ATHENS - On Saturday, Georgia was just three innings away from getting swept from the NCAA baseball tournament. Now the Bulldogs - thanks to four straight wins, including Monday's 18-6 destruction of rival Georgia Tech - are storming into the next round.
Matt Olson went 5-for-6 with three RBIs and Rich Poythress hit a two-run homer to help the Bulldogs advance on Monday night.
"I didn't see this coming tonight," Georgia head coach David Perno said. "This was just the will, spirit and camaraderie of our team and it was second to none. After Friday's game I told our guys that we had history on our side and that we just had to play to our identity and we did it. I don't know why we have done it. I guess we've just had the right players at the right time."
The Bulldogs will host North Carolina State, a 2-1 winner Sunday over South Carolina, in an NCAA Super Regional matchup this weekend.
A series victory over N.C. State would put Georgia (39-22-1) in the College World Series for the third time in five years.
The Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference regular season championship, but had lost four straight after falling to Lipscomb in the first-round of the Athens Regional on Friday.
Improving to 15-0 in NCAA elimination games at Foley Field, the Bulldogs never trailed after second baseman when Poythress scored from third to make it 6-5 on second baseman Patrick Long's fielding error.
Olson, a senior right fielder, went 18-for-26 in the regional after he singled in the seventh.
Poythress' 15th homer this season gave the Bulldogs a 12-6 lead in the fifth. He finished with three RBIs. Georgia had two RBIs each from Bryce Massanari, Matt Cerione and Gordon Beckham, the SEC Player of the Year.
Chestatee High graduate Alex McRee (6-1) entered the game in the first after Bulldogs starter Justin Grimm failed to retire a batter. Pitching the next four full innings, McRee allowed four hits, two runs one earned with one walk and five strikeouts.
Georgia Tech (41-21) ended a difficult year that included the heroine-related death of pitcher Michael Hutts on April 11.
Brandon Cumpton (2-1), the Jackets' second pitcher, allowed five hits, two walks and five runs three earned with no strikeouts.
Through the first four innings, Tech committed four errors and a wild pitch that combined to let Georgia score four runs. The Jackets were the only regional team to commit no errors through Sunday night.
Olson raised his career average against the Jackets to .486 with 16 RBIs in 37 at-bats.
Tech, which began the game as the regional's only team without an error, had five miscues.
Thursday
October 24th, 2024
6:22PM
