Comments (0) | |

Sunday, May. 31, 2009

Seminoles shut down Bulldogs’ bats

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — The powerful bite possessed by the Georgia lineup was held in check at the NCAA’s Tallahassee Regional as the Bulldogs fell to Florida State 8-2 on Saturday.

Georgia, which lit up the scoreboard for 24 runs in Friday’s game against Ohio State, was unable to get much of anything going from the plate as the Bulldogs only scraped together five hits against Seminoles ace Sean Gilmartin.

The only runs came on a two-run home by first baseman Rich Poythress in the fourth inning. It was his fourth home run in two games.

“Sean Gilmartin did a great job,” head coach David Perno said. “He had our number. It’s kind of how we have been all season, a little bit inconsistent.”

“We got the veterans and the guys we wanted up there and had guys on, but we didn’t get the hits today,” a frustrated Poythress said.

The Bulldogs got a fantastic performance out of their own ace, Trevor Holder. Holder threw 125 pitches in 7-1/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits, while striking out seven.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Trevor,” Perno said. “He has been our guy for three years now. He has done an incredible job for us. A pitch here or there could have changed everything, but we didn’t do enough offensively to back him.”

While the result wasn’t exactly what the Bulldogs were looking for, Georgia’s pitching options are still intact, thanks to only two pitchers being used against Florida State.

Reliever Will Harvil was the other Bulldogs pitcher to work, throwing two-thirds of an inning. Harvil only threw 21 pitches and will be available later in the regional.

“Everybody is fresh,” Perno said. “We have eight guys that are fresh and haven’t even thrown a pitch, so we are in good shape as far as that goes.”

Georgia will now face Ohio State in a rematch from the opening game in the region in an elimination game at noon today. Perno didn’t announce who the starting pitcher will be for today’s game.

“You never want to be in this situation,” Holder said. “It is one of those things where I think we play good when our backs are against the wall. We have a history of having to do that every year I have been here. We have to come back (today) and play two good games and try to get to Monday and see what happens.”