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BSB: Dawgs Sweep Flames in Home Opening Doubleheader

The eighth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs swept a doubleheader against the UIC Flames in their home opener doubleheader on Friday, winning 9-3 and 15-1 (run-rule) in front of a crowd of 2,974 at Foley Field.

Fast Facts – Game One

· Senior Devin Obee opened the scoring for the Bulldogs with a two-run single in the first.

· Senior Slate Alford blasted a three-run triple in the second inning to increase the Bulldogs lead to 5-1. This is the second triple of his career.  Alford finished the day a career-best 4-for-4 and reaching base during all five plate appearances..

· Sophomore Zach Brown sat down 10 consecutive batters to record a career-high seven strikeouts over four innings in relief for his first win as a Bulldog.

· Senior Robbie Burnett launched a solo homer in the seventh to put Georgia up 8-3, it was his 37th career home run and first as a Bulldog.

Fast Facts – Game Two

·Graduate Ryland Zaborowski went 4-for-4 with a grand slam and six RBI to lead a 15-hit attack as the Bulldogs hit three home runs.

· Freshman Cade Brown celebrated his birthday with a solo home run.
· Junior Leighton Finley (1-0) pitched five innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts for a win.
· Senior Henry Hunter went 2-for-3 with a home run. 

· The game ended after seven innings due to the 10-run rule as the Bulldogs held a 15-1.

Key Quote

Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson

“We got contributions from a lot of guys offensively. We are still not where I want us to be offensively, and we have a long way to go at the plate. Today was definitely a step in the right direction. Last weekend, it was tough conditions, we weren’t able to mix and match, but were able to do that today.” 

On Ryland Zaborowski

“He is one of those guys that works extremely hard. He’s constantly thanking the game. I told him to be ready to play game two today and be ready to go. We talked to him about their starter and what to expect. We really had him prepped up and ready to go.

Ryland Zaborowski
“Coming in today, my goal was to just hit the ball high and far, high line drives. As a team, we had a lot of confidence coming into the season. A little bit of a slow start at first, but I think we finally found it today and being at home also helped.”

Up Next

Georgia (6-1) continues the home opening weekend series against UIC Saturday at Foley Field with first pitch set for 2 p.m. The game will be available on the SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

MBB: Georgia Travels to Auburn Today

Date: Saturday, February 22, 2025

Time: 4:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Neville Arena (9,121)

Location: Auburn, Ala.

TV: ESPN (Tom Hart, play-by-play; Dane Bradshaw, analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 280 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

The Starting Five

• The Georgia Bulldogs will make the roughly 175-mile trek down I-85 to face No. 1/1 Auburn at Neville Arena on Saturday afternoon.

• The Tigers represent Georgia’s 13th ranked opponent, sixth top-10 foe and fifth road game versus top-10 competition this season. All of the those nubmers represent the most of any team in the nation.

• With Saturday’s date against No. 1/1 Auburn, the Bulldogs will have played exactly half of their games during the 2025 calendar – seven of 14 – versus top-10 teams . . . with a date next Tuesday versus No. 2/2 Florida that will tip the scales to the top-10’s favor.

• Asa Newell has been named SEC Freshman of the Week four times this season – on Nov. 18, Dec. 9, Jan. 13 and Feb. 10. That matches Anthony Edwards for the most SEC FOTW recognitions for a Georgia Bulldog.

• Over the Bulldogs’ last three games, Silas Demary Jr. has averaged 19.3 ppg and 5.0 apg. He has played all but 18 seconds UGA’s last two games against No. 8/9 Texas A&M and No. 21/22 Missouri.  

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs continue their almost unfathomable schedule during the 2025 calendar on Saturday when they venture to The Plains to face No. 1/1 Auburn. 

The outing against the Tigers will be Georgia’s 14th since the New Year began. It will be the Bulldogs’ seventh contest versus top-10 competition, with five of those dates being on the road. 

All told, Auburn will represent Georgia’s 13th top-25 opponent during the 2024-25 campaign.

All of the aforementioned numbers – 13 games against ranked competition, seven versus top-10 teams and five road trips to top-10 foes – are the most of any team in the nation to date. 

With a date against No. 2/2 Florida looming next Tuesday, at the end of February Georgia will have played more than half – eight out of 15 – of its 2025 games against top-10 teams.

The Bulldogs are 16-10 overall and 4-9 in SEC play. Georgia is squarely among NCAA bubble teams looking to make a late push into “March Madness.”

The Bulldogs’ balanced offense features seven players who have led Georgia in scoring in one or more games.  

Asa Newell, who has tied Anthony Edwards’ UGA record by being named SEC Freshman of the Week for the four times this season, tops a trio of Bulldogs averaging double figures at 15.3 ppg and also paces UGA on the boards at 6.8 rpg. Among SEC leaders, Newell is No. 14 in scoring, No. 11 rebounding, No. 2 in offensive rebounds (3.3 orpg) and No. 5 in double-doubles (six). He also entered the weekend at No. 2 in the league and No. 43 nationally in field goal percentage (.555).

Silas Demary Jr. and Dakota Leffew are scoring at double-digit paces of 11.9 ppg and 10.3 ppg, respectively, for the Bulldogs. Demary Jr. also sports team-high averages of 3.2 apg and 1.6 spg and is shooting a team-best 36.2 percent from 3-point range.

Scouting The Tigers

Auburn moved to 24-2 overall and 12-1 in the SEC with a 67-60 victory over Arkansas on Wednesday night. The Tigers are the No. 1-ranked team in the nation for the sixth consecutive week.

Johni Broome, a leading candidate for National Player of the Year accolades, leads Auburn in scoring (18.0 ppg), rebounding (11.0 rpg), assists (3.4 apg), blocks (2.6 bpg) and playing time (28.7 mpg).

All told, six Tigers are scoring at a double digit clip. Trailing Broome are Chad Baker-Mazara at 12.4 ppg, Tahaad Pettiford at 11.3 ppg, Miles Kelly at 10.8 ppg, Denver Jones at 10.7 ppg and Chaney Johnson at 10.5 ppg.

Series History With Auburn

Georgia and Auburn will face off for the 201st time on Saturday, with the Tigers owning a 103-97 edge in previous meetings. 

The Bulldogs and Tigers met five weeks ago in Athens, with No. 1/1 Auburn holding off No. 23/23 Georgia to secure at 70-68 victory before a sellout crowd of 10,523 at Stegeman Coliseum. 

The Tigers built a 27-9 early lead and then withstood several valiant comeback attempts by the Bulldogs.

Georgia made it a one-possession game four times before Auburn pushed its advantage to 69-60 with 41 seconds remaining. A finally furious rally cut the margin to 70-67 before the Bulldogs failed to tie the game twice in the final 10 seconds, with a Dakota Leffew 3-pointer rimming out and an Asa Newell jumper at the buzzer drawing front iron.

The loss snapped the Bulldogs’ 13-game winning streak at Stegeman, which equaled the fourth-longest stretch of home success in program history.

Georgia’s most recent trip to The Plains was for last season’s regular-season finale on March 9, with Auburn securing an 82-78 victory. 

Last Time Out

No. 21/22 Missouri rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Georgia, 87-74, last Saturday.

The Bulldogs built a 41-38 halftime lead behind 11 and 10 first-half points from Asa Newell and Silas Demary Jr., respectively. 

The Tigers used a 9-0 run early in the second stanza to go up for good.

After going 11-0 when leading at halftime during non-conference play, Georgia fell to 3-5 in SEC games when up at intermission.

“I haven’t coached a team that struggled this much early second half,” head coach Mike White said. “I can’t put my finger on it. I’m going to get more feedback from our guys. That’ll be the next trial and error process. Our young guys in the locker room, we want them to talk about it, but at halftime, trust me, we aren’t celebrating winning at half. We go in there and watch defensively the mistakes that we made. And the message is clear: we’ve got to get better in the second half defensively to be a good SEC team, and early second half, and we weren’t very good defensively.”

Three Dawgs Selected for the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Three all-time Georgia Bulldog greats — Courtney Kupets Carter, Theron Sapp and Jeff Wallace — will be inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025 this Saturday in Macon at the Macon City Auditorium.

Carter, one of the greatest collegiate gymnasts ever, and Sapp, one of four UGA football players to have their numbers retired, were selected for their performances as student-athletes. Wallace, who retired in 2023 with 818 wins and six national championships, received the honor for his legendary career coaching the women’s tennis team.

Carter was a star throughout her gymnastics career, earning a bronze medal on the uneven bars and a team silver medal at the 2004 Olympics before arriving at Georgia. As a senior in 2009, she won the Honda Award as the nation’s top gymnast and the Honda Broderick Cup as the nation’s top female student-athlete.

At her final NCAA championships, in 2009, she cemented her place as the most accomplished collegiate gymnast ever by winning individual NCAA titles in the uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and the all-around. She ended her career with a record nine individual NCAA titles, including three all-around titles. And she did that in just three NCAA Championships appearances, having missed the 2008 event because of a season-ending injury. Carter also coached the GymDogs from 2017-24.

Sapp is a Georgia football legend for more than just one performance against Georgia Tech, but the fullback from Macon earned the nickname “Drought Breaker” when he scored a short touchdown on fourth down for a 7-0 win in 1957 that snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Yellow Jackets. It was the Bulldogs’ first touchdown against Tech in four years.

The touchdown was one of just six that Sapp scored in his career, to go along with 1,269 career yards rushing, but it went down in Bulldog lore alongside some of the biggest in program history. A little more than a year after Sapp’s drought-ending TD, his No. 40 jersey was retired.

An Oregon native, Wallace began his collegiate playing career at Utah. And it was with the Utes, in 1981, that he visited Athens and Georgia tennis’ Henry Feild Stadium for the first time. He liked it so much that he transferred to UGA. After playing his final two seasons for the Bulldogs, winning the SEC title at No. 6 singles in 1984, Less than two years later, Wallace was named head coach of the women’s program.

In 38 seasons as head coach, Wallace turned the Bulldogs into a national powerhouse and one of the most consistent programs at Georgia. In his first season, the Bulldogs went 20-9 but missed the NCAA tournament, which then had a field of just 16 teams. Georgia never missed another NCAAs, and reached the finals five times, including in his second season.

The Bulldogs captured the first of the program’s two NCAA championships in 1994, the first time Georgia hosted the women’s tournament. They won it again in 2000 and played for the championship three other times. Wallace’s teams also won four ITA National Indoor championships, as well as 20 SEC titles. Wallace, who won 80.4% of his matches as head coach, is the only collegiate women’s tennis coach to be named National Coach of the Year four times.

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