June 2, 2008

Olson has five of Georgia's 21 hits in win over Lipscomb

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

ATHENS, Ga. – It was crooked numbers on the scoreboard for Georgia and sticks for Lipscomb.

The Bulldogs (37-22-1) had four multi-run innings in the first five to claim a 14-3 victory over the Bisons (33-30) Sunday afternoon, giving Georgia a 13-0 record in NCAA Tournament elimination games at Foley Field.

"It was a good win," said Georgia head coach Dave Perno. "and a very good one for Nathan (Moreau). We needed that, and our offense had to come through early and set the tone, and they did."

Top-seeded Georgia will meet second-seeded Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. this evening and will have to beat the Yellow Jackets twice to win the regional.

Georgia gained revenge from its 10-7 loss to Lipscomb on Friday in the first game of the Athens Regional.

The top four starters in the Bulldog lineup combined to go 12-22 (.545) with 11 runs and eight RBI. No. 2 hitter Matt Olson led the attack by going 5 for 6 with four runs and an RBI. He is 11 for 16 in three regional games with five runs. Cleanup hitter Rich Poythress had two hits, two runs and five RBI.

"Tough game, playing against a very good team," said Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. "Everybody saw today why they’re SEC champs. They came out and had a great approach, got on the board early and just kept attacking us from the beginning. I can’t complement them enough."

Nathan Moreau (4-2) did his job on the mound for the Bulldogs, going seven innings with eight hits, three earned runs, no walks and six strikeouts. Justin Earls tossed two scoreless innings in relief for Georgia.

"This is what we needed today," Moreau said. "Offensively, we put up great run support. Myself and Earls grinded out some innings and did what we needed to do. It was a big win, and we need another one tonight."

As they did in their first meeting on Friday, the Bulldogs put four on the board in the first against the Bisons. Ryan Peisel drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a single by Olson and scored on a base hit by Gordon Beckham. Poythress had a two-run single and Lyle Allen added a two-out RBI base hit to give Georgia a 4-0 advantage.

In the top of the second, Olson and Beckham had consecutive one-out doubles and Bryce Massanari had a two-out RBI single as the Bulldogs pushed their lead to 6-0.

Lipscomb got on the scoreboard in the third as Branden Cadavid singled, moved to third on a one-out double by Jorge Gutierrez and came home on a groundout by Allen Bolden to make it 6-1.

Massanari hit his 10^th home run in the fourth, a two-run shot that extended the lead to 8-1. With three in the game, Massanari continues to lead the team with 26 two-out RBI.

The Bisons got their second run in the fourth as Blake Bratcher had a leadoff double to left, moved to third on a base hit by Justin Sanders and came home on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Wilkins.

Poythress’ three-run homer capped a four-run fifth as the Bulldogs extended their lead to 12-2.

LU added a run in the fifth as Ben Williams had a leadoff double and scored on a base hit by Allen Bolden to make it 12-3.

Jack Crane added a two-run single in the ninth for the Bulldogs.

Notes:

The last Bulldog to get five hits in a game was Joey Lewis against Kentucky in 2007.

Lipscomb surrendered a season-high 21 hits. The previous high was 17 against Stetson on April 6.