Ole Miss eliminates Georgia baseball team from SEC Tournament

The Georgia baseball team’s elimination game opponent in the SEC Tournament was revealed after Ole Miss suffered a one-run loss to Vanderbilt in the nightcap Wednesday night, and the Bulldogs were looking for a repeat performance of their regular season finale, where they defeated Ole Miss 12-2.

Georgia also was hoping to bounce back after their 11-2 loss to Arkansas. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that didn’t happen Thursday night in a 4-0 loss to Ole Miss.

“Drew McDaniel was the difference today,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said of the Ole Miss pitcher. “He was really good on the mound. We faced a lot of good pitching in our games here, and we also didn’t have a very good approach overall. Offensively, we weren’t very good. The three arms we saw pitched extremely well. I thought McDaniel was outstanding today.

“We weren’t good enough to win yesterday or today, and we need to get better. I feel like we’ll be playing at least a couple more games next week, and we need to clean it up offensively.”

As the Bulldogs faced the challenge of being in the loser bracket, every pitch and plate appearance was magnified because it could be the end of the season. College postseason play is always full of heroic moments and great stories these players and teams create.

Ole Miss designated hitter Tim Elko is one of the stories of the year. After tearing his ACL on April 5, and returning in May, Elko has been a power threat for the Rebels with three homers and seven RBIs. Georgia was going to have to navigate through a talented Ole Miss lineup, if the Bulldogs were to survive the day.

After a scoreless first inning, Ole Miss got on the board in the 2nd inning with a solo shot from leftfielder Kevin Graham to give the Rebels the early 1-0 lead. Georgia freshman pitcher Liam Sullivan was able to limit the damage by striking out the next three batters.

The Georgia offense went quietly to start the third inning, as the Rebel bats had the Bulldogs wobbling early and extended their lead to 2-0 on a RBI single from freshman shortstop Jacob Gonzalez. Georgia’s Sullivan danced around a bases-loaded jam to end the inning and hold the rebel lead at 2-0.

In the fourth inning, Corey Collins looked to get the Georgia offense started with a leadoff single but the zero on the score still loomed large for the Bulldogs after the inning. Georgia turned to another freshman pitcher, Jonathan Cannon, who set the Rebels down in order to end the fourth.

Georgia’s offensive woes from last night seemed to carryover as McDaniel racked up nine strikeouts through five innings. When Ole Miss tacked on a pair runs in the bottom of the fifth, due to a Georgia throwing error, coupled with an RBI single to widen the Rebel lead to 4-0, it seemed like a insurmountable mountain for the struggling Bulldog offense.

Cannon set the Rebels offense down in order in the sixth inning. After 6 2/3 innings and 11 strikeouts, the Bulldogs were finally able to get past Ole Miss starter McDaniel. Mountain View grad Garrett Spikes delivered a two-out single that caused the pitching change, but resulted in no change on the Georgia side of the scoreboard.

In the ninth, Georgia tried desperately to mount a come back as third baseman Garrett Blalock reached base with a one-out single, but was left stranded.

As Georgia leaves Hoover, there are a lot more questions than answers for the Bulldogs. The offense looked completely puzzled against upper echelon competition this week. As far as NCAA Tournament aspirations, the Bulldogs are in according to D1baseball.com, which has the Bulldogs as a projected No. 3 seed heading to East Carolina for a regional.

Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin believes his Bulldogs have done enough to get in the tournament, saying in an in-game interview, “I believe we’re in. We have 14 league wins. We play in the toughest conference in the country. But, the committee won’t listen to me, I’m pretty biased.”

Until they hear their name called, the Bulldogs will be uncomfortably waiting for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Monday, May 31, at noon on ESPN2.