University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Defeats Kennesaw State 12-5
March 26, 2008 | Baseball
KENNESAW, Ga. --- Senior Ryan Peisel tied a career-high with five RBI and Matt Olson homered and drove in three to pace Georgia to a 12-5 win over Kennesaw State Tuesday in front of a Stillwell Stadium record crowd of 1,163.
After a scoreless first inning, Georgia (13-8) exploded for seven runs on seven hits in the second inning to cruise past the Owls (8-14). Olson began the frame with a solo home run off KSU starter Justin Edwards. With one out, Bryce Massanari, Lyle Allen and Matt Cerione collected singles as Cerione’s base hit made it 2-0. Piesel just missed a three-run home run as it hit off the left field wall and resulted in a two-run double. Edwards retired Demperio for the second out before issuing a walk to Gordon Beckham that ended his outing. The Owls looked to Bubba Blalock, and he walked Poythress to load the bases to bring up Olson for the second time in the inning. He added a two-run single to make it 6-0 and then Joey Lewis’ RBI-single capped the scoring for the Bulldogs.
The Owls responded in their half of the second taking advantage of a three of two-out walks from Jason Leaver to load the bases and then got a three-run double from Tyler Stubblefield to close the gap to 7-3. Georgia turned to Will Harvil to start the third inning after Leaving surrendered three runs on two hits with four walks and a strikeout through the first two frames. Harvil tossed three scoreless frames to earn his first victory while Blalock got the loss to fall to 0-2.
Blalock blanked the Bulldogs for a couple of innings before they struck for four runs on three hits in the fifth to extend their lead to 11-3. Piesel and Demperio keyed the outburst with back-to-back two-run doubles. Peisel added a two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth to make it 12-3. In the bottom of the seventh, Stubblefield notched his second double of the night. He scored on a double by Martin Baker who advanced to third on an error by Olson. A groundout by Ric Bishop scored Baker to make it 12-5.
“We showed we were able to score tonight when Gordon has an off night, and that’s good because we were wondering what would happen,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We got some other guys going tonight and got some of our left-handed hitters get hits off leftys.
“Will (Harvil) pitched well and it was unfortunate that Jason (Leaver) struggled because we got him some early support,” Perno added. “We were able to get several guys work and that will be the plan Wednesday too.”
Beckham (0-for-5) was held hitless for only the second time this season and saw his eight-game hitting streak come to end. The off-night dropped his season average to .489. The Bulldogs collected 15 hits on the night including three apiece by Peisel and Olson (3-for-6, 3 RBI).
The teams complete the two-game series Wednesday in Athens. First pitch at Foley Field will be at 5 p.m.
After a scoreless first inning, Georgia (13-8) exploded for seven runs on seven hits in the second inning to cruise past the Owls (8-14). Olson began the frame with a solo home run off KSU starter Justin Edwards. With one out, Bryce Massanari, Lyle Allen and Matt Cerione collected singles as Cerione’s base hit made it 2-0. Piesel just missed a three-run home run as it hit off the left field wall and resulted in a two-run double. Edwards retired Demperio for the second out before issuing a walk to Gordon Beckham that ended his outing. The Owls looked to Bubba Blalock, and he walked Poythress to load the bases to bring up Olson for the second time in the inning. He added a two-run single to make it 6-0 and then Joey Lewis’ RBI-single capped the scoring for the Bulldogs.
The Owls responded in their half of the second taking advantage of a three of two-out walks from Jason Leaver to load the bases and then got a three-run double from Tyler Stubblefield to close the gap to 7-3. Georgia turned to Will Harvil to start the third inning after Leaving surrendered three runs on two hits with four walks and a strikeout through the first two frames. Harvil tossed three scoreless frames to earn his first victory while Blalock got the loss to fall to 0-2.
Blalock blanked the Bulldogs for a couple of innings before they struck for four runs on three hits in the fifth to extend their lead to 11-3. Piesel and Demperio keyed the outburst with back-to-back two-run doubles. Peisel added a two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth to make it 12-3. In the bottom of the seventh, Stubblefield notched his second double of the night. He scored on a double by Martin Baker who advanced to third on an error by Olson. A groundout by Ric Bishop scored Baker to make it 12-5.
“We showed we were able to score tonight when Gordon has an off night, and that’s good because we were wondering what would happen,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We got some other guys going tonight and got some of our left-handed hitters get hits off leftys.
“Will (Harvil) pitched well and it was unfortunate that Jason (Leaver) struggled because we got him some early support,” Perno added. “We were able to get several guys work and that will be the plan Wednesday too.”
Beckham (0-for-5) was held hitless for only the second time this season and saw his eight-game hitting streak come to end. The off-night dropped his season average to .489. The Bulldogs collected 15 hits on the night including three apiece by Peisel and Olson (3-for-6, 3 RBI).
The teams complete the two-game series Wednesday in Athens. First pitch at Foley Field will be at 5 p.m.
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