University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Baseball Vs. Jacksonville State Preview
April 28, 2009 | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE STATE (25-15) at #6 GEORGIA (33-11)
Foley Field - Athens, Ga.
Wednesday, April 29 - 5 p.m.
TELEVISION
None
Georgia Bulldog Radio Network: Jeff Dantzler and David Johnston
Local Station: WRFC AM 960 The Ref
On the Internet: www.georgiadogs.com & GXtra
TICKETS
Fans can purchase single game tickets online via www.georgiadogs.com or by calling 1-877-542-1231. Reserved seats are $8, general admission seats are $5 and admission is free for Georgia students with a valid UGA ID. All remaining tickets will go on sale beginning two hours before first pitch of each game at the Foley Field ticket windows.
GEORGIA VS. JACKSONVILLE STATE
Sixth-ranked Georgia returns home from a four-game road trip to face Jacksonville State Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the first of seven straight games at Foley Field to close out the regular season home schedule. The Gamecocks beat the Bulldogs 9-7 last Wednesday in Jacksonville. Georgia took a 2-0 lead in the first and led 5-3 when JSU scored six runs in the fourth including five with two outs to take the lead for good. Colby May had three hits including a home run to lead the Bulldogs, and Matt Cerione had two hits and also homered. Georgia is coming off a series loss at Ole Miss last weekend. The Bulldogs won game one and led in the eighth inning of game two, but the Rebels rallied to win and clinched the series with a 6-1 victory on Sunday. Georgia will send righthander Cecil Tanner (3-0, 2.45) to the mound Wednesday. He worked two scoreless innings Sunday in Oxford and struck out six. Tanner will face Jacksonville State righty Austin Lucas (5-1, 3.81)
WHO’S HOT
First baseman Rich Poythress is tied with Texas State’s Paul Goldschmidt with 70 RBI--the most in the country. He hit .455 to lead Georgia last weekend at Ole Miss and with an RBI on Saturday, he became the first player in Georgia history to record two 70 RBI seasons. Poythress is just eight RBI shy of tying Gordon Beckham’s school record 78 RBI last year. Poythress is ranked in the top two in the SEC in eight statistical categories including first in batting average, RBI, hits, on-base percentage, runs and total bases and second in slugging percentage and home runs. Last Tuesday against Kennesaw State, Poythress was 4-for-4 with three home runs, a double, and walk. He became the seventh Bulldog to hit three home runs in a game and first since Jeff Keppinger in 2001...Over the last nine games, Colby May is Georgia’s leading hitter, batting .375 (12-for-32) with two home runs and a double. He is seventh in the league this season in batting and second among freshmen. May also has the SEC’s fifth-highest on-base percentage...Bryce Massanari is 8-for-21 in the last five games. He hit three home runs in Georgia’s 10-8 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, becoming the eighth Bulldog to hit three homers in a game and second in five days. Massanari has 10 home runs in SEC games--tied with Alabama’s Kent Matthes for most in the league...Levi Hyams hit .417 with a doubles last weekend at Ole Miss...The Georgia bullpen is a combined 12-3 with a 4.21 ERA this season with 180 strikeouts in 186.0 innings. Overall the Georgia pitching staff is second in the SEC with a 4.03 team ERA...Dean Weaver has given up just two earned runs in his last 13 outings and 14.2 innings and has earned seven saves in that span...Weaver leads the SEC in saves in league contests and in games finished. He is 1-0 with four saves in his last five appearances...Will Harvil leads the SEC with 26 appearances this season and is 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA...Trevor Holder earned his seventh win last Friday against Ole Miss and tied former Bulldog Cris Carpenter on Georgia’s all-time wins list with 22. Holder is tied for second in the SEC in wins. Holder and Weaver were recently named to the College Baseball Foundation’s Pitcher of the Year Watch List.
RANKINGS
Georgia is ranked in the top seven in three polls this week including sixth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ and Collegiate Baseball Polls and seventh in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 11 by Baseball America. Jacksonville State is unranked.
TIDBITS
Georgia has the SEC’s best road record this season with a 13-5 mark, and no other team in the league has more than 10 road wins...The Bulldogs have a team earned run average of 4.03. Georgia last finished the year with an ERA below 4.00 in 1977...Georgia is 11-1 in TV games this season...The Bulldogs have won 33 out of 44 games this season for an .750 winning percentage. The school record for wins is 52 by the 1990 national championship team....Georgia is 5-0 in one-run games...The Bulldogs have yet to play an extra-inning game this season...The Bulldogs are 26-3 when scoring at least six runs and 29-0 when leading after six innings...Georgia has hit 83 home runs this year. Entering the seasons, the Bulldogs were averaging 63.4 home runs per season in the David Perno era...Bryce Massanari batting a team-high .402 in home games and Justin Grimm has a team-best 1.86 ERA at Foley Field.
SEC WINS
Georgia is 34-16-1 in SEC games over the last two seasons. The most league wins by the Bulldogs in back-to-back seasons is 35 in 2001 and 2002. Here are Georgia’s highest SEC wins totals in consecutive season:
2001-02 35-25
2008-09 34-16-1
2000-01 34-26
1989-90 33-20
1986-87 32-21
POYTHRESS’ BIG NIGHT
Rich Poythress went 4-for-4 with three home runs, a double and a walk in Georgia’s 11-7 win over Kennesaw State last Tuesday. He became the seventh Georgia player to hit three home runs in a game and first since Jeff Keppinger in the Bulldogs’ thrilling win against Coastal Carolina in the 2001 NCAA Athens Regional. Poythress’ three-home run performance came on Keppinger’s 29th birthday and it also occurred on the night that Poythress’ nine-year old brother Jared served as the Bulldogs’ bat boy. Poythress’ double in the first inning narrowly missed leaving the park. He is now fifth all-time at Georgia with 38 career home runs and his 20 home runs this year is tied for the fourth most in a single season.
MASSANARI’S BIG DAY
Bryce Massanari went 4-for-5 with three home runs and five RBI in the 10-8 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday. His second home run tied the game in the sixth and his third blast gave Georgia a two-run lead in the seventh. He became the eighth Bulldog to hit three home runs in a game
SINGLE SEASON RBI RECORD
Last season Gordon Beckham broke the Georgia record for most RBI in a season with 77. His teammate Rich Poythress actually had the second most ever with 75. Beckham is gone, but Poythress is still here and currently on a pace that would destroy both numbers. Here are the top five RBI totals for a Bulldog in one season and what each averaged per game that year:
1. Gordon Beckham (2008) 77 RBI - 71 Games (1.08 RBI/Game)
2. Rich Poythress (2008) 75 RBI - 69 Games
(1.09 RBI/Game)
3. J.R. Showalter (1990) 74 RBI - 71 Games (1.04 RBI/Game)
4. Jeff Keppinger (2001) 73 RBI - 69 Games (1.06 RBI/Game)
5. Josh Morris (2004) 71 RBI - 68 Games (1.04 RBI/Game)
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Rich Poythress (2009) 70 RBI - 44 Games
(1.59 RBI/Game)
*** Through 44 games a year ago, Gordon Beckham was batting .427 with 20 home runs and 48 RBI. Through 44 games this season, Poythress is batting .414 with 20 home runs and 70 RBI.
FIRST HALF
For the second straight year, Georgia was alone in first place at the halfway point of the SEC race. In the last two years, the Bulldogs were 23-7 in the first half of SEC play. This year’s mark of 11-4 is one win shy of last year’s 12-3 record, the best start to SEC play under David Perno. In five of the last seven seasons under Perno, the Bulldogs posted a better second half in SEC play. The two exceptions were Perno’s first season in 2002 when Georgia went 8-7 in the first 15 league games and then 7-8, and last year when the Bulldogs went 8-6-1 in the second half, having clinched the SEC title by week nine. Georgia’s best second half came in 2004 when it surged to the SEC crown by going 13-2. The 2006 squad nearly matched that by going 12-3 to finished second in the East and third in the league overall.
PERNO THIRD ON WINS LIST
Last season, David Perno passed former Georgia coach W.P. White (1921-33) and moved into third on the school’s all-time wins list. Steve Webber (1981-96) is first with 500 wins followed by Jim Whatley (1950, 52-75) with 336 wins and Perno with 284 wins. Perno and Whatley are tied for the most SEC Championships (2) and Perno is the leader in College World Series appearances (3).
ACADEMIC HONORS
Sixteen members of the Georgia baseball team posted a grade point average of at least 3.0 for 2008 fall semester and were honored for their accomplishments by being named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. The group includes Zach Cone, John Herman, Michael Palazzone, Earl Daniels, Chase Davidson, Steve Esmonde, Adam Fuller, Justin Grimm, Trevor Holder, Zach Laughlin, Tyler Maloof, Alex McRee, Kevin Ruiz, Miles Starr, Johnathan Taylor and Peter Verdin.
GEORGIA IN THE PROS
Former Bulldogs Jeff Keppinger (Astros) and Clint Sammons (Braves) were listed on Major League opening day rosters, and Mitchell Boggs was recently called up by St. Louis. Former Georgia players currently playing in the minor leagues include Gordon Beckham, Birmingham (AA-White Sox); Brook Brown, Erie (AA-Tigers); Bobby Felmy, Connecticut (AA-Giants); Joshua Fields, West Tennessee (AA-Mariners); Lee Mitchell, Jacksonville (AA-Marlins); Ryan Peisel, Asheville (A-Rockies) and Jonathan Wyatt, Daytona (A-Cubs).
ON DECK
Georgia plays host to Florida in a three-game series beginning Friday at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs lead the Gators by a game in the race for the SEC title.
OFFICIAL GEORGIA BASEBALL MERCHANDISE
Shop online via www.georgiadogs.com to order your official Georgia Baseball merchandise including the Nike white replica home jersey and the Nike black batting practice shirt.
