Baseball: So close, but so far
Georgia's NCAA Tournament dreams fading after 11-inning loss to Ole Miss
Ben Harris gave it everything he had.
In a game Georgia (29-23, 12-17 SEC) had to win to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive, Harris kept the Bulldogs tied with Ole Miss (38-16, 18-11) through the ninth and 10th innings. Georgia’s relief ace emptied the tank to keep his team in it.
But just like his team’s quest for the postseason, Harris ran out of gas on Friday night. Ole Miss scored three runs in the 11th inning to win 8-5 at Foley Field, putting Georgia’s tournament hopes on life support.
“We all feel it,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said after the game. “It should be tough to lose like that and it should hurt. That’s what we said. If it hurts, that’s a good thing because you care and they all care. They all care a whole bunch. That’s a heartbreaker.”
Georgia scored the first three runs of the game and took a 5-1 lead into the eighth inning. Freshman pitcher Liam Sullivan, making his third career start, provided five-and-a-third innings of one-run ball before giving way to fellow freshman Jaden Woods.
Woods escaped a jam in the sixth and cruised through the seventh. In the eighth, however, a pair of one-out singles preceded a long three-run homer from Rebel left fielder Kevin Graham that cut the lead to 5-4.
Harris then entered and surrendered a home run of his own, this one a solo shot to designated hitter Tim Elko. The Ole Miss senior tore his ACL earlier this season, but still put a ball over the fence to tie the game at five.
In the bottom of the inning, Georgia put the go-ahead run on second with one out before a strikeout and groundout ended the inning. After another quiet frame in the ninth, the game headed to extras.
“We’re just going to have to find ways to win these close games,” Stricklin said. “Here lately, we’ve been so good at doing that. The teams that we’ve played have been so good, they’ve just gotten one more hit or made one more play than us. That’s the difference between winning and losing.”
Harris breezed through the ninth and 10th, allowing nothing more than a walk in each inning. His offense got a leadoff single, but couldn’t cash it in in the bottom of the 10th.
“Ben kept us there, he gave us a chance,” Stricklin said. “We had opportunities in the ninth and the 10th to win it, guys on base, and just couldn’t get the hit. Hit some balls hard, it just didn’t happen for us.”
Harris allowed an infield single to begin the 11th, but then struck out the next two hitters. But after a wild pitch, he allowed a single, an intentional walk and another single to put the Rebels on top 7-5.
Nolan Crisp then came on and allowed another single to make the score 8-5. A hitless bottom of the ninth gave Georgia its second straight loss to open the weekend, and perhaps its most costly defeat of the season.
“They just found holes,” Stricklin said. “Benny was throwing the ball really well. He gave us everything he had. He’s our guy, we’re going to stick with him.”
With the loss, Georgia now needs a win in the series finale Saturday and at least one win, likely more, in next week’s SEC Tournament. A huge win floated in front of their faces for the taking, but it just eluded the Bulldogs’ grasp.