Georgia Rallies To Win 15-Inning Marathon, 9-8
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- David Coffey's 15th-inning single scored Justin Holmes Sunday afternoon lifting Georgia (28-23, 10-17 SEC) to a 9-8 come-from-behind win over No. 14 Mississippi State (34-15-1, 15-11) at Foley Field. The win clinched the three-game weekend series for Georgia.
Mississippi State, by virtue of other Sunday results in the SEC, nailed down its 17th consecutive berth in the SEC Tournament May 21-25.
Mississippi State jumped out to a 7-0 lead through six innings and junior right-hander Jeff Lacher, making his first career SEC start, carried a no-hit shutout into the sixth inning.
But Georgia got to Lacher for a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, ending his impressive debut as an SEC starter. Georgia added two runs in the eighth and sent the game into extra innings with two more in the ninth, the last on a two-out single by Coffey.
The score stayed deadlocked until the 14th when Thomas Berkery drew a two-out walk off Brandon Moorhead and Jon Mungle followed with a run-scoring double off the right field wall. Robby Goodson, the sixth Bulldog pitcher in the game, opened the 14th and was greeted with a lead-off double to right by Jon Armitrage. Armitrage advanced to third on a passed ball and scored the tying run on Justin McClain?s fly ball to right.
Georgia called on Matt Woods to pitch the 15th, and UG's sixth hurler of the day set Mississippi State down in order.
In the bottom of the 15th, Justin Holmes lined a one-out double to left, and after Josh Smith drew a walk, Coffey delivered his game-ending single through the hole at shortstop, making a winner of Woods (2-5) and the Georgia Bulldogs.
Goodson (0-2), charged with two runs on three hits, walked one and struck out three in 2-1/3 innings of relief to take the loss.
MSU built a 7-0 advantage through the first six frames. An RBI-double by Tatum plated the first run in the first. In the fourth, MSU added two runs on three hits including a run-scoring double by Jeff Butts , who turned in a team-leading 4-for-7, 2-RBI plate performance. In the fourth, Tatum added a solo home run and then MSU tacked on three more in the sixth to make it 7-0. Startup allowed five runs on eight hits through the first 5.1 innings
Meanwhile, Lacher was cruising until the sixth when Holmes led off with Georgia?s first hit of the day. He stole second and then scored on a base hit by Josh Smith. In the seventh, Armitage led off with a single and then first baseman McClain brought him home with a run-scoring double. McClain would later score on an MSU error to bring Georgia to within four at 7-3. In the eighth, McClain laced a two-out, two-run double off Paplebon to close the gap to 7-5.
McClain collected three hits, two of them doubles, and drove in four runs.
Mississippi State returns to action with a day/night doubleheader Tuesday, hosting Southeastern Louisiana at 3 p.m. and Winthrop University at 6:30 p.m. MSU and Winthrop meet against Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before the Bulldogs close out their 2003 regular season schedule hosting Alabama in a three-game weekend series.
GEORGIA 9, MISSISSIPPI STATE 8 (15 innings)
MSU 100 213 000 000 010 --- 8-15-1 UG 000 001 222 010 001 --- 9-14-0
WP --- Matt Woods (2-5). LP --- Robby Goodson (0-2). HR --- Craig Tatum (4).
T --- 4:41. ATT --- 1,676.
Jeff Lacher, Brian Owens (8), Saunders Ramsey (8), Jonathan Papelbon (8), Jamie Gant (11), Robby Goodson (13) and Craig Tatum. Will Startup, Chris Webb (6), Jake Baker (6), Kent Atzinger (8), Brandon Moorhead, Matt Woods (15) and Jason Jacobs.