OMAHA, Neb. — Aside from one shaky inning, Mark Prior showed he was anything but a normal pitcher.
Prior struck out 13 in seven innings to help lead Southern California to an 11-5 victory over Georgia in the College World Series on Saturday.
Bulldogs hitters consistently looked overmatched, swinging through Prior's blazing fastball and freezing at the sight of his off-speed pitches.
"I felt like I had some stuff on my fastball," Prior (15-1) said. "They came out hacking in the first inning. I wouldn't say I was surprised by that, but I knew what kind of a day I was in for."
Overall, Prior lived up to his billing as the second overall pick, taken by the Chicago Cubs, in Tuesday's draft.
"I thought Mark Prior was everything he was advertised," Georgia coach Ron Polk said. "I had not seen him since his freshman year. Boy, he has a great future."
Prior had at least one strikeout in every inning, and struck out the side twice.
"Swing the bat. That's all we could do," Georgia's Jeff Keppinger said.
Prior, who walked one and allowed four runs and nine hits, has 202 strikeouts and just 18 walks in 138 2-3 innings this season.
Prior looked mortal in the fourth inning, when Georgia scored three times against the 6-foot-5 right-hander. But the Trojans (45-17) got their offense going early, and the Bulldogs (47-21) couldn't catch up.
"In the fourth inning, they got some hits," Prior said. "I wouldn't say I got hit hard, but they had some hits that found some holes."
Alberto Concepcion went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs, and Bill Peavey also homered twice for Southern California, which used a season-high 18 hits and six home runs to win its seventh straight.
USC will play Miami (50-12) on Monday night, and Georgia will take on Tennessee (46-19) in the early game that day. The Hurricanes won a wild 21-13 game against the Volunteers late Saturday night.
The Trojans got on the scoreboard quickly with back-to-back homers by Concepcion and Peavey in the first off Jeremy Brown (7-4).
While Concepcion's shot barely cleared the right-field fence, there was no doubt about Peavey's homer. The 6-4, 250-pound first baseman hit a shot estimated at 440 feet that easily cleared the 26-foot high screen in straightaway center to make it 2-0.
"I think I felt that the size of the park played a little bit of a role in my second home run, but not my first one," Peavey said, drawing laughs.