Because it was a busy weekend, it took me a while to report on all the good news, but, now that all the positives have been covered, I have no excuse left for not covering the bad news, as well. This special edition of the Sunday summary---postponed until Monday, a day most folks don’t like, anyway---sums up the unwelcome events of the weekend. Read it and weep, Bulldog Nation:
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanderbilt Commodores | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 15 | 0 |
Georgia Bulldogs | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanderbilt Commodores | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 18 | 1 |
Georgia Bulldogs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 1 |
Uh, yeah. After opening the weekend with a televised win on Thursday, the Diamond Dogs dropped the series with losses on Friday and Saturday. The sports information office can try to portray the rubber game as a rally that fell short if it likes, but, although Georgia held a 7-6 lead after seven stanzas, the facts remain that the Classic City Canines were held scoreless in seven of nine cantos, the Music City Mariners scored in seven of nine frames, and the Red and Black conceded 11 runs in the last two innings. There’s no way to dress that up as anything other than a meltdown leading to a beatdown.
Consecutive setbacks in which the Bulldogs gave up a combined 26 runs and 33 hits stranded the Athenians at 28-28, which, as noted by vineyarddawg, means Georgia will have to win three games in Hoover to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. History suggests that this is unlikely to occur, to put it delicately.
Granted, we knew going in that beating the Stanford Cardinal would be tough. They came into Sunday’s quarterfinal match holding the edge in every category: Stanford was the top seed in the tournament and the defending national champion; the Cardinal had home court advantage and an unbeaten record, having come into the match with winning streaks of 182 matches at home and 45 matches overall.
It came as no surprise, then, when the Georgia women’s tennis team fell to Stanford, 4-0, in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships. Despite its disappointing ending, the Bulldog lady netters had a successful year, culminating in a 19-4 record following the end of their 26th consecutive tourney appearance.
The Georgia men’s tennis team remains alive in postseason play, and the Bulldogs will meet the USC Trojans in Palo Alto at 3:00 Eastern time this afternoon.
Go ‘Dawgs!