Georgia’s road to the Super Regionals is now a lot smoother.
After beginning Saturday with the absurdity of having to complete the final three innings of a lopsided win against Long Island in a game suspended by the previous night’s weather, the Diamond Dawgs fended off a fiesty Liberty University team 6-2 on Saturday night at Foley Field.
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Now, Georgia gets to sit back and rest in the Athens Regional. It’ll play the winner of Sunday’s early loser’s bracket game between Liberty and Boston College on Sunday night, needing just one win in two tries to advance to the Super Regionals. Sunday night’s game is scheduled to start at 5:06 p.m.
“We gave up three hits today, and we gave up two yesterday,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said. “Our offense is extremely, extremely good, but other offenses are good as well. I thought our pitching and defense was outstanding today.”
It was, needless to say, a long day at Foley Field on Saturday. It all began on Friday night, when, leading 15-1 against Long Island, play was suspended by weather. And since NCAA postseason rules do not permit a mercy rule, the game had to be resumed Saturday morning.
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When “The 15 Hours of the Athens” resumed on Saturday, the Bulldogs put the closing touches on an 18-2 win in which a school record was tied with nine homers with Joey Volchko hurling six shutout innings.
The day of homers was just beginning for the Diamond Dawgs, who got all of their runs against the Flames via homers. The contest was one in which Georgia, despite being the No. 3 national seed, SEC champion, and regional host, had to play as the visitor per NCAA postseason rules. But that lack of earned advantage didn’t shake the Diamond Dawgs’ resolve, either when it came to clutch pitching or big offensive hits toward the trees of Foley Field.
Georgia went deep in the first on a two-run shot by Dan Jackson, and a pair of solo homers by Kenny Ishikawa and Ryan Wynn put the Dawgs in front 4-2 in the third.
“We’ve always known that Ryan [Wynn] can get it done and come up in big spots,” Georgia shortstop Kolby Branch said. “He’s a great player. His mindset when he’s not playing is wonderful. It’s one of the reasons I think that we’re a good ball club is because when you have guys like Ryan who gets in the game, plays well and then goes back to the plan.”
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Round-trippers by Rylan Lujo in the sixth and Brennan Hudson in the ninth padded the lead.
But this win was not one limited to outscoring an opponent. It was also one in which Georgia ended up leaning on its bullpen after starting pitcher Dylan Vigue was chased after just an inning and a third, having allowed two runs. The bullpen was up to the call, however. Matt Scott held the Flames to no runs and one hit through five innings before Justin Byrd fanned four of the nine batters he faced to close out the game. Byrd’s biggest moment was in the seventh when he inherited two runners aboard. After walking the first batter he faced, he retired the next two Flames to get out of the bases-loaded jam.
“I thought what Matt [Scott] did today was elite. It’s what big-time players do. Matt came in the game, things were a little sideways. There was some momentum leaving our side,” Johnson said. “Sometimes as a coach, you have to go out there and make a change. We did. Our team believes in Matt so much. We just do. He believes in himself. You want guys in the game when you need to stop momentum like Matt.”
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Go Dawgs!
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
