ATHENS — Troy baseball coach Mark Smartt put it rather succinctly.
“Two-out hitting is how you win games,” Smartt opinied in his postgame press conference Sunday in the Trojans’ winner’s bracket showdown against host Georgia in the Athens Regional.
The problem for Smartt was that the answer was in reference to the Bulldogs’ offense, which pounded out 12 hits, including four home runs and going 4-of-8 with runners in scoring position, and piled up seven runs with two outs in Georgia’s 11-7 victory in front of 3,157 sun-baked fans at Foley Field.
Gainesville native Michael Curry and Keegan McGovern, batting in the Nos. 3 and 4 spots, in particular had Smartt shaking his head afterwards. The duo was 6-of-10 with 8 RBI and each bashed two home runs apiece. Conversely, the Trojans were 0-for-3 and no RBI with RISP for the game despite rapping out 11 hits of their own.
“Those two guys came up big on a big day for them,” Smartt said. “The ballpark was playing a little smaller than we figured it would and we also did not finish innings they way you need too when you’re playing a team on their home field. But you have to give (Georgia) credit. They made the plays when they needed too.”
The win for the Bulldogs (39-19) moved them into Monday’s regional championship game at 1 p.m. at Foley Field against Duke, which hammered Troy 15-6 in Sunday's late elimination game to stay alive. It will be the first meeting of the two teams in the regional.
A Georgia win in the 1 p.m. showdwon would push the Bulldogs into the Super Regional against the Lubbock Regional winner. Duke (42-16) would have to win two games on Monday to advance to the Super Regional. A second game, if necessary, would begin at 5 p.m.
Georgia coach Scott Stricklin, who has guided the Bulldogs to two consecutive regional wins for the first time since 2008, said he has been a little surprised at the offensive output as a whole during the regional. The first five games averaged 18.8 runs per game combined.
“This one was very similar to (Saturday) in that the hitters were very comfortable and the pitchers were trying to find their way,” Stricklin said. “But I tell you. Keegan and Michael in (the Nos 3 and 4) spots are a scary thing. (Troy’s) top four hitters are like that as well.
“But I also think the two-out hitting was a big key. Our guys really came up big for us the entire game. We just let the guys play and not try to overcoach anything.”
Before the opening pitch, on paper at least, it looked like a potential pitcher’s duel between the Bulldogs’ Kevin Smith (8-1, 3.17 ERA, 76 Ks in 59 IP) and the Trojans’ Levi Thomas (2-0, 1.01 ERA, 49 Ks in 35 IP). And both pitchers were dealing early as Thomas fanned a pair of Bulldogs in a perfect first inning. Smith struck out one and got help from catcher Mason Meadows, who gunned down NCAA RBI leader Joey Denison, who singled with two out, trying to steal second to end the bottom of the first.
The offenses took over from there. Curry gave the Dogs a 1-0 lead in the second belting a long home run to right center on the first pitch he saw from Thomas to open the inning. The Trojans answered right back, however, as Brandon Lockridge tied the game 1-1 with a rocket shot home run to left on the second pitch he saw from Smith to open the bottom of the second.
Georgia reclaimed the lead in the top of the third with some quick two-out damage as Aaron Schunk was hit by a Thomas pitch with two strikes and then McGovern blasted a two-run homer to deep right center for a 3-1 Dogs lead.
But the Trojans answered again in the bottom of the frame when Drew Frederic homered into the parking lot in left field following a one-out single by Matt Sanders to tie the game 3-3. The Trojans took the lead three batters later as Denison singled, Lockridge doubled, and then Denison scored on a wild pitch. Lockridge later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Rigsby Mosley for a 5-3 lead.
One pitch before Mosley’s drive to center, the Dogs lost third baseman and team-leading closer Schunk, who was forced out of the game after crashing into the railing in front of the Troy dugout chasing a foul ball. Stricklin said Schunk’s status is “day-to-day” with just a broken nose and no concussion and that it will be a game-time decision on whether the Bulldogs’ saves leader will be available in the biggest game of the season.
“It looked bad when I went to take a look,” Stricklin said. “(His nose) was sideways. But they got it back in place and the doctors think he may be able to go (Monday). We’ll just see where he is then.”
Not long after Kevin Smith's day came to an end after 74 pitches. Smith went 3 2/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 7 hits. Zac Kristofak took over for Smith and retired the first three Trojans batters but Lockridge touched the right-hander for a solo home run in the fifth, his second of the game, for a 6-3 Troy lead.
Meanwhile, Thomas settled into a groove for the Trojans retiring eight straight Bulldogs into the sixth after McGovern's home run in the third. McGovern ended that streak with his second homer of the game, a titanic blast over the top of the tall wall in center, and then Curry followed with a solo shot to center off the glove of a leaping Lockridge to cut the lead to 6-5 in the sixth.
After a two-out single to Cam Shepherd Thomas’s day came to a sudden end and he gave way to CJ Carter, who fanned LJ Talley to get the Trojans out of the jam still clinging to a 6-5 lead.
When asked if he and McGovern had come up with a nickname for the power-hitting duo, similar to the Bash Brothers of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco of the 1980s and 90s Oakland A’s, Curry admitted that famous duo was a little before his time.
“I don’t know who they are,” Curry said. “But (Keegan and I) have been trying to come up with a name for going back-to-back like that but nothing yet. But it’s just fun to hit behind him and we try to keep each other going.”
The Dogs exploded for some more two-out magic in the seventh. After Meadows and CJ Smith went down quickly, Bradley reached on a Troy error that would have ended the inning. Johnson and McGovern followed with singles scoring Bradley to tie the game 6-6. Curry then doubled off the top of the left field wall driving in Johnson and McGovern for an 8-6 lead. Georgia would not trail again.
“We had a chance to get out that (sixth) inning but the error was huge and cost us three runs,” Smartt said. “That really changed the momentum of the game.”
Troy responded in the bottom of the inning as Sanders walked and Frederic doubled down the line with no outs. Denison knocked in Sanders with a sac fly liner to center cutting Georgia’s lead to 8-7.
Ryan Webb then took over for Kristofak (3.0 innings, 3H, 1BB, 3K, 2ER) with Frederic at second and fanned Mosley to end the inning. Webb retired seven of the final eight batters to close out the game and earn his fourth save of the season.
“Ryan was outstanding but I thought Zac kept us in the game. We had to go to him earlier than we probably wanted but without him we probably don’t get to the end like that,” Stricklin said.
In the eighth, Bradley knocked in Talley and CJ Smith scored on a second Troy error for a 10-7 advantage. Talley singled in pinch-runner Tucker Maxwell in the ninth for the final run.
Now the Bulldogs are one win from their first Super Regional since 2008, the last year they also advanced to the College World Series and the National Championship series.
It was not lost on Curry, who has been a part of a huge contingent of homegrown Georgia players, along with McGovern (Coffee County), recruited to Athens to rebuild the Bulldogs into a national power.
“It’s very exciting,” Curry said. “Like I said the other day, I’m hoping we’ll look back in 10 years on this moment that this is when Georgia was put back on the map. We’re just going to go out (Monday) and do what we do and try to get to the next step.”
