Facing elimination and an early exit from the Athens Regional, pitcher Tim Elliott and a reawakening by Georgia’s bats made sure the Bulldogs would at least live to play one more game.
We’ll start with Elliott.
The junior picked a great time to toss his first complete game, as the Bulldogs went on to earn a rematch against Florida State with a 13-0 win
First pitch between Georgia (46-16) and the Seminoles is set for 6 p.m.
Elliott deserves considerable credit for keeping the Bulldogs’ season alive. FAU came into the game batting .300 as a team, with every position starter but one hitting over .304. But against Elliott, this mattered little.
The former Loganville High standout mixed up his pitches extremely well, keeping the Owls off balance, allowing just two hits with zero walks and a season-high strikeouts. Elliott’s complete game shutout was the first for the Bulldogs since Chase Adkins turned the trick against UAB in March of 2017.
"This was definitely No. 1 man, this was definitely No. 1," Elliott said. "With the position that we're in, getting the complete game was definitely at the top of my list. I'm just really happy that we got it though."
Asked how he decided between Elliott and Cole Wilcox, who will start today's game against FSU, head coach Scott Stricklin joked his method for making a decision was simple.
"To be honest, we kind of flipped a coin. We kept going back and forth with what we wanted to do, so we went with Tim. We talked as a staff, we couldn't have gone wrong; we had both those guys sitting there, so we were in really good shape," Stricklin said. "I think at the end of the day we needed length in this game, and Tim is a little bit more efficient with his pitches. We could have gone either way, but the way he was throwing today, he could have gotten anybody out."
Elliott, who threw 95 pitches - baffled FAU hitters with outstanding control, effectively throwing his off-speed pitches while behind in the count, a fact Owl shortstop Wilfredo Alvarez acknowledged made for a tough afternoon.
"(Elliott) was throwing three or four pitches for strikes early on," Alvarez said. "We got a couple of big zeros early on from Ruff, but we weren't able to get any momentum early, because he was throwing all his pitches for strikes. It's tough to hit when someone is doing that."
It was just the second time the Owls have been shut out all season.
Offensively, the Bulldog bore little resemblance to the team that struggled to score three runs Saturday against FSU.
Aaron Schunk swung the big bat, going 2-for-6 with two home runs, including a grand slam with six RBIs. Connor Tate, Cam Shepherd, and John Cable also went deep for Georgia, which outhit the Owls (41-21), 12-2.
If the Bulldogs ever needed a pick-me-up after Saturday’s debacle against the Seminoles, this was it.
Schunk’s two-run home run put Georgia up 2-0 in the third, the same margin it led Florida State Saturday before the Seminoles exploded to win 12-3.
History would not repeat, much to the chagrin of FAU head coach John McCormick.
"I thought it was going to be one of two things: they've got this beautiful facility and coming into today, that if we came out early, it might tighten the screws on them a little bit after what happened here last year with Duke and what happened last year," McCormick said. "You go through the trouble of hosting and spending the money, you could see the pressure on some of their faces. But that first home run kind of took the pressure off and let them do their thing. They're a good team. They've been playing well all year, and there's a reason they're the No. 4 national seed."
In the fourth, Tate, inserted into the starting lineup in right, launched a pitch from Mike Ruff (5-5) and sent it deep over the fence in left for a three-run homer and a 5-0 lead.
There was more to come.
Shepherd added a solo home run in the sixth, followed in the seventh by LJ Talley with an RBI double and Cable a two-run to push the lead to 9-0.
Schunk’s grand slam in the eighth accounted for the final Bulldog runs.
Stricklin hopes the energy his team played with against the Owls will carry over in their game against FSU, a contest the Bulldogs have to win to force a winner-take-all game on Monday.
"Guys were really excited. Once we got through the sixth inning, you look up at his pitch count; everyone was like, 'We're going CG (complete game) here,'" Stricklin said. "We kept cushioning the lead. We kept getting the home runs, getting a little more cushion, but he (Elliott) never got into trouble, he was able to throw breaking balls and change-ups behind in the count, and that was the key. He was locked in, and certainly the guys were energized."
