Georgia upended by Lipscomb in first NCAA contest

ATHENS - Tournament play continues to dog these Bulldogs.

A week after getting bounced from the Southeastern Conference Tournament in just two games, the Georgia baseball team - which cruised through much of the regular season - lost its first game in NCAA tournament play on Friday, falling 10-7 to Lipscomb in the Athens Regional at Foley Field.

Georgia entered the Regional as the top seed. Lipscomb was the fourth ans lowest-seeded squad in the Athens bracket.

"Wow. I don't know where to start describing how proud I am of our guys," Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. "Coming in here versus a team like Georgia all you want is a chance at the end. I didn't know how to prepare for a regional because we have never been to a regional. I felt confident in our team after getting out of the first inning and battling back and scoring some runs. We really settled in, our pitching got better, we kept our composure and were able to battle back and win this huge game."

With the win, Lipscomb (33-28) advances in the winner's bracket of the Athens Regional and will face the winner of game two between second seed Georgia Tech and third seed Louisville Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Georgia (35-22-1) falls to the loser's bracket and will face the loser of game two Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Bisons, making their first NCAA Championships appearance, utilized a four run fifth inning that broke up a 4-4 tie en route to the victory. Lipscomb's starting pitcher, sophomore Rex Brothers (4-5), earned the win after tossing 5.1 innings allowing six runs, just two earned, on nine hits, while Georgia's starter, redshirt junior Stephen Dodson (5-4), suffered the loss after allowing eight runs in 4.2 innings. Junior Kyle Tognazzini worked the final 1.2 innings for Lipscomb allowing just one hit to earn his fourth save of the year.

Offensively, Lipscomb produced its 10 runs on 10 hits including three homeruns. Senior Blake Bratcher and sophomore Ryan Wilkins led the Bisons' offensive attack. Bratcher went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI including the go-ahead RBI single in the fifth inning, while Wilkins went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run that capped the four-run fifth and proved to be the game-winning hit.

Georgia led the game 4-1 after the first inning, but Lipscomb battled back over the next two innings scoring a run in the second and two runs in the third to tie the contest. After breaking the tie with the four runs in the fifth, the Bisons added another run on a wild pitch in the sixth to extend the lead to 9-4.

In the bottom of the sixth, senior Ryan Peisel (3-for-5) provided Georgia with a two-out, two-run home run to right that cut the Lipscomb advantage to 9-6. Two innings later in the eighth, junior Gordon Beckham added an RBI single through the left side that left runners on first and second with one out for sophomore Rich Poythress. The rally was silenced, however, by Tognazzini, who induced a comeback groundball for an inning-ending double play.

Wilkins added an insurance run for Lipscomb in the ninth on a sacrifice fly. Bratcher scored the game's final run after being hit by a pitch and moving around to third on a single from junior Shane Sanders.