A late rally by the hosts gave the No. 1 Georgia baseball team a bit of a start, but it held on to beat the Tennessee Volunteers 11-9 Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.

Leading 11-3 in the eighth, the Diamond Dogs (21-3, 6-2 SEC) bullpen allowed six runs until Dean Weaver slammed the door on the Volunteers (11-14, 1-7 SEC) in the ninth to earn his third save of the season.
“It was like two different games,” Georgia head coach David Perno told georgiadogs.com. “We blew them out the first game and it was a nail biter the second game. We hung in there and executed and didn’t shut down offensively. Our guys are doing a good job in their roles. We played great defense again, and it was huge to hang on.

Rich Poythress remained white-hot as he extended his hitting streak to 14 games and had his second consecutive multiple home run game, just the second such game in his career.

He hit a three-run home run in the third inning and a two-run home run in the sixth. In his last two games, he is 6-for-7 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs and increased his batting average to .462.

“Rich is officially hot,” Perno told georgiadogs.com. “He’s on fire right now and I tip my hat to him. We have needed every bet of it this weekend. It’s hard to find a better complete hitter.”
Freshman Colby May added a three-run home run in the fifth inning, his eighth of the year.

In his second start since returning from mononucleosis, Alex McRee allowed 3 runs in 4 1/3 innings. For the second straight start, he allowed six walks and did not figure in the decision.

Freshman Michael Palazzone pitched three innings in relief of McRee to extend his unblemished record to 3-0.

Sophomore Justin Grimm will start in the series finale on Sunday as the Dogs go for their second straight sweep of a conference opponent.