CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin talked about the start of the North Carolina Regional as an opportunity for his Bulldogs to turn the page on a disappointing end to the regular season.
Unfortunately, Friday night’s opener against Virginia Commonwealth had a familiar ending as the Rams used a three-run first to sail past the Bulldogs, 8-1.
Georgia’s season now comes down to one game, as the Bulldogs (35-22) play Hofstra in a loser’s bracket game Saturday at 1 p.m.
VCU (41-18), winners of 16 straight, play host North Carolina at 7 in the winner’s bracket game with the victor earning a spot in the regional championship.
“It’s just really disappointing to get to this point and not play well,” Stricklin said. “This team battled so hard to get to the postseason and perform like that. We’ve got to turn the page really quickly to extend our season.”
Georgia entered the game hoping for starting pitcher Jonathan Cannon to give some length.
Unfortunately, the opposite occurred.
Cannon struggled with his location and didn’t make it out of the fourth after allowing five runs on seven hits with three hit batters and two walks.
“I just wasn’t very competitive in the zone today, and that’s just a red-hot offense,” Cannon said. “I gave them too many pitches to hit and I paid for it. Obviously, I hope I get another shot at it.”
But Cannon and the Bulldogs can't worry about that right now.
Georgia must first get past Hofstra (30-22), which was blasted by North Carolina 15-4 earlier in the afternoon.
Do that, and the Bulldogs advance to Sunday to play the loser of Saturday’s North Carolina-VCU game in the double-elimination tournament.
“We’ve just got to keep grinding,” said shortstop Cole Tate, who drove in Georgia’s lone run with a seventh-inning homer. “We’ve got to get up there with the approach that we’re not getting out. We’ve just got to have confidence and see where it goes.”
The Rams struck in the first inning, scoring three times on three hits, the big blow a three-run homer by cleanup hitter Connor Hujsak off the scoreboard in left.
That wasn’t the only damage done.
It took Cannon 33 pitches to get through the first, and after giving up solo runs in the second and third, had to come out with two out in the fourth.
Hujsak’s home run was one of two on the night for the shortstop, who drove in four runs. VCU hit four homers on the evening.
“It was a little bit of shell-shock it happened so quick,” Stricklin said of VCU’s three-run first. “Base hit, hit by pitch, and a home run. We had one out, but all of a sudden, it’s 3-0 and we haven’t even got settled in.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs simply could not get it going.
Georgia managed seven hits and stranded 14 batters, 10 over the first two innings. The Bulldogs hit some balls hard, but obviously failed to do so at opportune times.
“We didn’t have very good bats with runners in scoring position,” Stricklin said. “I thought we hit some balls hard. Ben Anderson smashed some balls; the difference was the balls they smashed went over the fence. The balls that they smashed stayed in the yard. They had better at-bats than we did.”
NOTES:
…In the third, Stricklin went against the book when he walked Tyler Locklear with runners at first and second with two out to load the bases. The move paid off as Cannon retired Logan Amiss to end the inning.
…With six hit-batters, Georgia pitchers have hit 18 batters over their last three games (Missouri, Alabama in the SEC Tourney, and VCU).
… Stricklin said after the game that he and pitching coach Sean Kenny would decide between Luke Wagner (5-2, 6.10) and Liam Sullivan (3-3, 5.18) to start Saturday’s game against Hofstra.
