The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/23/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jim Diffly Sophomore Lyle Allen hit a three-run home run Saturday in the eighth inning to cap off the scoring of Georgia's 4-0 win over Mississippi State in the second game of the weekend series. [Click to enlarge]

The Georgia baseball team used seven runs in the home half of the eighth inning to defeat Mississippi State 10-6 and sweep the three-game series. The Diamond Dogs improved their best home start in school history to 14-0 with the win.

"That game was huge and one of the most important games," starting pitcher Justin Grimm said. "It helps out our confidence because we were waiting on that big inning to come all year and it finally came at the right time."

Georgia (19-2, 4-2 SEC) came to bat in the eighth inning down 5-3 and its chances of a victory looked bleak following a strikeout to start the inning.

But the Diamond Dogs put five consecutive runners on base against Mississippi State (13-9, 2-4), finished off by Joey Lewis' single to center field to put the Bulldogs ahead for good at 7-5. The Bulldogs would get a double from Matt Cerione to drive in Lewis, and Bryce Massanari would follow with a monstrous two-run home run to left field for Georgia's final runs.

"That [inning] might have been the first time we were down in the whole series and we just needed to score runs and a couple guys did a good job of getting on base," Massanari said.

Added Rich Poythress: "We started really throwing together good at-bats today … We couldn't piece good at-bat after good at-bat and we did that today. If we can continue to do that I think it will build a lot of confidence in us."

Jeff Walters pitched 1.2 innings for the win and Chad Crosswhite was the victim of the eighth inning for Mississippi State to earn the loss. Though he didn't get the win, Grimm was strong in his outing. He set a career high with nine strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.

"My stuff was definitely on and I just wanted to attack the zone," Grimm said. "I heard they were a sucker for the elevator fastball so I just took advantage of it."

Georgia took the first two games of the series 5-3 and 4-0, Friday and Saturday, respectively. For the series, Georgia set a record for attendance in a three-game series at Foley Field, drawing 12,026 fans, surpassing the 11,930 for the 2001 super-regionals.

"That means a lot to me having played here and been here as an assistant coach and now as a head coach, I've never seen anything like this in a weekend in March, not anything close to it," Georgia head coach David Perno said. "To get this kind of interest in early March is pretty special."

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