A gritty comeback by the Diamond Dogs was squandered in the bottom of the eighth Tuesday when Bulldog closer Alex McRee hit one Yellow Jacket and walked three others to move across the game-winning run

That gave No. 3 Georgia Tech (13-1) the 6-5 home win over Georgia.

In his first career start, Georgia left hander Blake Dietrich struggled to locate his pitches early, as first inning home runs by Yellow Jackets’ Jeff Rowland and Tony Plagman and a second inning blast by Jay Dantzler put Tech in front 4-0.
Georgia Tech’s starting pitcher Mark Pope had the Bulldog hitters fanning early, as the sophomore right hander gave up just one hit in his first five innings.

In the sixth, the momentum turned sharply in Georgia’s favor, after second baseman Levi Hyams reached first on a bunt down the third baseline to spark the two-run Georgia sixth.

Georgia’s next batter, center fielder Zach Cone, scored Hyams on a stand-up triple down the left field line to cut the Yellow Jacket lead to 4-1.

After a Johnathan Taylor groundout to first, right fielder Peter Verdin dropped a blooper into short center field to bring the score to 4-2.

After reliever Justin Earls retired three consecutive Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the sixth, the bottom of the Georgia lineup stepped up to power the Bulldogs seventh inning rally.

With one out, Zach Cone hammered his second triple of the night, scoring Hankins and Hyams and knotting the score at 4-4.
Cone crossed home plate on a two-out RBI double by Verdin to put the Bulldogs in front 5-4.

The Bulldog lead vanished quickly in the bottom of the seventh, however, when Yellow Jacket catcher Cole Leonida hit a two-out single off Georgia reliever Cooper Moseley to bring home Rowland and tie the score at five apiece.

The Bulldogs’ bats failed to respond in the eighth, before Georgia’s McRee was inserted to keep the score even in the bottom of the eighth.

McRee struck out the next two batters he faced, but a bases loaded walk to Jacob Esch put the Yellow Jackets ahead for good 6-5.