NCAA Regionals: Not a good day for the Peach State, not at all
Auburn’s Steven Williams circles the bases after his walk-off game-winner Saturday night.
Photo: Auburn
B y Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Auburn 6, Georgia Tech 5
It was a tease.
Sunday
12 p.m.
Georgia vs. Florida Atlantic, Athens, SECN/ESPN3
Georgia Tech vs. Coastal Carolina, Atlanta, ESPNU/ESPN3
6 p.m.
Georgia/FAU winner vs. Florida State, Athens, TBA/ESPN3
Tech/Coastal winner vs. Auburn, Atlanta, TBA/ESPN3
The Yellow Jackets led 5-1 after three, and 5-2 through 8 and a half innings.
And went back to the dorm defeated, thanks to Steven Williams’ walk-off two-out three-run homer.
The Tigers got the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to an error and hit batter. Two outs on seven pitches followed.
Rankin Woley stroked an RBI single to make it 5-3, and then Williams deposited an 0-2 Connor Thomas pitch over the fence in right.
It was Williams’ only hit, and came with Thomas a pitch away from a complete game. He struck out six with no walks, yet fell to 9-2.
Tech faces Coastal Carolina at noon in an elimination game, the winner getting Auburn later.
Florida State 12, Georgia 3
A 2-2 game suddenly became a Florida State runaway with eight runs in two innings, more than half coming against ace Emerson Hancock.
He gave up five runs on nine hits with only three strikeouts.
“I just felt like they had a really good approach against me,” Hancock said. “(They) made me throw some tough pitches got me.
“There were a couple counts that kind of made me get behind that I had to fight back into the count, but they're a really good lineup with really good hitters, and they had a really good approach.”
The Bulldogs gave up 15 hits and couldn’t take much advantage of three errors, thanks in part to FSU pitching – led by CJ Van Eyk - striking out 11 and walking nobody.
“I think, so many times, we really forget what this guy (Van Eyk) did, and Georgia is a good baseball team,” FSU head coach Mike Martin said. “They are very talented, very well coached, and CJ pitched a whale of a game.”
Tucker Maxwell had three hits and Aaron Schunk and John Cable two each for Georgia.
Mike Salvatore and Nander De Sedas had three hits each for the Seminoles and teamed for five ARBI. Carter Smith and Tim Becker had two hits and three RBI each.
Van Eyk improved to 10-3 for FSU (38-21) and Hancock fell to 8-3 for Georgia (45-16).
“I thought CJ threw the ball really well, and we knew coming in that it was going to be a challenge,” UGA head coach Scott Stricklin said. “He's got excellent stuff, and his breaking ball was outstanding, both with the change-up and fastballs - 95-96 - so he was really locked in.
Georgia plays Florida Atlantic at noon in an elimination game, the winner playing Florida State at 6 p.m.
Florida Atlantic 10, Mercer 6
A fresh start wasn’t the answer.
About 16 hours after a difficult opener Friday night in the Athens Regional, Mercer watched a pitchers duel turn into a comeback mission against Florida Atlantic in the elimination game.
And an inspiring eighth inning turned a humbling rout into a competitive game, but it was too late and Florida Atlantic held on, getting a game-ending double play.
"I wish we had started off like we finished, but it just didn't happen that way,” Mercer head coach Craig Gibson said. “But I thought we fought hard at the end. I really did.”
Mercer had nothing offensively through seven, and it certainly looked like there would be no suspense in a thorough FAU win, little going the Bears way when they did offer something.
But the Bears sure woke up in the eighth and made it worthwhile for those who hung around.
Kel Johnson was robbed earlier of a homer, but left no doubt, leading off the eighth with a homer.
I think I was 0-for-3 going into that,” he said. “I had hit one good the time before, and the guy scaled the wall and brought it back.
“I was trying to get us going a couple of innings before and, you know, I was able to run into one with that at-bat— it was the first pitch fastball— and got the barrel there.”
Singles from Collin Price, RJ Yeager, and Leyton Pinckney (Veterans) brought in another run. The first out preceded a walk to load the bases, then an RBI single from Trevor Austin and two-run double from Billy Knight.
FAU pitching stepped up to get the final two outs and strand runners on second and third.
Pitchers Peyton Berry and Andrew Kane – the last of Mercer’s seven pitchers - retired the Owls in order in the top of the ninth.
Price led off the bottom of ninth with a homer to make it 10-6, Yeager following with a single. The Owls got freshman Pinckney on a strikeout.
Pinch-hitter David Posas battled through a seven-pitch at-bat and was hit, forcing a pitching change to closer Zach Schneider, whom the Owls certainly didn’t expect to need.
But he didn’t need long to get his 16th save, plucking Kyle Dockus’ shot up the middle to start a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.
Mercer ends the season at 35-29 while Florida Atlantic stays alive at 41-20.
Hopes that Mercer might be able to replicate something of a repeat of its Southern Conference performance and battle back from a thumping went by the wayside after a pitchers duel evaporated.
The Owls got it going in the fourth with a leadoff single followed by a homer from Bobby Morgensen. An out was followed by two singles and a double for a run, and then an RBI groundout.
Just like that, the Bears were down 5-0 and the day for starter Sawyer Gipson-Long was done.
“One thing about Florida Atlantic, they don't give any at-bats away,” Gibson said. “That's a tough offensive lineup now. So they're older, they're experienced. It's a really good team and, man, it's tough to get them out.”
Uncharacteristically, Mercer’s bats were quiet, the Bears wasting a two-on, no-out second. They got runners on in the next three innings, then went down in order the next two.
Morgensen came up with a superb momentum-sapping catch to open the bottom of the sixth, stealing a certain home run from Johnson in right, Morgensen extending and reaching over the fence by more than a foot for the steal.
That turned into a six-pitch inning, and the perceived knockout punch came shortly thereafter with Morgensen’s towering two-run homer to right the nearly cleared the scoreboard.
It was Morgensen’s second straight two-homer game as the lead grew to 10-0 after the five-run inning.
Mercer loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but followed with a pair of popups.
Then came the not-done-yet eighth.
Yeager went 3-for-4, with Price and Austin adding two hit games, Billy Knight with two RBI.
Mercer ended up only outhit by three, but the Bears stranded four more runners.
It was the final game for Mercer seniors: pitchers Kevin Coulter, Nick Spear, Kyle Bialousz, and grad students Johnson, and Garrett Wilkinson, who played Saturday, and pitcher Scott Smith/, all of whom played.
Mercer’s starting lineup Saturday consisted of one grad student, two juniors, two sophomores, and four freshmen. Sophomore Le Garrett and senior Brandon Michie, who batted .282 and .388 last year and teamed for 25 homers, were lost before the season to injuries and are eligible to return as well.
“Somebody told me this was the second-youngest team in the field of 64,” Gibson said. “We do have some young pieces, and they’ve been really good for us.”
Coastal Carolina 9, Florida A&M 4
A three-run third got the Chanticleers going and three in the fifth put them in some control before the Rattlers rallied to make it a little interesting.
FAMU, whose season ends at 27-34, scored three in the sixth to pull within 7-4. Coastal scored single runs in the seventh and eighth. The Rattlers got runners on in each of the final three innings, but couldn’t score.
Austin Kitchen threw three shutout innings of relief for his first save, Nick Parker getting the win to improve to 2-1 as FAMU ended up outhitting Coastal 13-11 and stranded three more runners.