If Georgia is going to advance to the College World Series, it’s going to need a comeback.
Game 1 of the Athens Super Regionals was over before it barely began, as North Carolina State exploded for 11 runs in the second inning and cruised to an 18-1 win.
The Bulldogs (42-16) now face a must-win situation Sunday at noon, and again on Monday to capture the best-of-three Super Regionals to advance to Omaha.
“Here’s the great thing about our game, nothing carries over to tomorrow,” head coach Wes Johnson said. “The scoreboard goes back to 0-0, and we’re going to come out ready to respond.”
First baseman Corey Collins believes Georgia’s bats will respond.
“We led the country in offense this year for how long?” Collins said. “I’m confident in our guys putting good swings on balls.”
Georgia just needs to avoid outbursts like what happened in the second inning. Talk about a disaster.
After an uneventful first inning, starter Kolten Smith endured a nightmare second that made Friday the 13th look like a fairy tale.
The first nine batters reached base for the Wolfpack (37-20), who built a 7-0 lead before Chandler Marsh came in and recorded a strikeout for the first out of the inning.
But North Carolina State was not done. The Wolfpack scored five more times, pushing the lead to 11-0 before the Bulldogs even batted for the second time.
Smith was charged with 10 runs, eight earned, in his one inning.
“I made a comment to my coaches, this year has been a lot of firsts. I’ve never given up 11 runs in an inning and not walked or hit a guy,” Johnson said. “You’ve just got to tip your hat to them. They hit the baseball. They had some things fall in; a fly ball out there kind of dumps in. It’s baseball, man, and they got off a couple of really good swings in that inning as well, too. I’m not going to sit here and act like they didn’t.”
Wolfpack catcher Jacob Cozart – who hit two of North Carolina State’s five home runs – said the outbursts were typical of what North Carolina State has been able to do for much of the year.
“Hitting’s contagious. We started out the game having a quick inning, but the second inning came around and we got two really, really good bunts down that found a hole,” Cozart said. “Chaos unloaded and we just started rolling. We got to the top of our lineup and that’s what we do. When we’re able to turn that lineup around we just start to roll.”
From there, it was just getting the game over quickly.
The Wolfpack added single runs in the fifth and sixth, before adding two more in the seventh. Georgia’s only run came in the fifth on an RBI double by Collins.
North Carolina State pitcher Sam Highfill was the beneficiary of all the support. Not that he needed it. The graduate gave North Carolina State six solid innings, allowing four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Georgia’s four hits were the fewest for the Bulldogs this season since collecting just three in the final two games at Kentucky during the first SEC series of the weekend.
“There were a couple of guys trying to hit 10-run homers but that just shows they care,” Johnson said. “We got out of our approach a little bit, especially after that second inning, but we’ll respond. We’ll be ready to go (Sunday).”
