ATHENS, Ga. — No. 9 Georgia (3-1) defeated USC Upstate 12-6 with big batting power at Foley Field Wednesday afternoon.
 
Fast Facts
 

• Senior Ryan Black (2-4, 4 RBI, 2 HR, BB)  hit his first two home runs of the season, marking the 21st and 22nd home runs of his career.
• Junior Daniel Jackson (2-5, RBI, HR) tallied his third home run of the season, the 29th of his career.
• Junior Tre Phelps extended his hitting streak to 18 games, dating back to last season.
• In the bottom of the sixth, Georgia exploded for five runs off four hits, turning a tight game into a commanding 12-6 lead.
• Georgia kept the pressure on with back-to-back walks from Black and senior Kolby Branch to load the bases, forcing a pitching change in the middle of the 6th inning.
• Freshman Cole Johnson (3-4, 2 RBI, 2 2B) capitalized immediately, driving a two-RBI double to right field to plate sophomore Henry Allen (3-5, 2 RBI, 2 2B) and Black, extending the Bulldogs’ lead.

 
Key Quotes
 
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson
 
On Ryan Black’s performance…
“He’s gonna play. I mean, you look at it, and gosh, I’ve told people this about Ryan Black. He looked last year, he was up and down, up and down, up and down. He had some big games for us, but he fought the injury bug a lot. He had a quad, he had a groin, and then he had on the other leg, he had a hamstring. So we fought just keeping him consistent in there. I’ve thought about his EVs and his at-bats, and he had three hits in game one Saturday. And I thought his at-bats had been really good, and that’s what we expected to see from him.”
 
On the decision to keep Paul Farley in the game…
“I thought Paul looked really smooth in that first, and then he went back out and threw the ball well again. And Paul’s been one of our best pitchers, statistically, through the fall and the early spring camp. And we’ve stretched him out, and we felt like we could keep going with him. And it was good for him to see we need Paul, we need him to step up, we need him to do that. I don’t think he hit Sweeney once. I don’t think he had a walk after that. He got a nice strikeout, so it’s good, that’s what you want.”
 
Ryan Black | Sr. | INF
 
On offensive expectations…
“Yes, obviously we haven’t done what we want to do yet, but this offense is gonna take off very, very soon.”
 
On what it takes to succeed in the lineup…
“It’s just kind of going in and doing your job and doing what you know you need to do, just playing your type of game, whatever your game is, just doing that the best you can.”
 
Cole Johnson | Fr. | OF/LHP

On what it’s like playing for his hometown team…

“It’s amazing. Growing up a Georgia fan my entire life. I’ve been coming to games out here for as long as I can remember. There’s trees out there and it’s pretty neat to put on a uniform and compete for the state.”

 

On the key to winning…

“We’ve all put in a lot of work and we’ve been practicing stuff. It’s easy to go out here and just play a game when you’re trying to win and win as a team. It’s easy to just come in and compete.”

 

Up Next

No. 9 Georgia (3-1) returns to action on Friday with its first of a three-game series against Samford, with first pitch set for 3 p.m.