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Tuesday. May 14. |#H5
The Red and Black
P»g»7
Dogs make finals of SEC tourney
By IVAN ARONIN
Hoi and Black SUN Wrtlar
They were like strangers
in a strange land, but they
quickly found their way
Georgia's Diamond' Dogs
had not made an SEC tour
nament appearance But by
Sunday, they had emerged
as one of the finalists
-Georgia defeated ninth-
rahked Louisiana State
Friday night, then stunned
defending SEC champion
Florida Sunday afternoon
before bowing to Mississippi
Slate in the championship
game Sunday night in Baton
Rpuge, La
Georgia and LSU battled
taa 6-6 tie after nine innings
Friday night However.
Georgia's Paul Somogye
sent the Bengal Tigers to the
lusers’ bracket of the double
elimination tournament
when he smashed a two-run
heme run for an 8-6 Bulldog
win The loss put LSI!
against Florida, who lost to
MSU 8-3 Friday
State's Greg Morgan and
Georgia's Jim Hunter staged
a pitchers' war Saturday, as
the two offenses managed
only 11 hits. However,
Morgan (12-1> did not allow
any Bulldog runs from their
four hits
The Bulldogs then entered
the losers' bracket to face
SEC East champion Florida,
who had eliminated host and
SEC West champion LSU
earlier in the afternoon The
winner earned the right to
face lllh-ranked MSU for
the SEC championship
Doug Givler started the
game for Georgia and
elimination seemed im
minent for Georgia as coach
Steve Webber's squad found
itself on the short side of an
8-2 score in the sixth inning
Having already recorded
two outs in the sixth, the
Bulldogs were somehow
selected to receive a strange
twist of fate
Pete Freeman began what
may come to be known as the
"Impossible Inning” with a
single, followed by walks to
Darren Howard and Jeff
Bennett to load the bases
Somogye then singled to
drive in two runs and put
runners on first and third.
Georgia still trailed the
Gators 8-4 as Marty Brown
popped up to first base
Call it luck, fortune, or the
finger of fate pointing to a
humid ballpark deep in the
Bayou country, but Florida
first baseman Mike Stanley
lost the ball in the sun
Bennett scored and Somogye
raced to third
It didn't matter what base
Somogye stood, because Ron
Wenrich, still hobbling
noticeably from an ankle
injury, connected for a
towering home run to right
field to tie the game at eight
apiece.
Lilliquist then doubled off
of reliever Michael Perez
and scored the game
winning run when Jimmy
Harrell singled to right field.
Cris Carpenter relieved
Givler in the ninth for his
eighth save of the year.
When the dust had settled,
Georgia held a 9-8 ticket to
the finals of the SEC tour
nament
After the Florida win,
Georgia then had about two
hours to rest for the
championship game Sunday
night against State
State jumped out to a 2-0
lead in the final game,
singling three times in the
second inning Webber had
selected a sore-armed
Lilliquist for the pitching
chores against State and the
freshman lefthander turned
in a gutty performance,
striking out five State bat
ters in the five innings he
worked
The Bulldogs scored a run
in the fourth when Brown hit
a home run to left field. State
took a 2-1 lead into the fifth
before fortune, at least in the
championship game, turned
its back on the Diamond
Dogs.
Lead-off hitter Dan Van
Clove began the inning a
single. Gator Thiesen then
singled to left field but
Wenrich, coming in on the
ball, fell on his tender ankle
and watched the ball roll to
the wall allowing both
runners to score.
The Bulldogs sent eight
batters to the plate in the
bottom of the inning but
managed only two runs
despite leaving the bases
loaded After loading the
bases on walks to Freeman
and Bennett and singles to
Somogye, Wenrich and
Lilliquist then coaxed RBI to
pull Georgia within a run
at 4-3
State then clinched the
SEC title in the seventh
inning, scoring four runs on
four hits with the help of two
passed balls on Georgia
catcher Pete Freeman.
Persons wins conference title, team second
By CHIP TOWERS
| Hrd and Black Ulklinl Spall, Kdll.a
! Before Georgia golf coach Dick
Uopas took his team to Florence,
Ala . for the Southeastern Con
lerence Championships this past
(weekend he said two things
1 One, Peter Persons would have to
>lay his best golf ever to win the
ndividual title and two, that if
Jeorgia could get past Ole Miss, the
bulldogs could possibly win the
journament
Well Persons did and became the
985 SEC Champion with a three
ouhd score of 213 and Georgia beat
He Miss but still didn't win the
tournament. finishing second behind
Florida and in front of the third
place Rebels
Persons beat Florida s David
Jackson by one stroke with a final
round of 69 to take the individual
honors He entered the final round
three strokes behind then-leader
Darren Cole who went on to finish
fifth
Persons, a junior from Macon,
played some of the best golf of his
career in the final round He finished
the final 16 holes at 5 under par with
birdies on 15,16and 17
Playing head-to-head against
Jackson, Persons came to the 18th
green holding his one-stroke lead
There he almost iced the win w hen
his first putt lipped the cup, getting
an emotional response from both
Persons and the crowd. Jackson
followed and missed his birdie-putt,
giving the Georgia junior the title
"This hasn’t been the best of years
for me, but I have played con
sistent, Persons said "But winning
the SEC, it's a dream come true."
Persons has finished second in a
number of tournaments this year,
but could never put it all together for
the win In fact, the last tournament
he won was the Georgia State
Amateur last summer
Georgia also got a superb per
formance from senior Louis Brown
whose three-round total of 216
earned him third place Louis Pavon
of Alabama tied Blown for third
followed by John Wright of Auburn
and Cole of Mississippi
Florida won the team title with a
score of 868 followed by Georgia
18781, Ole Miss 18811, Alabama
1886), Auburn 18871, LSU and
Tennessee 1899), Kentucky (915),
Mississippi State (929) and Van
derbilt (934).
Copas said he thought his team
played their best golf of the year,
despite the second-place finish.
"They played as well as they can
play," he said “I know we gave it
everything we had and that's all you
can do ”
Apparently, the NCAA thinks the
Bulldogs play well enough Georgia
received its official bid to the NCAAs
Monday and will join an elite field at
Greenleaf Country Club in Haines
City, Fla., for the National Cham
pionships May 22-25 Persons,
Brown, Chip, Drewry, Robby Cole
and Brad Weaver will represent the
Bulldogs in the tournament
Persons' and Brown's per
formances at the SEC Tournament
did not go unrioticed. Persons was
voted first team All-SEC and Brown
was voted to the second team Both
men, Copas said, have a chance to
win the NCAA individual title.
"I feel like Peter has as good a
shot at it as everybody else," Copas
said. "And Brown, playing his best
golf, could win it as well."
TUITION INCREASE!!
PLUS/MINUS GRADING?!
SEMESTER vs. QUARTER?!
CONFUSED7...WE ARE!
Com* to LUNCH SET
Hear Board of Regents member
JULIUS BISHOP
Speak
Tuesday, May 14,1985
12:00 Noon ■ 1:00 pm.
Tale Student Center ■ Reception Hall
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