Athens — Everything that started so right for Georgia ended so wrong.

Up one game to none in the best of three series with the winner on its way to Omaha, Georgia's Ryan Peisel took the second pitch of the game over the left-field wall. Right then it looked as if Georgia might be putting another College World Series appearance placard on that very same wall.

Curtis Compton/AJC (ENLARGE)

Bulldogs shortstop Gordon Beckham is hit by a pitch -- for the second time in the game -- in the fourth inning..

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Then reality came home to roost. N.C. State settled in and settled down the crowd of 3,523 at Foley Field on Saturday with a 10-6 victory. The series is now tied at 1-1. The two teams will play the deciding game at 4 p.m. today at Foley Field.

"Something we have done well all year is answer back," said N.C. State coach Elliott Avent.

Momentum might have swung to N.C. State, but history remains etched in stone around here. Georgia is 15-0 in elimination games at Foley Field in the postseason. It also has Nick Montgomery, who pitched a shutout against Georgia Tech a week ago, coming to the mound.

"There is no other guy we want taking it right now," said Georgia coach David Perno.

Georgia went through five pitchers against N.C. State and allowed a season-high nine walks.

Starter Nathan Moreau received a quick hook in the third after he gave up four quick runs. Stephen Dodson, a typical starter who has been move to the pen, was strong in relief. The senior didn't allow a run in 31/3 innings. But Perno pulled Dodson before the start of the seventh, just after he struck out two to end the sixth.

"He was a little tired," Perno said. "I would have like to kept him in there. He laid it out there."

Perno said fatigue is exacerbated when coming in for long relief because of the warm up time and the crucial nature of every pitch. It was N.C. State that came up with every crucial hit. The Wolfpack had 12 hits, 10 of them singles, and the two doubles both hit the infield grass.

The hit that broke the game open was a double from Dallas Poulk over a drawn-in infield in the bottom of the seventh. That started a four-run rally that turned a 4-3 game into an 8-3 game.

"That was a really big momentum-carry for us," N.C. State's Russell Wilson said.

Now the question is who will carry the momentum into Sunday? Perno said the three runs Georgia put across in the ninth would give his team a boost for the final game.

Avent said that is bogus.

"I think it shows you don't quit, but I don't think it carries over to the next day," Avent said.

As for the 15-0 record in elimination games, Georgia thinks that could give it the edge.

"We have got our backs against the ball," said Georgia's Gordon Beckham. "We had our backs against the wall all last week and we won four straight, so I am pretty sure we can win one game to go to Omaha."

That reasoning also sounded bogus to Avent.

"That [streak] sounds like it covers a lot of years, and this team only covers one year," he said. "Not a lot of these guys were in those games. The longer the streak is around, the more it could be snapped."