Dogs beat Ole Miss, win another SEC series

ATHENS -- Eighth-ranked Georgia smashed four home runs and received a strong outing from junior Nathan Moreau to defeat 25th-ranked Ole Miss 11-4 Sunday to win another Southeastern Conference series.

The Bulldogs (31-15-1) improved to an SEC-best 17-6-1 while the Rebels dropped to 31-19 overall, 12-12 in the SEC. Georgia collected 14 hits on the day including home runs from junior Gordon Beckham, freshman Lyle Allen and sophomores Matt Cerione and Michael Demperio. Moreau matched his season-high with six innings, allowing a pair of runs on five hits to even his record at 2-2. Freshman Justin Grimm tossed two scoreless innings and then senior Joshua Fields pitched the ninth. Fields gave up his first earned run of the year, a streak that ended at 23.2 innings. The Rebels scored one earned run and one unearned run off the Bulldog closer.

Ole Miss threatened in the first, loading the bases with one out on a base hit, a walk and a hit batter. Moreau battled back to strike out Matt Smith and Zach Miller. The Rebels did strike first in the second inning when Tim Ferguson connected for a solo home run, his second of the year. In the third, Georgia tied the contest when Demperio blasted his second home run of the year to make it 1-1. Moreau posted his finest outing since his first SEC start at Arkansas on March 16 when he also went six innings. Ole Miss starter Cody Satterwhite took the loss as he was chased in the fifth after surrendering six runs (four earned) on seven hits.

The Bulldogs took a 3-1 lead in the fourth when junior Bryce Massanari reached on a two-out walk and Allen followed with a two-run home run off the scoreboard in right field. It was the second home run of the year for Allen. In the fifth, Cerione made it 4-1 when he led off with his third home run of the year. Demperio followed with a bunt single but on the play collided with first baseman Matt Smith and went down and left the game with an apparent knee injury. Senior Ryan Peisel smacked an opposite field single and Matt Olson reached on a throwing error by Satterwhite. With the bases loaded and nobody out. Satterwhite struck out Beckham and got Rich Poythress to line out to right. Then after getting ahead of Massanari 0-2, he worked the count back to 2-2 and lined a two-run single to left off Overbeck's glove to put Georgia in front 6-1. The Rebels got a run back in the sixth when Overbeck led off with a solo home run, his 13th of the year to make it 6-2. In the sixth, Georgia extended its lead to 8-2 with Olson and Peisel driving in runs.

In the eighth, Beckham launched his NCAA-leading 22nd home run of the year, a three-run shot off Phillip Irvin that gave the Bulldogs an 11-2 lead. Ole Miss sent up a flurry of pinch-hitters in the ninth with Jeremy Travis lining a double to right while Cullan Kight drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. The Rebels got one run on a passed ball.

"This was a huge win, and we met this morning and a couple of our seniors stepped up and said we've got a great opportunity here today," said Georgia coach David Perno. "We need to play to our identity, do our thing and not worry about what anybody else is doing, and they did that. We got Nathan going and our offense up and down the lineup produced. A couple of weeks ago, we were doing it with five hitters but now we've got all nine going and that's great to see."

Perno added that Demperio is scheduled to have an MRI on his right knee Monday, and the Bulldogs will know more on his status by Wednesday.

Georgia will be back in action Wednesday at Foley Field when it plays host to Georgia Tech. First pitch is scheduled for 7:06 p.m., and the game will be televised live by CSS.