CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Brandon Stephen's two-out single to right field in the bottom of the 11th inning gave Georgia a 5-4 victory over Creighton on Sunday in an elimination game in the NCAA Corvallis Regional.
Earl Daniels (1-0) came in with a runner on first and no outs in the 11th to claim the win for the Bulldogs (33-31) had to regroup quickly to face Oregon State on Sunday night.
Stephens came into the game as catcher in the eighth and coach David Perno stayed with him in the 11th despite a sore ankle.
"He had a hit (in) the at-bat before and felt good about it," Perno said. "We were fortunate we didn't need his wheels to show up. We just needed his bat to show up. That was huge."
Kurt Spomer (3-4) gave up the winning hit for Creighton (45-16).
Creighton opened the scoring in the first when Trever Adams was hit by Georgia starter Ben Cornwell, stole second, took third on Cornwell's error, and scored on Jimmy Swift's single.
The Bulldogs answered in the bottom half with Zach Cone's two-run home run to take the lead. But the Bluejays evened it in the second when Chance Ross' sacrifice scored Clay Cuno.
Creighton went ahead in the eighth on Alex Staehely's RBI double and Swift's sacrifice fly. The Bulldogs again tied it up with Kyle Farmer's two-run home run in the bottom.
Peter Verdin singled and stole second in the 11th before scoring on Stephen's single.
"Comeback from two runs down - That's just how our season has gone," said right-hander Tyler Maloof, who threw 2 2-3 innings for the Bulldogs. "We've come back and been down all year and been able to fight back in the late innings. That's just how it's been."
Georgia was an at-large pick after finishing fourth in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs, who won the College World Series in 1990, have been to the tournament 10 times, including six postseason appearances under Perno.
Perno led the Bulldogs to the College World Series in 2004, 2006 and the CWS Finals in 2008.
Georgia was struck by tragedy this season when center fielder Johnathan Taylor broke his neck in a collision with a teammate during a March 6 game against Florida State. The Bulldogs all wear a JT 2 decal on their batting helmets in Taylor's honor, and the team keeps a framed photo of him in its dugout during games.
Creighton, a Jesuit school of about 6,000 located in Omaha, swept the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships for the first time, clinching both titles at home, TD Ameritrade Park, also home to the College World Series. The Bluejays were making their ninth NCAA tournament appearance, and first since 2007.
Creighton won four straight games in the loser's bracket to claim the MVC tournament title.
"We probably needed to score another run or two early in this game to not get in this situation," coach Ed Servais said. "The longer we played, it probably favored them versus us based on what we went through last week."
Arkansas-Little Rock, making its first ever trip to the NCAA tournament, was eliminated with a 7-3 loss to Georgia on Saturday.
Monday
May 5th, 2025
11:43PM
