University of Georgia Athletics
Diamond Dogs Ready for NCAA Regionals
June 03, 2004 | Baseball
June 3, 2004
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Diamond Dog Team Notes
*For the second time in school history, Georgia will serve as a host for an NCAA Regional. The SEC Champion Bulldogs were one of five SEC teams to be selected as a host. This marks Georgia's first NCAA appearance since 2002. Georgia last played host in 2001 and advanced to the College World Series. Georgia is making its seventh NCAA Regional appearance with a record of 14-7 including advancing three times to the CWS (1987, 1990 and 2001). Georgia has never faced MTSU, went 1-1 vs. BSC and 0-2 vs. Clemson this season. Overall, the Bulldogs are 2-2 vs. BSC and 39-63 vs. the Tigers.
* Georgia won its second SEC Championship as well as Eastern Division title in the past four years, and its first under head coach David Perno who is in his third season at the helm. The Bulldogs have won five SEC titles in school history (1933, 1953, 1954, 2001 and 2004). This year, Georgia and Arkansas are SEC co-champions with identical 19-11 league records.
*SEC Tournament Recap: Georgia went 1-2 including a 1-0 win over third-ranked LSU (first-ever shutout of the Tigers) and was shutout by Vanderbilt 6-0 and Florida 7-0. The Bulldogs were shutout for the first time in 112 games as VU's Jeremy Sowers pitched a complete game three-hitter. In three games, opposing pitchers combined to issue the Bulldogs just one walk and that was an intentional one.
* Georgia went 13-2 in the second half of the SEC season which is the best mark by an SEC squad since 2000 when South Carolina went 13-2 en route to the SEC title and a 25-5 league record. The Bulldogs second half run featured a three-game sweep of #6 Ole Miss, a sweep of Kentucky, a road sweep at Miss. State, won two out of three at Auburn, and beat #5 South Carolina two out of three in Athens.
ATHENS REGIONAL IS THE STRONGEST | ||
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Using Boyd Nation’s latest Pseudo-RPI’s, here is the average RPIs for each of the 16 regionals in order of strength. The four teams RPIs were combined and divided by four. | ||
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Strength/Regional | Avg. RPI | Host |
*1. Athens, Ga. | 32.0 | Georgia |
2. Columbia, S.C. | 40.8 | South Carolina (National #2) |
3. Oklahoma City, Okla. | 43.8 | Oklahoma |
4. Oxford, Miss. | 46.5 | Ole Miss |
5. Baton Rouge, La. | 47.3 | LSU |
6. South Bend, Ind. | 47.8 | Notre Dame |
7. Palo Alto, Calif. | 48.8 | Stanford (National #5) |
8. Atlanta, Ga. | 49.8 | Ga. Tech (National #4) |
9. Charlottesville, Va. | 51.0 | Virginia |
10. Fullerton, Calif. | 53.8 | *Cal State-Fullerton |
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| (*ASU National #7 here) |
11. Coral Gables, Fla. | 59.8 | Miami , Fla. (National #3) |
12. Fayetteville, Ark. | 61.5 | Arkansas (National #8) |
13. Kinston, N.C. | 62.5 | East Carolina |
14. Tallahassee, Fla. | 69.0 | Florida State |
15. Austin, Texas | 78.0 | Texas (National #1) |
16. Houston, Texas | 80.3 | Rice (National #6) |
MORE NOTES ON THE DIAMOND ’DOGS
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* Georgia's Defense has turned 68 double plays for the year which ranks second best in school history. The entire infield made the All-SEC squad headlined by first team selection Josh Smith (3B). Justin Holmes (SS), Marshall Szabo (2B) and Josh Morris (1B) were second team All-SEC picks. The Georgia record for double plays turned in a season is 85 set by the 1990 national championship team that went 52-19.
*Freshman 1B Josh Morris (.315-16-67) leads the Bulldogs and is second in the SEC with 67 RBI. He ranks tied for fourth in the conference in home runs with 16. In SEC games, Morris has raised his totals to .279-4-30. Morris' home run and RBI totals this season already rank in the top 10 in school history. Morris' 67 RBI ties for fifth best while his 16 home runs is tied for seventh in a season.
* Georgia's rotation of junior RHP Sean Ruthven, sophomore RHP Michael Hyle and senior LHP Paul Lubrano have been steady performers during the 2004 season. Ruthven (7-1, 2.96 ERA) earned the win over #5 South Carolina on May 21st with a season-high eight Ks for his seventh win of the year and Hyle (7-2, 2.90) worked the first complete game of his career on the May 22nd clinching win over then #5 Gamecocks. Lubrano (5-4, 4.01) got the call May 23rd but fell 8-2. During the SEC season, Ruthven went 6-1 with a 3.24 ERA, Hyle was 5-0 with a 3.12 ERA and Lubrano was 3-3 with a 3.77 ERA. The Bulldog bullpen features a talented trio of sophomores in LHP Will Startup (5-2, 2.37 ERA, 8 SV), RHP Bo Lanier (3-1, 2.13 ERA) and Mitchell Boggs (2-3, 2.83 ERA).
* Georgia head coach David Perno goes for his 100th win as the Bulldog skipper in this his third season. He is 99-75 and would be the third fastest to ever reach 100 in school history. W.P. White reached the 100-win mark in 143 games (1921-25) and for his career went 224-100-7 (1921-33). White led the Bulldogs to the first-ever SEC title in 1933. Jim Whatley reached 100 wins in 164 games. Steve Webber got his 100th win in game in game #184 while Roy Umstadttd notched his in his 188th game.
*Bulldog pitching coach Butch Thompson, now in his third year at Georgia, spent seven seasons as a meber of Brian Shoop's staff at Birmingham Southern. BSC captured the 2001 NAIA World Series with a 55-11 record. Also, he was a two-year letterman for the Panthers and a 1992 graduate. This is BSC's first NCAA Regional as they are in their first season of full NCAA eligibility. They were provisional NCAA and Big South members the last two seasons. This is the first season they were included in the Big South standings as well as the NCAA stats.
*During their 12-game league winning streak that began on April 18 with a 12-4 victory at then #7 LSU and ended with a 4-3 road loss to #22 Auburn on May 16, the Bulldogs climbed from 10th place in the 12-team SEC to first in the SEC Eastern Division and a tie for first overall.Georgia's regular season tally of 19 SEC wins is second most in school history behind the 2001 Bulldogs. That team, coached by Ron Polk and assistants David Perno and Daron Schoenrock, finished 20-10 in the league, captured the SEC Championship and advanced to the College World Series.
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