Yesterday’s baseball game featuring the No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks and the No. 21 Georgia Bulldogs is the type of game that leaves a person totally drained upon its conclusion. It took 10 innings to finally decide a winner in the second round matchup between the Hogs and Dogs in the 2009 SEC tournament, with the Hogs coming up a little short in a final score of 2-1 in favor of the Dogs.
The game ball definitely goes to Georgia pitcher Trevor Holder who pitched 8 solid innings holding the Hogs to only 1 earned run on 5 hits, 4 strike outs and no walks. This kept the score going into the 9th 1-0 in favor of the Dogs, and then things got a little interesting. With runners on the corners and 1 out, Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins flyed out to center allowing Chase Leavitt to tag up and score tying the game at 1 a piece. The Hogs then silenced the Dogs in the bottom of the 9th sending the game into extras. Free baseball!
Unfortunately for Hog fans, the one extra frame would be all that the Dogs needed to put an end to the game. The Hogs missed out on an opportunity to score in the 10th with two outs and a man on third when the threat was extinguished with a strike out. Georgia then started the bottom of the 10th with two hits. Arkansas intentionally walked the bases full which lead to a force play at the plate after a sharp grounder was hit to Zach Cox, but Arkansas catcher Ryan Cisterna was unable to keep his foot on the plate leading to the Georgia victory.
So to recap, the game pretty much went from frustrating, to heart-attack, to crushing disappointment.
For what it’s worth, the Arkansas loss now has the Hogs set to play the Florida Gators in an elimination game today at 3pm. The Hogs have beat the Gators 4 times this year, hopefully they can keep the current trend going.
[Photo by popofatticus via Flickr and Creative Commons 2.0]
