Rest and a deep pitching staff have helped the Bulldog baseball team advance to the final round of the College World Series. Of course, Georgia did its part by winning early on, making their path to a national championship easier. After getting victories over Miami and Stanford in their first two College World Series games, the Bulldogs got a chance to sit back in Omaha, Neb., last week and await the winner of a game between their two aforementioned opponents. Stanford prevailed over Miami in that game, eliminating the Series’ No. 1 seed and setting up another matchup with Georgia. The Cardinal defeated the Hurricanes last Wednesday and was set to play the Bulldogs last Friday. Earlier rain caused the game to be rescheduled, however, and the two teams were forced to play on Saturday. Georgia needed just a single victory to win Bracket 1 and advance to the best-of-three championship round, while Stanford needed to beat Georgia twice.
FRESH ARMS
The Bulldogs came into the game with nearly five full days of rest and were the fresher team. Even with the rest, Georgia head coach David Peron chose not to send his No. 1 starter Trevor Holder to the mound and instead started Nathan Moreau, who last pitched exactly two weeks earlier in the Bulldogs Super Regional series against N.C. State. Stanford called on Jeremy Bleich, who started the College World Series opener against Florida State. Neither pitcher lasted four innings, but by the time they both exited, Georgia had the distinct advantage. The Bulldogs touched up Bleich for six runs in 3 1/3 innings as Rich Poythress and Joey Lewis each got two RBIs off the Stanford hurler.
Drew Storen, who pitched in the Cardinal’s previous game against Miami, replaced Bleich and surrendered a three-run home run to Ryan Peisel in the fifth and Georgia led 9-3. After Moreau exited after giving up a single run in 2 1/3 innings, Dan Weaver and Alex McRee allowed just three runs in 5 2/3 innings. Weaver had only pitched in the Series for one inning against Miami, while McRee pitched two-plus innings against the Hurricanes and a little over an inning in Georgia’s first game with Stanford. Georgia held on to win 10-8 as Weaver got the victory (6-1). Peisel finished the day 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Poythress went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, tying a College World Series record with three doubles.
DOG FIGHT
The Bulldogs moved on to face the Fresno State Bulldogs in a three-game series for college baseball’s national championship that started this past Monday, while Game 2 was set for Tuesday. If a Game 3 is necessary, it is scheduled to take place Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Fresno State’s run to the championship round of the College World Series is even more improbable than Georgia’s. Fresno was the No. 4 seed of the Long Beach Regional and had to get by No. 11-ranked Long Beach St. and No. 6 San Diego. They then beat No. 3 Arizona State in the Super Regional round, handing the Sun Devils two of their five home losses for the season. At the College World Series, No. 5 Rice and No. 2 North Carolina were their victims.
AROUND CAMPUS
Former Bulldog diver Chris Colwill made his case to make the U.S. Olympic Team for the August Beijing Games after competing in the 3-meter springboard at the U.S. Olympic Trials last week. Colwill finished second at the Trials and now will wait until after a team selection camp next month to find out if he will make the team. Only the winner of the Trials, Troy Dumais, is assured of a spot. Colwill, an NCAA Champion in the 1-meter and 3-meter events, was the 2008 NCAA Diver of the Year.
If Colwill makes the cut for the U.S. Olympic Team, he will see a familiar face during his time in Beijing. Jack Bauerle, the head coach of both the men’s and women’s Georgia swimming and diving teams, will coach the U.S. women at the upcoming Olympics. Bauerle is respected as one of the top coaches in the sport, and is no stranger to being around Olympic talent as about a dozen of his athletes have competed in the Olympics over the years. Undoubtedly he would love to see Colwill make it and then be there to see him perform.
The Olympic Trials for U.S. Track and Field start Friday and 400-meter hurdler Justin Gaymon will be looking to make amends for his disqualification at the NCAA Championships by earning a berth in the Olympics. Gaymon owns the fifth fastest time in the world this year at 48.53.
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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