June 22, 2008

Killer P's

Poythress and Peisel combine to lead Georgia to Championship Series

Renewed Offense

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

OMAHA, Neb. – Power and production.

Rich Poythress and Ryan Peisel combined for seven hits, five runs and seven RBI as No. 8 Georgia outscored Stanford 10-8 Saturday to win Bracket One and advance to the Championship Series of the 2008 College World Series in front of 15,828 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The Bulldogs (44-23-1) await the winner of Bracket Two. No. 2 North Carolina would have to beat Fresno State twice to reach the Championship Series. The Cardinal ends its season with a 41-24-2 mark.

Poythress went 4 for 5 with three doubles (tying a CWS record), two runs and four RBI. He doubled and scored in the second, had an RBI double in a three-run third, added a two-run single in the fourth and capped the scoring with an RBI double in the eighth.

Peisel was 3 for 5 with three runs and three RBI. He singled and scored in the third and fourth, and belted a three-run homer in the fifth, his 12th, to give the Bulldogs a 9-3 lead.

Joey Lewis came up big as well for Georgia, with two hits and three RBI. His two-out RBI single in the second put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard. His two-run single capped a three-run third as Georgia took an early 4-0 lead.

“For us, today was just about getting our offense going,” said Georgia head coach David Perno, “getting some clutch hits early, two-out RBI. Lewis was huge early in the game. [Dean] Weaver and [Alex] McRee were tremendous. Our bullpen was phenomenal through those middle innings.”

Weaver (6-1) slowed three runs in 3.2 innings with six hits, no walks and one strikeout. McRee pitched two scoreless innings with no hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

The Cardinal got on the board in the third as Jake Schlander drew a leadoff walk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brent Milleville to make it a 4-1 game.

Stanford put up two in the fourth as Jake Schlander had a two-out single and scored on a triple by Cord Phelps, who came in on a wild pitch, to make it 6-3.

Joey August’s RBI single for Stanford in the fifth made it a 9-4 contest. Ben Clowe’s pinch-hit, three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth capped a four-run rally against Georgia closer Joshua Fields as the Cardinal pulled to within two at 10-8. But a flyout to center ended the contest and the season for Stanford.

“I’d like to congratulate Georgia,” said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. “They were a great team and too much for us today. We just could not stop them. They got the big hit time and time again. Credit them. We played them twice and couldn’t beat them. They’re just a better team than we are.”

Phelps had two hits, one run and one RBI for Stanford. Schlander scored twice for the Cardinal.