Homers by Corey Collins, Riley King power Georgia Bulldogs past Georgia State
Feb. 25—ATLANTA — The seventh-ranked Georgia baseball team defeated Georgia State 6-2 Wednesday at the GSU Baseball Complex.
The Bulldogs (4-1) ran their winning streak to four behind a combined two-hitter while getting home runs from freshman Corey Collins and graduate Riley King. Redshirt junior Darryn Pasqua (1-0) picked up the win with a dominating relief outing, retiring all 12 batters he faced with five strikeouts. He came on for Ben Harris who started and went three innings. Nolan Crisp pitched the eighth and Jack Gowen took care of the ninth.
"We wanted to get several pitchers some innings today and Ben (Harris) gave us a good start and then Darryn (Pasqua) was exceptional," Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said. "He was on cruise control, but we wanted to get a couple other guys in there. Corey (Collins) is a tough out, and I thought he had some really good at bats. I was happy for Riley too because he's been hitting the ball right at some people. I told him to hit it to people over the fence."
The Panthers (2-3) had one hit through seven innings. Georgia took a 2-0 lead in the first when Collins smashed his second home run of the year, a two-run shot. A wild pitch allowed Cole Tate to score for a 3-0 lead in the third. The Panthers made it 3-1 in their half of the third, pushing across a run on a safety squeeze bunt by Kalen Puckett.
In the sixth, Connor Tate collected his first career triple to extend his hitting streak to five games. He scored on a groundout by Riley King to make it 4-1. A sacrifice fly by Puckett off Crisp cut the deficit to 4-2 for the Panthers. King's first home run of the year came in the ninth for the final.
