Sports Page Atlanta

Georgia came back down 3 in the 8th inning to pull ahead of Fresno State to win game one last night by the score of 7 to 6 and they can win it all with a win tonight.

Joey Lewis came through again in Omaha by getting a rbi single to score Matt Cerione with the go-ahead run.  Cerione who went 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts in his last game, shook it off by twice getting game-tying hits.

Gordon Beckham was the other big offensive star by clubbing his 27th home run of the season which was also his 52nd of his career (a new Georgia record).

Trevor Holder for the most part pitched well (except for a few long balls).  Alex McRee struggled for the first time in a long time and Justin Earls allowed a hit to the only batter he faced.  Will Harvill did the job and closed the 8th and then Joshua Fields came through and retired the side in the 9th to save his 18th game of the season.

The Fresno State Bulldogs threw 5 pithers last night.  Justin Miller who I thought was going to pitch yesterday did not and will most likely pitch tonight (but then again I could be wrong).

Nick Montgomery will take the mound for Georgia and this would be a nice way for him to end his career with the Bulldogs.

Gordon Beckham just hit his 27th home run of the season last night… but bigger news statistically is that he hit his 52nd career home run and if you remembered from my stat of the day a few days ago, that breaks the school record once held by Josh Morris.

The 27 home runs is also a single-season record.

With that 2-run home run, Beckham has 74 rbi this season, which ties the season record which is also held by J.R. Showalter in 1990.  Ironically he was the shortstop the last time Georgia won the NCAA title.

I don’t think he has a chance to get the other triple crown single season category.

Charley Trippi holds the single-season record for the highest batting average in a single season with qualified at-bats.  He hit an incredible .464 in 1946.  If Beckham goes 30-for-30 tonight, his average would climb to .465 (I don’t think that is going to happen).

The Georgia Bulldogs will continue their quest tonight for their 2nd NCAA title in baseball.  The best 2-of-3 series with Fresno State will start at 7:00 pm et.

Trevor Holder will start for Georgia.  He was a little shaky a week ago when he faced Miami, but should be fine tonight.  On the mound for the other Bulldogs should be Justin Miller.  Miller is a big right-hander who is 6-4 this season. 

My key for Georgia is to go after him early.  Fresno State’s bullpen is not well rested so if Georgia keeps the pressure on Miller, they should score and score big.   Some stats in Georgia’s favor is that Miller leads the Fresno State in home runs allowed.  He also leads the team in wild pitches and hit batters (so look out).

Another key is that Georgia should not take this team lightly.  They are the ‘easiest’ team that they faced in Omaha, but they are no pushovers.  They have defeated 8 Top-20 teams in the postseason and can do more.   They have great defense and Alan Ahmady and Tommy Mendonca are very very good.

Ryan Peisel had 3 hits yesterday including a home run to propel Georgia into the NCAA Championship Series where they will face either North Carolina or Fresno State.

The senior 3rd baseman now has 102 hits this season.  He is the 5th Bulldog to ever reach the century mark.  Earlier this season teammate Gordon Beckham became the 4th.  Beckham has 106 hits this season.  Both players can still challenge for the most ever by a Bulldog…

Here are the 5 Georgia Bulldogs to reach 100 hits in one season…

Joey Side: 2006 - 111 hits

Chaz Lytle: 2002 - 108 hits

Gordon Beckham: 2008 - 106 hits and counting

Ryan Peisel: 2008 - 102 hits and counting

Jeff Keppinger: 2001 - 102 hits 

Two more teammates, Rich Poythress and Matt Olson have a chance as well.  Poythress has 95 hits this, while Olson has 91.

Not much different to say then the preview I did from Monday’s game… guess what, watch out for Jason Castro, Cord Phelps and Sean Ratliff and all the other Cardinal. 

Originally it was going to be Trevor Holder (last Saturday’s starter) to go against Stanford, but now it will be lefty Nathan Moreau.  The junior has not pitched in 2 weeks.  He has a 4-3 record this season and has 18 wins in his collegiate career.

On the mound for Stanford should be junior Jeremy Bleich (although that can change).  The southpaw has only pitched in 10 games this season with 8 starts.  He has an incredible 1.02 era this season.  He has allowed just 5 earned runs in 44 innings this season.  What is weird is that he has allowed 14 unearned runs this season and this coming from a very good Cardinal defensive team.  He tends to walk batters, but does not allow too many hits just 32 in his 44 innings and only 1 has been for a home run.

One thing that Georgia has to do that they haven’t done in Omaha that they did in the regionals and super-regionals is score early.  I know it is the score at the end, but if you can put pressure on the other team early, it makes it easier for you to win.

In the regionals and super-regionals, the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 22-6 in the first inning of games and 33-19 in the first 3 innings.  In the first 2 College World Series games, the Dawgs have failed to score in the first 3 innings of both games.

The baseball game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Stanford Cardinal has been postponed to Saturday at 2:00 pm et. 

The game between LSU and North Carolina that was supposed to be played on Thursday was rained out and that game will now be played on Friday.

After trailing for the majority of the game, the Dawgs came back and defeated Stanford 4-3. Senior Nick Montgomery struggled in the 3rd inning and allowed all 3 runs score, 2 courtesy of Jason Castro’s 2-run homer (this guy is a stud… offensively and defensively… Houston got a good player in the draft… it might be tought, but remember… Castro the Astro).

Anyway… Stephen Dodson came in to pitch and was lights out and so watch Alex McRee, both were big-time nasty at times.

Georgia fought back with one in the 4th and one in the 6th. Then in the 7th with 2 outs and no one on, All-American Gordon Beckham ignited a rally with a single to left, Rich Poythress walked and then Bryce Massanari appeared to hit a 3-run homer, but it was just foul… he was later hit-by-the-pitch and with the bases loaded, Matt Cerione singled to center and the tying and go ahead runs scored. Dawgs up 4-3.

In the 9th, Joshua Fields came into the game for his first save opportunity since May 13th. After getting the first batter out, he then hit the next batter, then walked the one after that. With the tying run just 180 feet away, he got pinch-hitter Colin Walsh to hit into the 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Georgia will now face the Stanford/Miami winner on Friday. If the Bulldogs win that one they will advance to the College World Series Championship series. If they lose they will play that same team again on Saturday.

Big win for the Bulldogs yesterday as Georgia defeated Stanford 4-3 in comeback fashion to stay in the winner’s bracket in the College World Series.  Matt Cerione had the big hit, but this stat is about the Dawg bullpen.  One of the things I wrote about a few days ago was the re-emergence of the bullpen.  Well so far it is back…

In the Super Regionals - Georgia Bullpen

8 2/3 innings, 12 hits, 11 earned runs, 12 walks and 9 strikeouts (11.42 era)

In the College World Series - Georgia Bullpen

11 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 walks and 9 strikeouts (0.82 era)

Georgia will face Stanford tonight at 7:00 pm et in the winners bracket of the College World Series. These two teams have faced each other before in Omaha with the Cardinal being on the good side 3 games to 2, but the Dawgs won twice when it counted in 1990 when they took down ace Mike Mussina 2 times en route to the championship and then defeated Oklahoma State to win it all.

Tonight it will be Nick Montgomery on the mound. The senior has been pitching great since taking over in the starters role.

In 4 games as a starter this season: 3-1 with a 2.63 era

In 20 relief appearances: 1-1 with a 5.08 era

Stanford’s big hitter is catcher Jason Castro. He was the 10th pick overall in this month’s draft. He is a big catcher at 6′3″ and is hitting .376 on the season with 100 hits. Thirteen of those 100 hits have been home runs.

Their other big bat is leadoff hitter Cord Phelps. The second baseman is hitting .350 this season with 86 hits. Their power comes from centerfielder Sean Ratliff who has 21 dingers on the season. Lookout for Toby Gerhart and Brent Milleville, too.

Pitching could be either Austin Yount (nephew of mlb hall of famer Robin Yount) or Jeffrey Inman (I don’t know what his uncle or aunt do for a living). Both are right-handers. Yount has the better ERA, but neither are big-time strikeout guys.

Stanford doesn’t run a whole lot. Only 63 attempts (47 successful) in 64 games.

They have very good defense. Only 65 errors and one guy with errors in double-digits.

The 8th seeded Georgia Bulldogs defeated #1 Miami Hurricanes by the score of 7-4. The Dawgs fought back with a 4-spot in the 9th to pull ahead and win. It was the first time that the Canes lost this season when leading after 8 innings. The Bulldogs will now face the Stanford Cardinal on Monday at 7:00 pm et.

To review my points from the other day…

1) don’t get rattled… well, they sort of did… Miami ace Chris Hernandez struck out 5 of the first 6 batters and made the Dawgs look foolish… although after that the lefty did not strike out a batter and gave up 3 runs which he hasn’t done that often in his short collegiate career. But on the other hand, Trevor Holder gave up the long ball too many times, plus he walked too many as well… so both got rattled so I consider it a wash…

2) table-setters… Ryan Peisel did a good job, collecting 3 hits with a homer and 4 rbi (not a bad way to celebrate your birthday) Matt Olson struggled with an 0-fer. The 3-4-5 hitters overall did not collect 0 rbi and 0 runs. That must improve.

3) bottom of lineup… they did their part… Joey Lewis had 2 hits, Lyle Allen had one as did Miles Starr. Counting pitch-runners the bottom of the Dawgs lineup scored 5 of the 7 runs.

4) bullpen… they did great against the powerful Hurricanes… In 5 innings, the Dawgs bullpen gave up only one run on 3 hits and walking just one… and once again Joshua Fields looked strong throwing pitch after pitch in the mid-to-upper 90’s.