AUBURN, Ala. - No. 10 Auburn (20-5, 4-2) is set to travel to Georgia and take on the Bulldogs after a 13-5 victory against the South Alabama Jaguars, where they earned their 20th win of the season. Ike Irish looks to continue his hot streak against Georgia. On Wednesday, he put up four hits, two of which were homers along with a double. Irish came a triple short of the cycle.
Taking the series from the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs (25-2, 5-1) will be a tall task for the Tigers since the Bulldogs have only been served one loss at home from Kentucky back on March 15 when they put up seven runs in a 10-7 loss. Georgia is coming off a 13-run victory themselves against the West Georgia Wolves, the Bulldogs climbed to an early 9-0 lead allowing six runs on their ride to a 13-6 win. Nolan McCarthy, the graduate outfielder from Kalamazoo, brought in 5 runs, a career-high.
Friday features Samuel Dutton boasting a 2.48 ERA against Charlie Goldstein who has yet to go the distance to reach a decision. Saturday, we’ll see Cade Fisher face off with Brian Curley on the bump in the second meeting in a three-game set. In his last appearance, Fisher pitched four innings, giving up just one run and two hits striking out one. Auburn has not yet announced Leighton Finley’s opposition for the Sunday matchup. Finley went five innings, only giving up one earned run and three strikeouts to go along with that against Florida.
Auburn’s pitching staff ranks top 25 in the country in WHIP (1.25), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.91) and walks allowed per 9.0 innings (3.48), all the while Georgia’s lineup contains some of the best hitters the nation has to offer, with their lineup leading the country in hits, runs, home runs, and slugging percentage.
Hopefully for Auburn the Eye of the Tiger is at full capacity, since Georgia is last in the league in walks allowed and clogging the bases from walks should lead to offense for the Tigers this weekend. Auburn’s ability to silence the Bulldog’s barking lineup could solidify them as one of the best teams not only in the Southeastern Conference, but one of the best teams in the entire nation.
If Georgia desires to walk away with a series victory in their home ballpark, they must neutralize Ike Irish, who has been absolutely outstanding since digging his feet back into the batter's box. Irish is hitting .550 (11-for-20) with two doubles, four home runs and seven RBI in four games since his return to the lineup.
The Tigers lead 152-136-3 in the all-time matchup against the Bulldogs and favored well in their last trip to Athens taking the series two games to one. Georgia has not claimed a series victory over Auburn this decade, with their last win coming in 2019 when the Tigers were swept. Although Auburn leads the all-time matchup they still are 75-88 when they travel over the Georgia-Alabama line to head into Athens.
