One-Run Loss To Sooners Has Dawgs One Loss From Elimination

If Georgia wants to last longer in Omaha, it’ll have to now do the job with its backs against the wall.

Despite Caden Aoki being strong over the game’s final eight innings on Monday night in the College World Series, Oklahoma starting pitcher Xander Mercurius was a bit better. The result: A 4-3 win for the Sooners, who took full advantage of a three-run first inning. Georgia, having lost for the first time in nearly a month, now faces Texas on Tuesday night in a loser’s bracket matchup where the winner will have to knock off Oklahoma twice to advance to the best-of-three College World Series Championship Series.

“I thought it was a really good ball game tonight. We had some opportunities to get back into the game, and we didn’t cash in on those. I thought Caden (Aoki) was awesome tonight. We had a hiccup there in the first and for him to finish the game for us was massive as you look forward in saving your bullpen. We’ve got to clean up a few things, and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”

Much like Saturday’s CWS opener against Texas, the first inning saw multiple runs pushed across the plate. This time, however, it was Georgia that was unable to recover after an RBI groundout followed by a two-run homer off of Aoki gave the Sooners a 3-0 lead.

Georgia never got the big inning that it has seemingly become used to in recent weeks thanks to the pitching of Mercurius, who held Georgia to one hit through the first three innings.

The Diamond Dawgs would break through in the fourth on a two-out homer by Kenny Ishikawa.

That was one of three dingers ripped out of Charles Schwab Field by the Bulldogs on Monday night, but if Georgia was sunk by what happened around those homers, as each of them, also by Brannan Hudson in the fifth and Dan Jackson in the eighth came with no runners aboard. That, combined with Oklahoma’s Brendan Brock hitting a solo shot in the fourth, ended up being the difference. The Dawgs were not only 0-12 with runners on base, but 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

Georgia tried its best to stage some late-inning magic in the eighth, when Jackson’s homer cut the Sooners lead to 4-3, chasing Mercurius from the game. But after Rylan Lujo singled, the Bulldogs could draw no closer as pinch hitter Jack Acramone popped up before Ishikawa walked and Ryan Wynn flew out to deep right field, ending the threat.