It is pretty evident that the No. 3-ranked Georgia Bulldogs have been one of the best teams in college baseball through the first month of the season. Georgia improved to 16-2 with an 11-6 victory at Georgia State on Wednesday. “This team is as talented as any I’ve ever been a part of, probably more,” said Bulldog first baseman Rich Poythress. “You still got to go out there and put it all together and there’s a lot of young talent too, […] but the pieces are all there and its showing up everyday and putting them together consistently that will make the difference.”
Georgia, who earlier set a school record with 14 consecutive wins to start the season, put together many of those pieces against the Panthers. Chase Davidson gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead with a two-run homerun in the second off of Georgia State starter John Locklear (3-1) and Levi Hyams broke the game open with a three-run double in the fifth. Bryce Massanari also added a two-run homer in the sixth. Hyams and Davidson, who led Georgia with four and three RBI respectively, are just two of the team’s freshmen that have contributed to the early success. “They have done it all year,” said Bulldog head coach Dave Perno. “If it’s not Levi, it’s Colby [May]. If it’s not Colby, it’s Chase. If it’s not Chase, it’s Zach Cone. If it’s not Zach Cone, it’s been Peter Verdin. There’s just so many of them, as much as they’re playing, someone’s bound to do something. It’s just a great recruiting class and we’re fortunate enough to have them all on our team.”
Perhaps the most valuable member of that class thus far has been Jonathan Taylor. The former North Cobb high school star entered the game against the Panthers tops on the club with 14 stolen bases and second in batting at .404. “I just hope I can keep it up, continuing to add some speed and getting on base for the team,” Taylor said. “Everybody that you play is going to getting scouting reports on you, so you got to make sure that you continue to make adjustments.”
On the mound, freshmen Cecil Tanner, Michael Palazzone and Chase Hawkins are off to good starts. Hawkins (2-0) got the win in relief against the Panthers, while Tanner, a 6-foo-6 right hander out of Ware County, is 2-0 and now has 16 strikeouts in 14 and a third innings, after working two hitless innings on Wednesday. Despite their youth, the Bulldogs did return some quality players from last year’s team that lost to Fresno State in the final game of the College World Series. Poythress and Massanari (both of whom were selected preseason All-Americans), as well as starting pitchers Trevor Holder, Alex McRee and Justin Grimm are all back. Going into Wednesday night’s game, Poythress led the Bulldogs with a .441 batting average and eight home runs, while Holder, who returned to Georgia after being a 10th round selection of the Florida Marlins, led the pitching staff with three wins.
Still many did not expect a team that lost shortstop Gordon Beckham and closer Joshua Fields to the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft to be even better. Offensively, however, the Bulldogs have been on a tear. The 11 runs they scored against Georgia State (12-6) are what they average for the season. “It goes to the balance in the lineup,” Perno said. “We’re getting a lot of production from the bottom of our order. […] Last year we were definitely top heavy and everything was built around Gordon and I think this year we can beat you 1 through 9 and we have some depth.
McRee started and pitched one inning after missing his previous two starts due to mononucleosis. “The most important thing for us was strikes and handling the speed of the game,” Perno said. “I think that’s the one thing he’s missed, the speed of the game. We’re going to be served much better this weekend by having thrown him in the game and not just using him in the bullpen and running him out there.”
McRee will be ready as Georgia will try to get above .500 in SEC play, when Mississippi State comes to Athens for a three-game series that starts Friday. The Bulldogs only two losses of the season were in a three-game series at Alabama last weekend. Before the losses, Georgia held the No. 1 ranking in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association of America and Collegiate Baseball polls.
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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