June 22, 2008

2008 College World Series

Day Eight Notes

Georgia will attempt to win its second national baseball championship. The Bulldogs won the 1990 crown with a 2-1 victory over Oklahoma State in the title game. Georgia head coach David Perno was a player on that 1990 squad.

Georgia has had at least nine hits in each of its 11 NCAA Tournament games. The only game in which the Bulldogs did not reach double figures was Monday’s 4-3 win over Stanford, when Georgia had nine hits.

Rich Poythress of Georgia tied a CWS record with three doubles. He now shares the record seven other players. The most recent was Jeff Corsaletti of Florida, who had three doubles against Nebraska on June 19, 2005.

Saturday afternoon’s crowd of 15,828 was the smallest in the past four years.

Georgia is 4-3 all-time against Stanford, including 4-2 at the College World Series. The Bulldogs defeated the Cardinal 4-3 on Monday and 10-8 on Saturday.

Georgia’s bullpen had recorded all three of its CWS wins.

Georgia is now 4-4 vs. Pac-10 teams this season. The Bulldogs lost two of three at home to Arizona to start the season and dropped two of three at Oregon State the second weekend. Georgia defeated Stanford twice in Omaha.

Stanford was 5-0 in elimination games in the 2008 NCAA Tournament before Saturday’s loss to Georgia.

UNC’s win over Fresno State was the fifth time in this year’s CWS that a team won in its final at-bat. The Tar Heels have won their past two in their final at-bat. It was also the eighth time a team has come from behind to win at the 2008 CWS and the third one-run game.

Freshman right-hander Matt Harvey started on consecutive days for the Tar Heels. He went two innings on Friday evening against LSU with one hit, one earned run, two walks and one strikeout. He did not return after a rain delay of 1:27. Harvey pitched five innings on Saturday against Fresno State with five hits, three earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts.

The start of the UNC-FS game was delayed 48 minutes by rain. It was the third delay for weather and the Tar Heels were involved in all three.

Fresno State scored first in each of its three CWS games.

Fresno State is 3-0 in elimination games in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs defeated San Diego in the Long Beach Regional and won twice at Arizona State in the Tempe Super Regional.

The Bulldogs were 34-1 when leading after seven innings before Saturday’s loss to UNC.

After 12 CWS games, Fresno State and North Carolina have the top ERA marks. The Bulldogs have an ERA of 3.81 in three games, while the Tar Heels have an ERA of 3.86 in four contests.