Georgia's Season Cut Short, Robbed in the Ninth in Chapel Hill
The Georgia Bulldogs season comes to an end as the North Carolina Tar Heels ripped their hearts out 6-5. For what was mostly a slow game, we saw the UGA hitters fight for their lives in the 9th inning, and come up just short.
Saying comes up short doesn’t really do it justice. The Dawgs entered the 9th down 6-2, with virtually no momentum. That all changed when the senior lefty Chaney Rodgers hit a massive 3 run homerun off the scoreboard to bring the Dawgs within one. What happened next will rest in the minds of Bulldogs players and fans alike, as Josh McAllister came to the plate as the tying run. After a good battle, Mac sent a 2-2 pitch deep to center field and looked to have tied the game. North Carolina Center fielder Vance Honeycutt had other plans, as he leaped up over the wall and robbed McAllister of a game tying home run.
While that was what this game will be remembered by, a lot happened to set the stage for that moment. Let’s dive into it.
The Tar Heels jumped on the board first in the top half of the 2nd inning. After Alberto Ozuna reached on an error, catcher Tomas Frick worked a walk on a really hard fought 11 pitch at bat. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Johnny Costagnozzi hit a laser through the 6 hole to score Ozuna and give North Carolina a 1-0 lead. They added to that lead in the next inning after a series of hard hit balls lead to a bases loaded 2 out scenario with Mikey Madej at the plate. Madej hammered a Jaden Woods’ fastball into right center for a 2 RBI single, followed by a wild pitch that extended the Tar Heel lead to 4.
The Dawgs did a nice job answering in the bottom half of the 3rd to stop the Tar Heels rising momentum. After an error and a single by Parks Harber in the 3rd, Chaney Rodgers finally got the Dawgs across home plate with a big 2 out single to score Cole Tate. While the inning ended with 2 guys on base, it felt like a big run for UGA after Carolina had plated some consecutive runs.
The Tar Heels struck again in the 6th with a long home run by catcher Tomas Frick off lefty Jaden Woods. Woods had settled in very nicely after scuffling out of the gate. He gave Georgia 3 very good innings out of the bullpen and stifled the Tar Heel offense that was showing signs of getting hot. He gave the Dawgs just what they needed which was keeping them in the game and giving the offense a chance to win it.
I thought UGA starter Luke Wagner did what the Dawgs needed him to do. His final line of 2 ⅔, 3R, 2ER doesn’t tell the whole story. An error in the second inning led to a run, and he left in the 3rd with runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs with both runners ending up scoring. The Dawgs goal was to get Wags one time through the lineup, he did that and gave the ball up with a chance to get to the bottom of the 3rd down 1.
After Wagner and Woods, Jack Gowen and Chandler Marsh combined to give the Dawgs 3 ⅓ innings of really good ball. The two righties have been two of the most consistent arms on the team all year, and did what they needed to do to give the Bulldogs a chance.
Until the 9th, it was much of the same for the Dawgs as they struggled to get the big hit. They hit 1-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 base runners through the 8th inning. The Dawgs did not go 3 up 3 down once in this span, they had baserunners on every inning and could only scratch across 2 runs.
Hats off to the UNC pitchers though for making big pitches in big situations, most notably closer Davis Palmero. He came on with 2 outs in the 6th and pitched into the 9th. He was throwing his 93-96 mph heater pretty much wherever he wanted to, and for the most part had his way with the UGA lineup. Starter Will Sandy, Shawn Rapp, and Nik Pry combined to give the Tar Heels 4 ⅔ of 1 run ball to allow the offense to get them the lead.
We’ve already talked about what happened on the 9th, as the Dawgs showed the resiliency they had shown all year. After multiple come back wins, it looked like another was on the horizon. Sadly, they missed it by an inch, and will have to spend the next few days, weeks, and even years wondering what could have been. As the Dawgs pack up their bags, North Carolina will go on to face VCU in the Championship of the Chapel Hill Regional at 6 pm.
