Georgia Takes NCAA Opener, 11-4, Over Pack

BY TIM PEELER

ATHENS, Ga. – Three big-run innings allowed Georgia to score 11 consecutive times Friday afternoon and take the first game of the NCAA Athens (Ga.) Super Regional, 11-4, at the Bulldogs’ Foley Field.

“They had a couple of big innings, which just isn’t typical of our team,” Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said.

The two teams will meet again Saturday at noon in the best-of-three series, in a possible elimination game that will be televised by ESPN2 and broadcast by the Wolfpack Sports Network. The game is available locally on WKNC 88.1-FM and globally on GoPack.com.

The Wolfpack (41-20) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the game with a pair of home runs in the top of the third inning, quickly quieting a mostly partisan crowd of 3,517 spectators. Drew Martin led off the inning with a solo shot – just his fourth homer of the season – into the Leyland cypresses beyond the left-field wall. It was Martin’s second home run of the post-season, his first coming in the NCAA-opener against James Madison.

Two batters later, senior Ryan Pond roped a line drive over the left-centerfield wall and into the parking lot for the ITA National Tennis Hall of Fame.

“We felt pretty good after getting the 2-0 lead, especially the way Clayton has been on the mound this entire season,” said Martin.

The Bulldogs (40-22-1) answered in the bottom of the third with a two-out rally against Wolfpack starter Clayton Shunick (7-6). Designated hitter Robbie O’Bryan walked and moved to second on a Shunick wild pitch. O’Bryan moved to third on a single by Lyle Allen, but was held up from scoring by third-base coach Jason Eller.

Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent argued that O’Bryan should have been called out for making contact with the base coach. Third-base umpire Chris Coskey agreed that there was contact, but said it was unintentional.

“Contact usually results in an out,” Avent said. “He said there was contact, but in a game of this magnitude, he didn’t want to call it. He felt like the runner ran into the third base coach, instead of the third base coach trying to stop the runner.

“Maybe, in a game like this, that’s the right call. I think you do have to use common sense and judgment.”

Shunick struck out the next two batters, but allowed a run-scoring single to Matt Olson and a two-run double to All-America shortstop Gordon Beckham, who was the No. 8 overall pick of Thursday’s Major League Draft of First-Year Players. First baseman Rich Poythress followed with a run-scoring single to left, giving the Bulldogs a 4-2 advantage.

“Usually when you put the first guy on, it’s never good,” Shunick said. “That’s usually how big innings start. I battled back and got two strikeouts and threw a pretty good pitch to Olson, but he hit it through the 6-hole. Then I hung a ball to Beckham. They are a pretty good hitting team and if you make a mistake like that, they are going to take advantage.”

That was exactly what Georgia coach David Perno expected his team to do.

“I thought that third inning was the key,” Perno said. “We gave up a couple of solo home runs, but something we have been good at all year is being able to answer and change the momentum. In the bottom of the inning, we almost let it slip away, but Gordon’s double and Olson hit did it for us.”

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs scored five more runs thanks to a walk, a single, a pair of doubles and a two-run homer by pinch-hitter Joey Lewis off reliever Andrew Taylor. Lewis, the first batter Taylor faced, quickly ended the Wolfpack relief corps’ string of 11 consecutive shutout innings in NCAA play.

“Both the third and the sixth innings were started with lead-off walks,” Perno said. “Just like with anybody, if you put the pitcher in the stretch early in the inning, it changes things. Those other innings he was fortunate to get out of those with double plays and we weren’t going to let that happen after those first two innings.”

The Bulldogs added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, on a two-run double by pinch-hitter Miles Starr.

It was the first time all season that Shunick, a fifth-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds in Thursday's draft, allowed more than four runs in a game. He allowed eight hits and eight earned runs in his worst outing of the season.

“We’ll just come out tomorrow and Sunday and win two and this game won’t even matter,” Shunick said.

Georgia starter Trevor Holder (8-4), one of eight players from both teams that was selected in the MLB draft during the game, pitched 8- 2/3 innings to get the victory, allowing just four hits over the final six innings and getting three double plays from his defense to prevent big innings by the Wolfpack. In the ninth, Holder walked catcher Nick Stanley and hit shortstop Tommy Foshi with a pitch.

Lefty Justin Earls relieved Holder and gave up two unearned runs on a throwing error by Beckham. But Pond flied out to right field to end the game.

Overall, Avent was not disappointed in the way his team played. And he expects the Wolfpack to rebound Saturday.

“This team is resilient,” Avent said. “We are all about character and toughness. There is nothing magical about this team, it’s all about grit, about character and about toughness. That’s the way it has been all year long and that’s what I expect it to be tomorrow.

“We have two more to get. I like our ball club and we will see what happens.”

Avent did not announce a starting pitcher for Saturday’s game. Perno said that junior left-hander Nathan Moreau (4-2, 4.93 ERA) would start Game 2 for the Bulldogs.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.