA is now down to 1.55 as he has only allowed nine runs over 52.1 innings pitched.

The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 23-17 with a 8-9 record in Southeastern Conference play. Georgia improves to 27-11 overall and 11-6 in SEC play.

The final game of the series will be tomorrow at 1 p.m. The scheduled starters are two southpaws: Grayson Hitt for Alabama and Liam Sullivan for Georgia.