University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Battles Tech In Atlanta Wednesday
May 08, 2012 | Baseball
May 8, 2012
Georgia (28-20, 12-12 SEC) has won four straight including posting its first SEC series sweep of the season, beating Auburn 5-2,6-5 (11) and 9-3 this past weekend. The streak began April 29 down in Baton Rouge when the Bulldogs beat #4 LSU 5-3. Up next, Georgia faces Ga. Tech (29-19) in Atlanta Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. (CSS). It will be the rubber game of the series this year. Georgia beat Tech 7-1 in Athens in March and fell 4-3 at Turner Field last month.
In records dating back to 1950, Georgia leads the all-time series with Tech 112-96. In the first meeting this year, a season-high Foley Field crowd of 3,004 saw six Bulldog pitchers scatter eight hits and one run while recording 11 strikeouts. Seven Bulldogs registered a hit including a home run by junior DH Brett DeLoach that got the scoring started. Sophomore Conor Welton and junior Curt Powell had 2 RBI apiece. Freshman RHP David Sosebee started and went three scorless innings for the win in a staff night. A crowd of 19,669 saw Tech edge Georgia at Turner Field last month. Mott Hyde had a big night, going 3-for-4 including a two-run home run to pace Tech while Alex Cruz tossed three innings for the win. Last year, Tech won 15-6 in Athens and 5-3 in Atlanta while Georgia won 6-4 at Turner Field. Under the direction of coach Danny Hall, the Jackets are batting .299 with a 4.39 ERA and a .960 Fielding Percentage. Offensively, junior outfielder Brandon Thomas (.366-3-36) is the top hitter with sophomore 1B Daniel Palka (.313-11-42) the top power threat. Last weekend, Tech stepped out of conference and swept UNC-Charlotte. Georgia will start Sosebee (2-0, 5.06 ERA) while Tech counters with freshman Josh Heddinger (2-4, 6.17 ERA).
Junior SS Kyle Farmer (.304-4-32) enjoyed a big SEC series in helping sweep Auburn, batting .467 (7-for-15) with a home run and five RBI. He notched a walk-off single in Saturday's 11-inning affair and smashed a three-run home run in the second inning of Sunday's 9-3 victory to pace the offense. He is batting .333-3-16 in SEC action. Farmer is riding a 13-game hitting streak where he is batting .317 (20-for-63) in this stretch.
Georgia coach David Perno is 17-19 all-time versus Georgia Tech including 2-2 in NCAA Regionals and 2-0 in Super Regional meetings. In 2004, Georgia was co-champions of the SEC and did not get a national seed. They faced Tech in a Super Regional in Atlanta and swept the Jackets to advance to the College World Series. It is was the first of three trips to Omaha for the Bulldogs under Perno, also returning in 2006 and the 2008 Finals.
After the Tech game, Georgia welcomes fourth-ranked and SEC co-leader South Carolina (36-12, 16-8 SEC) to Athens Friday for an SEC series, and game one is sold out. A limited number of general admission tickets remain for Saturday and Sunday, and a few reserved seats are left for Sunday too.
Single game Reserved seats at Foley Field: $8 each; General Admission: $5 apiece and can be purchased online. Georgia ticket office (877-542-1231) between 8:30 am-4:30 pm Monday-Friday. For Group Ticket info: (706) 542-9045 or email: grouptickets@sports.uga.edu
