The Diamond Dawgs kicked off their season with a four-game stretch this past weekend in Wilmington. Georgia opened with Quinnipiac on Friday with a triumphant 9-1 win. The Bulldogs then had a double header on Saturday, winning one over Quinnipiac and the other over UNC Wilmington. Sunday, the Diamond Dawgs fell 6-2 to the Seahawks to close out opening weekend with a 3-1 start for the Bulldogs.
Friday’s outing was a noon first pitch with Zach Harris on the mound. Harris didn’t find out he was starting until a little over three hours before the game. No need to fret as Harris went 4.0 innings, allowing three hits and one run. Paul Farley followed, pitching the remaining 5.0 innings and giving up one hit and no runs. The Georgia bullpen looked stout throughout the whole weekend and the tone of the season was off to a hot start behind Harris’s Friday start and Farley’s relieving job.
The stat of the day came from the offense as the Georgia bats knocked only four total hits; however, each hit was for extra bases as the Diamond Dawgs scored nine runs in their victory. Robbie Burnett, Henry Hunter and Ryland Zaborowski all hit doubles and Devin Obee hit a homerun in the bottom of the sixth.
Saturday morning, Georgia took care of business yet again, defeating Quinnipiac 7-4. The Bulldogs jumped on the Bobcats early with a two-run top of the first inning, but Quinnipiac mounted a comeback and entered the eighth inning tied at four with the Bulldogs. Georgia put up three runs in the eighth thanks to a couple of bean balls and an RBI single from Burnett and two RBI from a Slate Alford single.
The late Saturday game featured graduate transfer Brian Zeldin on the mound for the Diamond Dawgs. Zeldin provided 3.1 innings pitched before junior transfer from Alabama Alton Davis II relieved. The left-handed reliever notched a career-high seven strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched and got his first win as a Bulldog. The bullpen also saw junior transfer Brian Curley come in to close the 7-3 victory. Curley, a preseason second-team All-American, touched 100 miles per hour on a strikeout while not allowing a single run in two innings.
Sunday’s contest did not bode near as well for the Bulldogs as the Seahawks scored five runs in the first inning. Georgia would remain hitless until the eighth inning thanks to an Obee homerun. Nolan McCarthy was the only other Bulldog with a hit.
Despite Sunday’s loss, opening weekend provided a lot of promise for the No. 8 Bulldogs (via D1Baseball.com) as they head into the rest of their non-conference slate before SEC play. Burnett showed the most flashes of stardom of any Bulldog as the senior transfer from UNC Asheville reached base on his first 10 at bats and stole seven bags on the weekend. Georgia’s leader in stolen bases last season had four on the year. Burnett tied the single-game school record with four bases swiped in Friday’s contest. He tacked on three more Saturday morning. Something special is coming from the talented second baseman.
Head coach Wes Johnson’s efforts in the transfer portal were evident in the four-game opening weekend. You might be asking yourself, “Isn’t every single player mentioned above a transfer?” Well, you’re pretty close to being correct. Eight of the nine primary starters in the batting order are transfers, six from this past offseason cycle. Sophomore Tre Phelps is the only Diamond Dawg in this weekend’s starting lineup to play all of his college baseball at UGA. Of the 15 pitchers seen over the weekend, 11 are transfers. This is the new age of college athletics, and Johnson is using the portal to his advantage.
The Diamond Dawgs travel to Kennesaw State Tuesday night for a 6 PM date with the Owls before returning to the newly renovated Foley Field on Thursday for the home-opening series against University of Illinois at Chicago.