Georgia loses to Duke, faces elimination on Sunday

Georgia, 30-5 at home this season, will need to win three games in a row to advance to super regional play next week.

The No. 7-nationally seeded Bulldogs (43-16) will next play at noon on Sunday in an elimination game against Oklahoma State (29-24).

A Georgia win over the Cowboys — who launched seven home runs in a 13-5 elimination game win over Binghamton (29-26) — would set up a 6 p.m. game Sunday against Duke.

“We get to get back on the field tomorrow, we don’t’ have to sit around and think about it,” said Johnson, whose team was previously unbeaten against non-SEC teams at home this season. “The message is guys, we’re still playing baseball, and we’re really good, and we’ve got plenty of pitchers and we’ll be ready to hit.”

The Bulldogs would need to win that Sunday night game to force a decisive Monday night (time, TBA) regional championship game.

Georgia jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Ryland Zaborowski hit his 17th home run of the season.

Duke, however, was having its way with Curley (4-4) early and often, taking the lead when Ben Miller hit a three-run homer run — a 455-foot shot over the center field wall.

The Blue Devils padded their lead when Wallace Clark led off the top of the fifth inning with a solo home run, making it 4-1.

“We were ready to hit the heater, obviously Curley has a good fastball,” Clark said. “Our approach was to be on time for the heater and adjust to off-speed, and I think we did a good job with that all night long.”

Wes Johnson pulled Curley two batters later, sending the UGA ace to the dugout after he had allowed the four earned runs on 90 pitches, fanning seven while walking one.

Curley, who entered the night holding opposing hitters to an SEC-best .158 batting average, fanned seven but surrendered a hit in each of the five innings he worked.

Georgia knew it would have its work cut out facing a Duke pitching staff with at least two good left-handed pitchers.

The Bulldogs, 11th in the SEC with a .260 batting average against left-handed pitchers, managed just one hit — the Zaborowski home run — through the first five innings against Duke starter Kyle Johnson (3-3).

Georgia finally got to Johnson in the sixth inning when Henry Hunter took the first pitch of the frame over the wall in left-centerfield to cut the lead to 4-2.

Slate Alford drew a walk, triggering a Duke pitching change, and Tre Phelps greeted Blue Devils reliever Mark Hindy with a single that put runners on first and third.

Georgia’s luck turned when Robbie Burnett lined out into a double play at first, and then Zaborowski took a called third strike.

UGA looked to have things cooking in the bottom of the seventh when Kolby Branch doubled to open the inning and Christian Adams walked.

But again, Duke pitching settled in, as Hindy fanned Daniel Jackson and Blue Devils reliever Cade Brown induced Nolan McCarthy to bounce into a fielder’s choice and fanned Hunter to end the inning.

The Bulldogs had runners on the corners in the bottom of the eighth inning after two Burnett and Zaborowski delivered back-to-back two-out singles, but Branch struck out to end the threat.

Duke made it 6-2 in the top of the ninth, putting up two runs off reliever Zach Harris, Wallace hitting his second home run of the night and Jake Hyde delivering an RBI single before Justin Byrd came out of the bullpen to end the threat.

Georgia got a run back in the ninth inning when Christian Adams tripled to open the inning and scored on Nolan McCarthy’s single, but Duke reliever James Tallon escaped without further event, securing the 6-3 Duke win.