Georgia Nips State 4-2 To Claim Series
April 09, 2006 | Baseball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Georgia (21-10, 5-7 SEC) struck for a pair offirst-inning runs and the Bulldogs never trailed in registering aseries-clinching 4-2 win over No. 3 Mississippi State (25-6, 6-5 SEC) Sundayafternoon before 6,112 fans at Dudy Noble Field. The three-game series drew29,915 to Dudy Noble Field, bettering the previous SEC series record(25,999) set in the 2003 when MSU hosted Auburn.
"Their pitching was outstanding again today and Georgia got the key hitslike they did yesterday," said MississippI State coach Ron Polk.
Georgia got to MSU starter John Lalor (2-1) for two runs in the firstinning.jonathan Wyatt singled to left and scored from first base on BobbyFelmy's double to right. A pair of wild pitches by Lalor sent Felmy to thirdand on to home for a 2-0 Georgia lead.
That lead grew to 3-0 in the fourth when Josh Morris and Jason Jacobs drewinning-opening walks and a passed ball moved Morris on to third base. MattRobbins then followed with a single to right to score Morris. ChadCrosswhite replaced Lalor and ended the Georgia threat when he got MatthewDunn to hit into an infield groundout.
State, after stranding five base-runners in the first three innings, plateda run in the fourth. Brian LaNinfa opened the frame with a sun-field doubleto center field, moved up a base and later scored on infield groundouts.State had two more hits in the inning off UG starter Trevor Holder - a flyball double by Jeff Butts that was lost in the sun by UG centerfielder JoshMorris and a single to shallow left by Jeffrey Rea. Wyatt, the UG leftfielder, scooped up and threw home in time to retire Butts in a close playat the plate that ended the inning.
MSU closed to within a run and chased Holder from the mound in the fifthinning. Edward Easley walked to pen the inning and Thomas Berkery extendedhis SEC-leading hitting streak to a school-record 28 games with a single tocenter field. Georgia went to its bullpen, bringing left Rip Warren into thegame. MSU center fielder Joseph Hunter came through with a one-out singlethat scored Easley, but Warren retired the next two batters on infieldgroundouts and set the Bulldogs down in order in the sixth and seventhinnings.
A third Georgia pitcher, Joshua Fields, closed out the game, working arounda pair of two-out base-runners in the eighth and pitching a perfect ninth toearn his sixth save. Warren (4-2) got the win, striking out four andallowing but one base-runner among the 10 batters he faced over threeinnings. Holder, the starter, scattered seven hits and walked two over fourinnings.
Georgia picked up an insurance run in the seventh when Dunn opened theinning with a double down the right field line and Wyatt followed with asingle through the left side of the MSU infield. Justin Pigott came on inrelief of Crosswhite to end the Georgia rally in the seventh. Crosswhiteworked around a two-out hit in the eighth and a fourth MSU relief pitcher,Aaron Weatherford, did the same in the ninth.
Lalor (2-1) absorbed his first loss of the campaign, giving up three runs(two earned) on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Side, Wyatt and Robbins had two hits each to lead Georgia's 10-hit attack.Mitch Moreland singled twice to lead State.
Play was halted briefly and the game ball removed from play after Berkery'srecord-setting hit in the fifth inning. The Sarasota, Fla., product, who hashit safely in 28 straight games and all but one of MSU's 31 games, broke RonBrown's school hit streak record. His streak ties for the sixth-longesthitting streak in SEC history.
Mississippi State begins another six-game road run with Tuesday's 6:30 p.m.Mayor's Trophy Game matchup with instate rival Mississippi at Jackson'sSmith-Wills Stadium. MSU travels to Auburn next weekend (Apr. 14-16) andplays a pair of midweek contests at Memphis (Apr. 18-19) before returning toDudy Noble Field to host SEC West foe Arkansas (Apr. 21-23).
