Entering the Men’s College World Series, Georgia’s offense was the story for the Bulldogs. Led by Golden Spikes finalist Daniel Jackson, the Bulldogs were among the team leaders in several offensive categories this season and led the nation with a whopping 174 home runs.
And while that offense showed up Saturday night against Texas, scoring 7 runs in a 7-1 win, the big story in Omaha was the departure of starting pitcher Joey Volchko.
The right-hander went the distance for Georgia, allowing four hits and one unearned run while striking out 15 in a dominant performance.
And Volchko’s most impressive statistic of the night? He walked just one batter, and that came in the ninth inning on his 105th pitch of the night.
Volchko showed impressive command throughout the night, particularly with his breaking balls. He has a snappy slider, and he used it consistently early in the count to get ahead of hitters, but he also returned to it to finish off hitters late in the count. You can see that in this clipping from the beginning of the game:
But to close things out, he went back to the fastball on his last pitch of the night, a 96 mph heater to ice cleanup hitter Temo Becerra.
He matched the 96 mph he showed on his first fastball of the game.
“Honestly, things slowed down a little bit for me, I was able to compete and execute throws,” Volchko said after the win.
He also pointed out his slider.
“Yeah, the slider, the command on both sides was pretty good,” Volchko told ESPN when asked what pitches he worked against Texas.
Here’s another look at that slider, for his 10th strikeout of the night:
The real command Volchko showed came during that interview, when Tre Phelps and company covered the right-hander with Sour Power Candy Belts while he spoke with ESPN.
It was also the first complete game of his career.
Georgia will face Oklahoma on Monday night, while Texas will face Alabama in an elimination game on Monday afternoon.