2008 Woodie Awards
Diamond Dogs top Vandy, take SEC title
Issue date: 5/10/08 Section: Sports
Eighth-ranked Georgia captured the 2008 Southeastern Conference title with a 12-10 win over 16th-ranked Vanderbilt Sunday at Hawkins Field.
It was the Bulldogs sixth overall SEC title in school history (1933, 1953, 1954, 2001, 2004, 2008), the third this decade including the second under head coach David Perno.
The Bulldog won the series over the defending SEC champion Commodores who took game one Friday to trim Georgia's SEC lead to two games. However, the Bulldogs stormed back to win the series, marking the third time this year they have dropped game one of an SEC road series only to come back and win it. The Bulldogs (33-17-1, 19-7-1 SEC) close out the SEC regular season Thursday with Alabama coming to Foley Field for a three-game series. Georgia owns a four-game lead in the SEC over Vanderbilt and LSU as Sunday's win clinched the 2008 crown.
In the second inning, Georgia batted around to build a 6-0 lead taking advantage of a leadoff error by third baseman Pedro Alvarez. The Bulldogs pushed across the first run on a fielder's choice by Matt Cerione and then junior second baseman Miles Starr delivered a two-run double. Senior Ryan Peisel followed with an RBI-single to make it 4-0. Senior Matt Olson smacked a double as Peisel went to third. Gordon Beckham's sacrifice fly scored Peisel and Olson would score on an RBI-double off the wall in left field by Rich Poythress. However, the Commodores (37-15. 15-11 SEC) responded with four runs in their half of the second highlighted by a two-run home run by Dominic de la Osa.
In the third, freshman Lyle Allen blooped a single to start the frame. He notched his first career stolen base and with one out, Cerione smashed his fourth home run of the year, a two-run shot that gave the Bulldogs an 8-4 lead. In the sixth following a one-out single by Peisel, Vanderbilt lifted Nick Christiani and turned to Taylor Hill. Olson greeted him with a three-run home run to extend Georgia's lead to 11-4. Christiani surrendered 10 runs on 12 hits in 5.1 innings with no walks and six strikeouts. The teams exchanged runs in the seventh as Cerione collected his career-high fourth RBI while Alvarez tripled and scored to make it 12-5. In the eighth, Vanderbilt closed the gap to 12-7 on a two-out, two-run single by David Macias off freshman Justin Grimm. At that point, the Bulldogs turned to sophomore Dean Weaver and de la Osa lined an RBI-double down the left field line to make it 12-8. Alvarez followed with a run-scoring single to right to close the gap to 12-9.
It was the Bulldogs sixth overall SEC title in school history (1933, 1953, 1954, 2001, 2004, 2008), the third this decade including the second under head coach David Perno.
The Bulldog won the series over the defending SEC champion Commodores who took game one Friday to trim Georgia's SEC lead to two games. However, the Bulldogs stormed back to win the series, marking the third time this year they have dropped game one of an SEC road series only to come back and win it. The Bulldogs (33-17-1, 19-7-1 SEC) close out the SEC regular season Thursday with Alabama coming to Foley Field for a three-game series. Georgia owns a four-game lead in the SEC over Vanderbilt and LSU as Sunday's win clinched the 2008 crown.
In the second inning, Georgia batted around to build a 6-0 lead taking advantage of a leadoff error by third baseman Pedro Alvarez. The Bulldogs pushed across the first run on a fielder's choice by Matt Cerione and then junior second baseman Miles Starr delivered a two-run double. Senior Ryan Peisel followed with an RBI-single to make it 4-0. Senior Matt Olson smacked a double as Peisel went to third. Gordon Beckham's sacrifice fly scored Peisel and Olson would score on an RBI-double off the wall in left field by Rich Poythress. However, the Commodores (37-15. 15-11 SEC) responded with four runs in their half of the second highlighted by a two-run home run by Dominic de la Osa.
In the third, freshman Lyle Allen blooped a single to start the frame. He notched his first career stolen base and with one out, Cerione smashed his fourth home run of the year, a two-run shot that gave the Bulldogs an 8-4 lead. In the sixth following a one-out single by Peisel, Vanderbilt lifted Nick Christiani and turned to Taylor Hill. Olson greeted him with a three-run home run to extend Georgia's lead to 11-4. Christiani surrendered 10 runs on 12 hits in 5.1 innings with no walks and six strikeouts. The teams exchanged runs in the seventh as Cerione collected his career-high fourth RBI while Alvarez tripled and scored to make it 12-5. In the eighth, Vanderbilt closed the gap to 12-7 on a two-out, two-run single by David Macias off freshman Justin Grimm. At that point, the Bulldogs turned to sophomore Dean Weaver and de la Osa lined an RBI-double down the left field line to make it 12-8. Alvarez followed with a run-scoring single to right to close the gap to 12-9.
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