NCAA tournament baseball returned to Foley Field Friday for the first time in five years.
Georgia baseball was playing in familiar surroundings in the opening game of the Athens Regional but No. 4 seed Army wasn’t intimidated against the No. 7 national seed.
The Bulldogs scratched out the go-ahead run in the eighth and were able to exhale when relief pitcher Christian Mracna got out of a ninth inning jam to close out the 8-7 win before a crowd of 3,795.
"They came in ready offensively and we took some punches from them," first-year Georgia coach Wes Johnson said. "We were able to persevere and overcome. I think we had 10 balls hit that were over 95 (exit velocity) that were outs. ...They played loose and we were able to keep punching with them and obviously ultimately there at the end get the win."
The Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out in the eighth when Army’s Andrew Berg walked Dillon Carter and then hit both Dylan Goldstein and Clayton Chadwick with pitches.
On came 6-foot-7 reliever Steven Graver to face Fernando Gonzalez who lifted an 0-2 pitch to left for a sacrifice fly and the go-ahead run.
"Fernando got off a really good swing to elevate that ball," Johnson said. "He hit that hard right at him. It was not enough to get the run in."
Georgia (40-15) moves on in the winners bracket of the double elimination tournament and a 6 p.m. Saturday game against No. 2 seed UNC-Wilmington (40-19) which blanked Georgia Tech 9-0. Army (31-22) plays Georgia Tech (31-24) at 12 p.m. Saturday.
Georgia star third baseman Charlie Condon hit his nation-leading 36th home run of the season in his first ever NCAA tournament at bat, added a single and double and was intentionally walked twice.
His throwing error in the eighth after an infield single by No. 9 hitter Thomas Schreck cut Georgia’s lead to one and Derek Berg brought in another run on a ground out to tie the game at 7.
"I did an arm fake and kind of saw that I had him off third and a little," Condon said. "The game sped up on me for a minute and I made a bad throw. That's why I'm lucky we have a pitching staff and offensive bats that can keep us in the game.
Mracna (4-2) struck out William Parker swinging with the bases loaded to end that threat. Then with one out and runners on first and second in the ninth, the uprising ended when pinch-hitter Ethan Ellis grounded out to second.
Georgia went ahead in the sixth inning when Slate Alford came through with a clutch bases loaded swing of the bat.
Again.
The Mississippi State transfer doubled to left center to score two and the Bulldogs led 6-5.
Alford has a program-tying three grand slams this season, but this time made the most of his at bat even without the long ball.
Condon had earlier flipped his bat seemingly in frustration when he was intentionally walked for a second time in the game to put runners on first and second with one out in the sixth. Tre Phelps singled to center to load the bases and righty Tanner Gresham was summoned from the bullpen.
That’s when Alford drove the ball for his double. Pinch-hitter Goldstein brought in another run with a sacrifice fly and 6-5 lead.
Condon’s home run to left in the first went 414 feet and had a 109 mile per hour exit velocity. He went 3-of-3 for the day to raise his nation leading average to .458.
Georgia starting pitcher Leighton Finley, a 6-5 sophom*ore righthander, had not allowed more than two earned runs in his last four starts, but the Bulldogs found themselves down 2-0 after just two batters. Leadoff man Berg walked and second baseman Chris Barr deposited a 92 mile per hour pitch high in the zone over the right field wall for a 2-0 Black Knights lead.
Coleson Titus hit his second home run of the season, a two-out, two-run blast 359 feet to left field to make it 4-1 in the third.
"You could kind of sense there's a little tension on the other side," Army coach Chris Tracz said. "That's exactly what you want to cause some chaos as the No. 4 seed and we were really, really close tonight."
Alford punched a single to right field to score Condon to make it 4-2 in the bottom of the inning. Paul Toetz’s flare single to left center field and a fielding error on Braden Goliski cut the lead to 4-3.
Finley had his shortest outing since March 2 against Georgia Tech.
Army put runners on first and second in the fourth with two out and Finley exited after giving up 5 hits, 4 earned runs, walking two, hitting one and striking out just one. Brian Zeldin induced Sam Ruta to pop up on one pitch.
Zeldin had runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth, but induced a double play and a soft fly out to get out unscathed.
Chadwick drilled a 3-1 pitch down the left field line in the firth that scored Carter all the way from third to tie the game at 4.
Addison Answorth crushed a ball off the right field wall for his first triple off the season and Schreck followed with a sacrifice fly to left for a 5-4 lead, but the Black Knights grit couldn't produce a victory.
