The Georgia Bulldogs’ (33-32) postseason run came to an end Sunday in a 6-4 loss to No. 16 Oregon State (41-17). After losing on Friday to No. 25 Creighton (45-14), the Bulldogs placed themselves on the brink of elimination. In order to remain in the tournament, the Bulldogs to needed win out in the Corvallis Regional.
The road to avoid elimination began with a 7-3 win over Arkansas-Little Rock (24-34) on Saturday. A key moment in the game occurred in the third when pitcher Alex Wood recording his team high sixth pickoff of the season. He then shut down the next two batters to keep the score at 1-0.
“Kyle and I have worked on that play a lot this year, and it’s worked for us a few times,” proclaimed Wood regarding the pickoff. “It’s a good way to cut down on the pressure in an inning.”
Wood would finish by pitching eight strong innings and only surrendering three earned runs while teammate Levi Hyams went 4-for-5 with three runs and one RBI.
By beating the Trojans, the Bulldogs were given a chance at redemption in a rematch against Creighton. Just like the first meeting, the game remained close except this time the fans received the pleasure of viewing some free baseball. In the bottom of the 11th inning, freshman Brandon Stephens drove in the game winning run on a walk-off single to give the Bulldogs a 5-4 victory.
In response to his key hit, Stephens stated, “It means a lot to come through for the team and get that hit. Our pitchers have done a great job in this tournament and I’m glad we came through for them.”
This marked the first time all season the Bulldogs won an extra inning game. The victory also gave Georgia a 5-1 record in elimination games this season with the lone loss coming in the SEC Tournament semifinals to Florida. The win over Creighton also set up a matchup with host Oregon State.
The game against the Beavers, however, did not fare to the Bulldogs’ pleasure. Their season came to an end with a 6-4 defeat. Georgia did however keep the game close with the score tied at 4 heading into the eighth inning. In the eighth, the Beavers’ Jared Norris drove in pinch runner Michael Miller on a sacrifice fly, and they added an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI double by Kavin Keyes to make the score 6-4.
“Oregon State had an answer every time we scored; we just didn’t have any shut down innings and that’s a credit to them,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We had a few chances early but came up short a couple of key hits and were a little thin on relief pitching after our first game when 11 innings.”
“Overall, I’m really proud of how this team battled all season; it wasn’t easy for them and they overcame a lot to get this far,” Perno added.
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