OMAHA, Neb. (AP) 鈥� Joey Volchko struck out a career-high 15 in his first complete game and Georgia capitalized on Texas ace Dylan Volantis’ horrific first inning to win 7-1 in a showdown of the Southeastern Conference’s top two teams at the College World Series on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs’ first appearance in Omaha since 2008 will continue Monday night when they play Oklahoma for control of all-SEC Bracket 2. The Longhorns meet Alabama in a Monday elimination game.
Volchko (11-2) fanned nine of the first 13 batters he faced, allowed just four singles and didn’t issue a walk until the ninth inning of his 114-pitch masterpiece. When he struck out Temo Becerra to end the game, he spun around, spread his arms and let out a scream before embracing catcher Daniel Jackson.
Georgia (52-12) improved to 6-0 in the NCAA Tournament and has won 20 of its last 21 games since April 25. Texas (45-14) has lost four straight in the CWS over three appearances since 2021.
Volantis (10-2) had a frustrating night. He allowed only four hits and struck out nine, but had two wild pitches and hit four batters after having plunked a total of seven entering the game.
The sophomore left-hander threw 41 pitches in the first inning as almost anything that could go wrong for the Longhorns did.
Georgia’s scoring started with Rylan Lujo’s two-run homer off the left-field foul pole, only the third allowed by Volantis in 89 innings this season.
The bases were loaded with two outs after Volantis hit two batters around the first of catcher Carson Tinney’s two botched throws to first after dropped third strikes. It was 4-0 after Kolby Branch swung and missed on a wild pitch in the dirt. The ball bounced off Tinney, who picked it up and threw wide to first, allowing two runners to come home.
Texas capitalized on Volchko’s bad pickoff attempt in the fifth to score its only run, but the Bulldogs broke open the game in the seventh with three runs on two hits, an error and a wild pitch.
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