Patrick Sullivan sends Georgia Baseball to SEC Semi-finals
Patrick Sullivan took his turn as Georgia baseball hero Thursday night. The Dawg’s first baseman delivered a two-out two RBI double to send Georgia to Saturday’s SEC Tournament semi-finals.
The Georgia baseball team needs just two more wins to claim the SEC Tournament trophy. So far, the Dawgs have reached deep in the batting order to find their heroes.
Shortstop Cam Shepherd, batting .227, took his turn with the red cape Wednesday night. Thursday, junior first baseman Patrick Sullivan put the big S on his chest in the bottom of the eighth inning and dropped a nine-iron shot off a Jacob Kostyshock fastball on the left field line. The double drove in two runs and gave Georgia a 3 – 1 win over number four ranked Arkansas. .
Number six ranked Georgia now gets a day to play spectator and do a little shopping before returning to action Saturday in the Tournament semi-finals.
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The Georgia baseball book
This Georgia baseball team followed the same script it work shopped throughout the season: great pitching and timely hitting. Thursday, it was freshman future millionaire Cole Wilcox who spun the tale with his 96 mile an hour fastball, frustrating the Arkansas batting order for six and a third innings.
Wilcox did invite Arkansas to take the lead in the third inning. Following a Jacob Nesbit double – one of three hits scattered by Wilcox – the big, brawny freshman sent Nesbit to third on a wild pitch and induced a passed ball from catcher Shane Marshall to bring him home. The run was un-earned, but it gave Arkansas the lead until pinch hitter Cole Tate’s double drove in Cam Shepherd to tie the score in the seventh inning.
Same song, second verse
Like Shepherd’s ninth inning at bat Wednesday, Sullivan came to the plate in the eighth inning hit-less on the night. It was his third plate appearance with men on base. After working the count to 2 – 2, he dropped Kostyshock’s tailing fastball down the line to score Aaron Schunk and Cam Shepherd.
Schunk then stepped over from third base to get the final out. After first fueling the drama by taking Zack Plunkett to an 0 – 2 count, Schunk allowed him to hit his way on base and bring the go ahead run to the plate. Schunk then struck out the freshman Nesbit to end the game.
Georgia will likely send the best pitcher in college baseball, Emerson Hancock, to the mound Saturday for a berth in the SEC Finals on Sunday. Georgia baseball head coach Scott Stricklin will take a day to determine his rotation for the weekend. “Everything we do now will have next week (and the NCAA regionals) in mind,” Stricklin said.
The Dawgs have locked down a national number eight seed with their performance this week.
“Pretty much I’ll probably just give them the day off. They certainly deserve it.”
Shepherd and Sullivan warm with the challenge
For his part, Shepherd maintained his offensive momentum, batting safely once in two official at bats and scoring twice. The Razorbacks even found Shepherd dangerous enough to intentionally walk him in the eighth inning. The move brought the left-handed hitting Sullivan to the plate to face the right-handed pitching Kostyshock. The decision seemed counter-intuitive, and Sullivan proved it counter-productive
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If Sullivan found it odd he was given the opportunity to knock in the winning run, he didn’t let it bother him. And if Shepherd and Sullivan can stay hot, these Dawgs are hard to beat.