The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: DANIEL SHIREY Georgia pitcher Trevor Holder collects his thoughts after allowing a three-run home run to LSU's Ryan Schimpf in the third inning of Friday's 8-4 loss.

The Georgia baseball team may have the No. 1 ranking, but it sure didn't look worthy of it Friday after an 8-4 loss to the No. 5 LSU Tigers at Foley Field.

LSU (22-7, 7-3 SEC) got to Georgia starter Trevor Holder early as catcher Micah Gibbs hit a solo home run over the batter's eye in deep center and then added four home runs in the third, all via home runs.

Following a double by nine-hole hitter Tyler Hanover and then an error on shortstop Levi Hyams, who dropped a popup in shallow center field to put runners on first and third, Ryan Schimpf belted a three-run home run to deep right. Two batters later, cleanup hitter Sean Ochinko made the score 4-0 with a solo home run into the trees in left field.

Holder (5-2) labored through six innings of work, allowing six hits, five runs (four earned) while walking four and striking out five.

"I have to give credit to them," Holder said. "They hit me and my stuff wasn't that good tonight and they took advantage of it. The pitch that I'm really upset about was a slider to Schimpf in the third that he hit out. It felt like a nail in my heart and I was really pissed off at myself for making that pitch and he did a good job staying in it and he hit it a mile.

"They are a good team and when you make mistakes to good teams, the make you pay."

Added head coach David Perno: "The home runs and the walks are getting old. Trevor is a command pitcher and he's not gonna win walking four guys in six innings, he's just not gonna do it and he knows better than that. He'll get it going through, I know what he's made of."

The Diamond Dogs' (24-4, 7-3 SEC) offense didn't fare much better against LSU starter Anthony Ranaudo (3-2), as he held Georgia scoreless over six innings to earn the win. He allowed four hits and struck out 10. In all, 15 Diamond Dogs took strike three and have struck out 60 times over the last five games.

"[The strikeouts are] killing us and its very much a concern," Perno said. "The one thing we did do is draw five walks, but we can't strike out 15 times, its just not conducive [to winning]. It's just not a good approach. Everybody is in a funk and we have to do a better job."

Continued...

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