Of Murphy's Law and John Wallace

Over the past two games we saw a case study in Murphy's Law. Everything that could go wrong did. This season the Bulldogs made their living with strong middle relief, a lights out closer, deadly bats, timely small ball, strong defense and our morale was high.

Over the past two games we saw everything that carried us fail us (except Fields). The middle relief imploded on Tuesday. The bats went ice cold tonight. Our best defensive outfielder watched a pop fly hit the ground. Our All-American speedy shortstop got pinched stealing two more times. Our formerly white hot hitting right fielder continued his slump into the Omaha Abyss, and our noisy dugout went quiet.

We didn't lose because of one thing. We lost because of everything.

Not a Fluke
Mainly, we lost because Fresno State played lights out. In retrospect all of this Cinderella talk was garbage. They were the team that was ranked in the preseason Top 25 in several polls. Not Georgia. They weren't a fluky team.

You don't win 11 games in the playoffs against some of the best teams in baseball by being a fluke. They were a good team that made every play they had to make, and they got every break necessary to win on college baseball's biggest stage.

Congrats to Fresno State. They earned it the hard way with an outrageously difficult run through the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Disappointment
This is as disappointing and painful of a Georgia loss as I've experienced (outside of football) since the crushing John Wallace three pointer in the 1996 Sweet Sixteen game against Syracuse with 2.8 seconds remaining.

Steve Detwiler now stands alongside of Wallace, Peyton Manning, Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Kent Hrbek and Phil Fulmer in my all-time Mount Rushmore of Hate and Contempt.

Going Forward
Coach Perno is now one of the most successful active coaches in the Southeastern Conference. His record over the past six years is untouchable, and the program is clearly moving in the right direction. Next year will be another odd numbered dip, but I expect the following year to return us to the NCAA Tournament and beyond.

If I'm Damon Evans, I make Coach Perno one of the highest paid coaches in the SEC, and I start addressing our facilities. We've got the coach that can take us to Omaha with regularity. Once you get here on a regular basis, it becomes easier to figure out how to close the deal.

Good season. Just not the last two games.

PWD

Tweet