ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia is the overall No. 7 seed for the NCAA Division I baseball tournament, but Army took the battle to the Bulldogs on Friday afternoon in the opening game of their Athens Regional.
The hosts didn’t let the early challenge shake them, though, overcoming a three-run deficit to win 8-7 against the visitors from West Point, New York, and take the first step toward securing a spot in next week’s best-of-three super regionals.
Fernando Gonzalez’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep left field drove in the decisive run in the bottom of the eighth inning for Georgia (40-15), which is seeded No. 1 within its four-team regional as the program makes its 15th NCAA tourney appearance but first under head coach Wes Johnson, who took over in the offseason after serving as the pitching coach for reigning national champion LSU last year.
Sophomore third baseman Charlie Condon hit his NCAA-leading 36th home run while going 3-for-3 with two walks and scoring three times to help the Bulldogs rally after trailing 4-1 in the third inning, and Slate Alford added three hits and drove in three runs, including a two-RBI double that put the Bulldogs ahead 6-5 in the sixth inning.
The game wasn’t decided until the top of the ninth, when Army pinch-hitter Ethan Ellis grounded out to Alford at second base with runners on first and second.