Tennessee throws five wild pitches in 7-5 loss to Georgia

Georgia scored seven unanswered runs and took advantage of five wild pitches by Tennessee to beat the Vols 7-5 on Saturday  at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

One day after Tennessee won its first SEC game of the season, the Vols (15-9, 1-7 SEC) are alone in the bottom of the East standings.

UT freshman Garrett Stallings made his first career start and went 4⅔ innings, allowing just one run on six hits and four strikeouts.

And things looked good with UT leading 4-0 after four innings.

However, Georgia (12-16, 2-6) took the lead in the seventh. Will Neely gave up a walk and a double to start the inning to make it 4-3. Daniel Vasquez (2-1) replaced Neely, allowed a single and was quickly pulled by coach Dave Serrano and replaced by Zach Warren.

Warren promptly threw a wild pitch, walked a batter, and another wild pitch scored a run to tie the game. After a strikeout, Warren was wild again with a walk and another wild pitch, his third of the inning, to score a run and give Georgia a 5-4 lead.

Warren gave up two singles after getting the first out in the eighth. Jacob Westphal took over and allowed a run-scoring double for a 6-4 lead. After an intentional walk, Westphal threw UT's fifth wild pitch and allowed Georgia to go up 7-4.

Jeff Moberg had three hits and Justin Ammons and designated hitter Benito Santiago had two hits apiece for the Vols.