(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia (10-5) went 4-1 last week, defeating Furman, Georgia State and taking a series from Longwood as part of a current 10-game home stand at Foley Field. Up next, the Bulldogs play host to the Mountaineers (5-9) in a pair of midweek contests before opening SEC play with Missouri (10-4).
[su_spacer size=”40″] Please note the game times have been adjusted to 3:05 pm Tuesday and 1:05 p.m. Wednesday. Georgia leads the series with ASU 4-2-1 with every meeting in Athens. The teams last met in 2013 when they split a two-game set (Georgia won game one 9-4; ASU won 8-5). The tie game in 1975 (3-3 in 7 innings). ASU has lost its last four including being swept by Ga. Southern in Statesboro. Neither team has announced starting pitchers for the ASU series.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs have been hit with injuries as No. 1 starter Robert Tyler (forearm strain) and No. 3 starter David Sosebee (illness) were sidelined this past week along with starting third basemanTrevor Kieboom (wrist) and relief pitcher Bo Tucker (groin). Still, the Bulldogs managed to post a 2.80 ERA last week and hit .341 with 35 runs scored. Georgia is hopeful of getting Sosebee and Tucker back this week.
[su_spacer size=”40″] For the season, Georgia is batting .310 with 13 home runs while the ERA is a solid 2.45. One area where Georgia was off to a tremendous start was fielding, ranking as high as fourth nationally. After making just five errors through their first 10 games, the Bulldogs had eight last week to bring their team fielding down to .976 on the season.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia’s leading hitter is junior catcher/first baseman Zack Bowers who is on pace for the team triple crown at .356 with five home runs and 12 RBI. Bowers has an .844 slugging percentage and .516 on base percentage. Last week, he batted .467-3-5.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Overall, the Bulldogs have matched their home run total from a year ago with 13 in only 15 games. The team is slugging .460 with a .407 onbase percentage after posting a .320 SLG% and .346 OB% last year. Also, they are 21-for-26 in stolen bases already after going 42-for-60 in 2014.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Senior first baseman/pitcher Jared Walsh (.340-1-8; 1-0, 1.64 ERA) has a career-best 12-game hitting streak. Junior shortstop Nick King (.327-0-3, 7 SB) hit .471 last week. Freshman LHP Ryan Avidano (2-0, 3.94) made his first two career starts and earned victories in both, beating Furman and Longwood, tossing a total of 13 innings with one walk and eight strikeouts. Senior Jared Cheek (1-0, 1.17 ERA, 3 SV) made three appearances last week and collected a win and a pair of saves.
[su_spacer size=”40″] With a trio of pitchers out last week, several Bulldogs saw their workload increase and a couple made their debut in redshirt senior Zach Waters and freshman Blake Hamilton. Waters, recently dropped down to a sidearm motion, to give the Bulldogs a different look coming out of the bullpen. He spent his first two seasons at East Tennessee State in 2011-12 as a pitcher/catcher, redshirted as a transfer at UGA in 2013 and did not make the team in 2014 before landing a spot this year. Also, redshirt senior Taylor Hicks has provided stellar relief in three outings this year with 10 strikeouts and only one walk in six innings.