FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
ATHENS—–The University of Georgia baseball team is conducting fall practice, and the annual Dogs-Pups series starts Sunday at Foley Field.
Along with the workouts, the team will have had 12 scrimmages before starting the Dogs-Pups series. Georgia head coach David Perno said he likes the competitive mentality and concentration he has seen in practice thus far, but the Bulldogs still have a ways to go.
“The good news is that we’re healthy for the most part compared to last year when Rich Poythress and Michael Demperio were out and it was tough to get a read on the squad,” said Perno. “The bad news is our inexperience shows on a regular basis. The last couple of years we’ve had a lot of veterans, and this year we’ve got a lot of young guys out there. We’ve got a lot of pitchers on the fall roster and part of that is because we like to play around 27 games, and I like the competition on the pitching staff. Some of our older guys are not throwing that well right now while some of the younger guys are making a move.”
The 2010 Georgia squad likely will count on as many as eight freshmen regularly. These newcomers include infielder Kyle Farmer (Marist, Atlanta, Ga.), outfielder Zach Taylor (Statesboro HS, Statesboro, Ga.), catcher Brett DeLoach (Pierce County HS, Blackshear, Ga.) and infielder Chance Veazey (Tift County HS, Tifton, Ga.) along with right-handed pitchers Malcolm Clapsaddle (Oviedo HS, Oviedo, Fla.) and Cooper Mosley (Success Unlimited Academy, Montgomery, Ala.) plus left-handers Blake Dieterich (West Orange HS, Winter Garden, Fla.) and Patrick Boling (Cartersville HS, Cartersville, Ga.).
Two more talented pitchers are sidelined with injuries. Freshman left-hander Alex Wood (Ardey Kell HS, Charlotte, N.C.) will miss the 2010 season due to elbow surgery that he underwent in June. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are hopeful that junior right-hander Ben Cornwell (Georgia Perimeter College, Atlanta, Ga.) can begin throwing on the mound by December and be ready by February. Cornwell is coming back from elbow surgery performed last spring.
One thing that is apparent from the early scrimmages is the 2010 Bulldogs will have a different offensive approach. A majority of the pieces of the power-hitting teams of the past two seasons are now playing professional baseball. Georgia combined to hit 205 home runs during this stretch including blasting a school record 109 last year. In 2008, the Bulldogs advanced to the College World Series Finals with a 45-25-1 mark, and in 2009, they posted a 38-24 record including a 2-2 showing at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
“We didn’t really bunt or steal a lot of bases the last few years because we could outslug teams,” said Perno. “This team is going to be more athletic and should do more on the bases, we’ll play more little ball. On one hand, you look at our offense and say it’s tough because we lost around 80 home runs from the 2009 team but the good news is we lost about 400 strikeouts too. It’s a trade-off, this team should be able to work more pitch counts and hopefully steal twice as many bases as last year.”
Further evidence that points to a youthful bunch around the diamond this coming season is the fact that Georgia’s top returning position players are all sophomores. Two of these six Bulldogs were regulars in 2009: infielder Colby May (.339 BA, 11 HR, 42 RBI) started all 62 games while infielder Levi Hyams (.263-5-24) made 56 starts. The other four “veterans” Georgia will be counting on more include outfielders Zach Cone (.323-4-18), Peter Verdin (.316-2-8) and Johnathan Taylor (.309-0-10, 23 SB) plus outfielder/first baseman Chase Davidson (.231-3-19). Taylor and Davidson made 31 starts apiece last year while Verdin started 26 games and Cone 20.
“Peter, Zach, J.T. and Chase were not full-time starters for us last season like Colby and Levi, but we’ll be counting all of them to make great strides this year,” said Perno. “Experience definitely helps, and we’re looking for them to have a strong finish. In high school you play 25 to 30 games in a season and that’s doubled when you get to college so you see guys hit a wall sometimes in their first season.”
Game one of the Dogs-Pups series will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday. Perno, volunteer coach Justin Holmes and student assistantBrent Hallman will direct the Pups squad while pitching coach Brady Wiederhold and assistant coach Jason Eller will lead the Dogs squad. All scrimmages are free and open to the public. An updated list of the Bulldog practice games this fall is included below. Please note dates and times subject to change due to class schedules or weather.
Dogs-Pups Series (Oct. 4-11)
Sun., Oct. 4 2 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 5 4 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 6 5 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 7 4 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 9 4 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 10 1 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 11 2 p.m.
Additional Scrimmages
Wed., Oct. 14 4 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 16 4 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 17 3 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 18 2 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 20 5 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 21 4 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 23 4 p.m.
