Daily Dawg Thread: April 09, 2024

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Daily Dawg Thread: April 09, 2024

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BSB: Georgia vs. Kennesaw State Tonight, First Pitch 5:02

Dylan Goldstein

Dylan GoldsteinThe Bulldogs are 24-8 under first-year Ike Cousins head coach Wes Johnson. Georgia is 19-1 at home this year including 16-1 against non-conference foes. The lone defeat at Foley Field came to Michigan State on Feb. 28. The Owls (17-13) have had some impressive road wins this year against teams now ranked in the top 10. They went 2-1 against Kentucky who is 27-4 overall, 11-1 in the SEC and ranked 10th, and 1-2 against now No. 2 Clemson (28-3).

This past weekend, the Bulldogs had their second straight SEC road series and third in the past month. The Bulldogs dropped a series to No. 19 Mississippi State 2-1. The Owls lost a road series 2-1 at Stetson. Back on March 6, the Bulldogs posted an 11-5 win over Stetson at Foley Field.

 

 

 

 

Hitters To Watch: The Midseason Player of the Year according to D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game USA is Georgia redshirt sophomore infielder/outfielder Charlie Condon (.458-20-42, 1.067 SLG%, .570 OB%, .990 FLDG%). A projected 2024 first round draft pick, he has led the country in as many as six offensive categories this season. Since going 5-for-6 with two home runs and three RBI at No. 5 Tennessee on March 30, he has hit a rough patch. In his past five games, he is 3-for-21 with one home run and two RBI, dropping his average to a mere .458. In this week’s NCAA statistical rankings, Condon remains the NCAA leader in home runs, slugging percentage and total bases plus is third in batting average, fourth in hits and sixth in on base percentage.

In the recent road series with No. 19 Mississippi State, freshman Tre Phelps (.340-3-11) batted .500, going 5-for-10 with two doubles and an RBI. Senior Corey Collins (.381-12-32) has reached base in 20 straight games, matching the team’s longest streak also done by Condon earlier this year.       

KSU’s leading hitter is senior Brayden Eidson (.375-3-24) while the top power and RBI man is senior Isaac Bouton (.322-8-26).

 

 

 

 

Series History: Georgia leads the all-time series 22-11 dating to 2006. Georgia has won five in a row in the series with KSU’s last victory coming in 2021 in Kennesaw (6-4). Last year, the Bulldogs won 6-4 at KSU and 10-9 at Foley Field.

Tuesday Pitching Matchup: Georgia will start sophomore RHP Blake Gillespie (0-0, 9.95 ERA). It will be his first start this season after seven relief appearances covering a span of 6.1 innings. He pitched 0.2 scoreless innings this past Sunday at No. 19 MSU, allowing one hit with one walk and one strikeout. Gillespie made three starts last year when he went 0-1 with a 14.66 ERA in 11.2 innings. 

KSU will counter with junior RHP Halton Hardy (0-0, 2.16 ERA) who is a native of Athens and a graduate of East Jackson High School. It will be his first start after seven relief outings covering a total of 8.1 innings. Most teams use a staff approach during their midweek contests, employing between seven to nine pitchers.

Rutherford Street Closure: Please note this season that one hour before game time, Rutherford Street, next to Foley Field, will be closed to vehicle traffic until 30 minutes post-game. 

Tuesday at 5:02 p.m. ET (SECN+)

Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston)

https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4591&type=Live

TV: SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs)

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/d9fe51c7-bf78-47ca-bdaf-68b6ad7e6100

Live Stats: https://georgiadogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

Foley Field Tickets/Parking/Promotion Information

*Click here for tickets, General Admission Seating: $5

*Call 1-877-542-1231 or order online at https://georgiadogs.evenue.net/list/BBS

*Foley Field Gates/Ticket Windows open one hour before game time.

*Free parking is available in the commuter surface lot behind the outfield. 

*Please note this season Rutherford Street, next to Foley Field, will be closed to vehicle traffic one hour prior to baseball games until 30 minutes post-game.

*UGA Student Tickets: Free Admission with UGA ID; Enter Student Gate G on Rutherford Street

*Special Promotions/Giveaway: First 500 UGA students receive a Georgia Sign Language t-shirt

*First Pitch: Kara Scoggins, UGA Student and President of UGA National Student Speech Language Hearing Association


GYM: Lily Smith has qualified as an individual competitor for the 2024 NCAA Gymnastics National Championship

Photo: Georgia Sports Communications

Freshman Lily Smith of the Georgia gymnastics team has qualified as an individual competitor for the 2024 NCAA Gymnastics National Championship held in Fort Worth April 18-20. 

Smith qualified to compete as an all-arounder after compiling a 39.675 in the second round of the NCAA Florida Regional and winning the event title. 

The SEC Freshman of the Year hit her highest all-around mark behind a 9.975 on bars, 9.950 on beam, 9.925 on floor, and 9.825 on vault.  This is the highest all-around total by a Georgia freshman since Courtney Kupets notched the same score against Auburn in 2006. 

The Limerick, Pa. native ranked 20th in the country in the all-around heading into regional competition.  Smith is the highest ranked SEC freshman and tenth overall on bars with an NQS of 9.950.  She also ranks in the top 25 on floor. She scored a season-high of 9.850 on vault, 9.950 on beam and floor, and a Perfect 10 on bars.  

Smith earned All-SEC recognition for her scores on vault, bars, beam, floor, and all-around at the SEC Championship and was named SEC All-Freshman on bars, beam, and all-around. She was a five-time SEC Freshman of the Week throughout the season and claimed 17 event titles- six on bars, two on beam, five on floor, and four in the all-around. 

The Georgia gymnastics program has 42 individual national champion titles by 20 gymnasts, including seven all-around.  Brandie Jay (vault) and Brittany Rogers (bars) were the last GymDogs to win NCAA Individual National Championships in 2016.  The last GymDog to claim an Individual National Championship title in the all-around was Courtney Kupets in 2009. 


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Greg is closing in on 15 years writing about and photographing UGA sports. While often wrong and/or out of focus, it has been a long, strange trip full of fun and new friends.