UGA Snaps Losing Streak

From UGA Athletics...

Matt Cerione's single to left field with one out in the bottom of the ninth scored Michael Demperio from second as No. 13 Georgia snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt Sunday at Foley Field.

With the win the Bulldogs (34-17, 15-12 SEC) clinched a berth in the SEC Tournament.

"This is a momentum win for a lot of reasons," Georgia coach David Perno said. "It got the monkey off our back and put us on the right foot again. This was huge for us. We've really been a good team all year and we can't let the last two weeks get us down. We've clinched postseason play and we need to carry this win on through Tuesday and next weekend."

Demperio was hit on the first pitch in the bottom of the ninth, then stole second on an 0-1 pitch to Lyle Allen. Allen was then plunked to set up Cerione's hit on a 3-2 count.

Cerione had two hits including hit his eighth home run of the year to left field in the bottom of the first to give Georgia its first lead of the weekend. Vanderbilt quickly answered as Curt Casali led off the second with a double then scored on a single by Aaron Westlake.

Georgia theatened in the third after Levi Hyams walked, moved to second on a balk, then moved to third as David Thoms grounded out on an 11-pitch at bat. However, Drew Hayes induced a pair of groundouts from Johnathan Taylor and Cerione to get out of the jam.

The Commodores took the lead on an RBI single by Riley Reynolds in the top of the fifth. In the bottom half of the inning, Georgia loaded the bases after walks to Chase Davidson and Hyams and a single by Thoms, but Grayson Garvin struck out Allen and Cerione to end the inning.

Georgia finally broke through on the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh as Joey Lewis launched his 16th home run off the batter's eye to knot the score at 2-2.

The Commodores regained the lead 3-2 in the top of the eighth when Curt Casali scored on a passed ball with two outs, but Bryce Massanari hit Georgia's third home run with one out in the eighth to make it 3-3.

Dean Weaver (2-2) worked two scoreless inning to pick up the win while Nick Christiani (5-4) took the loss. Georgia starter Justin Grimm allowed just two runs on seven hits in five innings.

"I'm really proud of the way Grimm is pitching right now," Perno said. "He came out and attacked every hitter today. The main thing was that we finally got ahead of hitters early in the count. He did a great job today as did the rest of the bullpen. Will (Harvil), Michael (Palazzone) and Dean all threw well today."