Bulldogs Open Season Friday At Foley Field

Friday, February 17

Athens, Ga.

3:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

Jacksonville State

February 16, 2023 | Baseball

23BSGameNotes.pdf

ATHENS-----The University of Georgia opens its 136th season of baseball on Friday at 3 p.m. at Foley Field versus Jacksonville State. Game two of the series will be Saturday at 2 p.m. with Sunday's action starting at 1 p.m.

Play Ball: Baseball is the oldest sport on campus, dating back to 1886. Georgia did not field a team in 1944 or 1945 due to World War. Georgia's overall record is 2,387-1828-24. Georgia's Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin begins his 19th season directing a program including his 10th with the Bulldogs. His overall record is 620-397-1 and 270-209-1 at UGA. In season openers at UGA, he is 6-3. Georgia won eight in a row to start 2022.

Roster Roundup: The Bulldogs return six starters around the diamond, 12 pitchers who saw action last year plus welcome 18 newcomers. There are six graduates including 24-year-old outfielders Ben Anderson and preseason second team All-SEC Connor Tate, both in their sixth campaign due to a redshirt season and a COVID-year. Anderson was the 2022 SEC Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A few more veterans back are juniors Corey Collins, Fernando Gonzalez and Parks Harber.
         Georgia has two graduate transfer pitchers: Kyle Greenler (Elon), Dalton Rhadans (Wofford); two graduate transfer infielders: Will David (Samford) and Mason LaPlante (Yale) plus two Division 1 transfers in pitcher Zach DeVito (Tulane) and infielder Sebastian Murillo (Long Beach State).
         The youngsters usually in the lineup will be sophomore Cole Wagner and redshirt freshman Charlie Condon as they will see action at either first base, right field or designated hitter.

No Preseason Love: The Bulldogs are not ranked in any preseason top 25 polls. They are picked to finish fifth in the East, according to a preseason poll of SEC coaches who voted Tennessee and LSU as the projected champions with the Tigers winning the league. In the East, the coaches predicted order was UT, UF, VU, USC, Georgia, UK and Mizzou. Ten teams on this year's slate advanced to the NCAAs in 2022.

Rotation & Bullpen: The rotation for the opening series will be junior LHP Jaden Woods, junior LHP Liam Sullivan and freshman RHP Blake Gillespie. Woods moves from his fireman role to the rotation with a solid three-pitch mix while Sullivan was a mainstay last year. Woods is the team's highest rated prospect for the 2023 MLB Draft according to Baseball America who ranked the top 200. Woods came in at No. 89 while junior C/OF Corey Collins was No. 188. Gillespie earned the job and will be the first freshman in the opening series rotation since Woods and Luke Wagner in 2021.
         Veterans Nolan Crisp, Charlie Goldstein, Will Pearson, Collin Caldwell and Chandler Marsh and freshmen Leighton Finley, Kolten Smith and LHP Jarvis Evans are likely among the first ones up for action in the middle innings while Wagner and the transfer pitchers are likely to be involved later in games. Freshman RHP/OF Matthew Hoskins will be in the mix when healthy as an illness will sideline him for the JSU series.

Probable Rotation For UGA-JSU Series ('22 Final Stats)
#17 Jaden Woods (1-1, 4.80, 3 SV, LHP, Jr.) vs. #12 AJ Causey (4-4, 2.61, 9 SV, RHP, So.)
#14 Liam Sullivan (4-3, 4.62, LHP, Jr.) vs. #7 Tanner Jones (2-4, 5.33, 1 SV, RHP, So.)
# 20 Blake Gillespie (n/a, RHP, Fr.) vs. #22 Eli Zielinski (n/a, LHP, Fr.)

Radio/TV/Live Stats Information: (Radio/TV simulcast: Jeff Dantzler and David Johnston)
Friday at 3 pm
960TheRef: https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4358&type=Archive
Streaming: ESPN+: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=ee4016ad-2b96-4c70-b98d-77da0405b813
Live Stats: https://georgiadogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

Saturday at 2pm
960TheRef: https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4359&type=Archive
Streaming: ESPN+: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=31749eee-ecb3-4435-8074-ef014e4a4b71
Live Stats: https://georgiadogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Promotions: The first 750 fans receive an Opening Weekend t-shirt

Sunday at 1 pm
960TheRef: https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4360&type=Archive
Streaming: ESPN+: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=65372c76-6d5d-4df3-a1c3-64fb26262fd7
Live Stats: https://georgiadogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Promotions: Family Fun Day features children having the option to be an Anthem Buddy before the game and Run the Bases after the game.

Ticket/Parking Information
A limited number of tickets are available in the Left Field Bleachers and in the Right Field Bleachers.
For non-conference games not including Clemson and Georgia Tech, Friday tickets in the Left Field Bleachers are $8. Tickets for Saturday non-conference games not including Ga. Tech in the Left Field Bleachers are $10 while Sunday's game there will be $8.  All Right Field Bleacher tickets are $5 for non-conference games not involving Clemson or Georgia Tech.
                  Fans can get seats from other fans through our official secondary ticketing partner StubHub.
https://www.stubhub.com/georgia-bulldogs-baseball-tickets/performer/400525/
                  Fans with tickets who are unable to come are encouraged to transfer them to other Bulldog fans, return them to UGAAA or resell them on StubHub.
                  Foley Field Gates open one hour before game time.
                  Free parking is available in the commuter surface lot behind the outfield.

About JSU/Series History: Jacksonville State is led by Jim Case who enters his 22nd season. The Gamecocks went 27-28 last year. They welcome back 2022 All-Atlantic Sun 2nd Team selection senior OF T.J. Reeves (.317-8-30) along with RHP/INF AJ Causey (4-4, 2.61 ERA, 9 SV; .250-0-7) and 3B Brennen Norton (.315-6-21), both who earned All-ASUN Freshman Team honors a year ago. JSU holds a 4-3 edge in the series that dates to 1998. The teams last met in 2019. Georgia won 5-1 in Athens while JSU rallied for a 9-8 win in 11 innings at their park.

2022 Georgia Season Review: Georgia went 36-23 (15-15 SEC, 2nd in Eastern Division) and batted .284 with 81 home runs. The Bulldogs posted a 5.67 ERA and a .978 fielding percentage.
         The Bulldogs went 1-2 at the NCAA Chapel Hill (N.C.) Regional. This marked the eighth team that Stricklin has taken to an NCAA Regional (five with Kent State and three at Georgia). The 2022 Bulldogs went 23-9 at home, 9-11 on the road and 4-3 in neutral site games.
         One oddity from last year, it was the first time since 1998, Georgia went the entire season without playing an extra-inning game. In 2021, Georgia had six games go extra-innings.

FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS: For the latest Georgia baseball news, visit www.georgiadogs.com and follow the Bulldogs on Twitter (@BaseballUGA), Facebook (@GeorgiaBaseball) and Instagram (@baseballuga).