[New Article]Behind Enemy Lines: From a Dawg's Perspective
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:50 pm
This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here »
This week - we have a guest blog post from UGA blogger Bernie who runs Bernie's Dawg Blog. Bernie has agreed to give us a rundown of UGA's baseball team and what we can expect to see from them. We traded posts and our own writeup can be found on his site. We hope to make this a more common series in the future so stay tuned.
Coach Perno's Diamond Dawgs face Appalachian State in a Tuesday/Wednesday series this week. As a show of good sportsmanship, YosefsCabin.com's AppStateNate has graciously agreed to hijack my web space while giving me the keys to his. Together we aim to provide some perspective for the opposing fans. At least the ones that can read and operate a web browser. Here goes...
Some history
Georgia Bulldogs baseball has a rich history. Our head coach David Perno was a backup on the national title team of 1990 along with Dave Fleming and the 1990 CWS hero Michael Rebhan. Steve Webber is the Bulldogs winningest coach and always had a knack for crafting a competitive lineup. Georgia football legend Charley Trippi boasts one of the best winning percentages among coaches going 34-18 in two post-WWII seasons (take that Trebeck!)
More recently UGA has produced stars such as All-Americans Rich Poythress and Gordon Beckham. Perno has guided the Diamond Dawgs to three College World Series (plus one as an assistant under the legendary "Father of SEC baseball" Ron Polk) and was close to adding a national title to his coaching resume in 2006 and 2008 before losing the series to Oregon State and Fresno State respectively.
This Season
Since 2008 things have been pretty rough, to the point that many fans have grown restless. I thought a change would be made after last season's disappointing 31-26 (15-14 SEC) finish. There are numerous reasons why that change didn't happen, but it should be noted that Perno is a local favorite that is in a position where he has to recruit aggressively against some great programs as well as professional bags of cash. Recently we've lost a lot of players to the MLB draft which is why you'll see a very young roster in Athens this week. There's talent there, but when the bats work the pitchers struggle. And when the pitching is good the bats go quiet.
That last sentence about sums up Georgia baseball in a nutshell these days. The Diamond Dawgs lost a weekend series to Georgia Southern and Belmont before finding a groove against UAB. After sweeping the Blazers we've at least been a little more consistent. Heading into this series with App State we're coming off a near sweep of Liberty.
Overall we're 7-8 on the season and have outscored opponents 97-78. Often the first inning is critical and you may hear an audible sigh of relief if the starting pitcher makes it through the first three outs. One more key to note is that we're undefeated if leading after six innings. The problem has been getting to the position consistently.
The Matchup
So you're probably wondering what to expect in Athens at Foley Field tomorrow and Wednesday. First it should be noted that this is Georgia's first weekday series. Up until this point of the season we've only had one game during the week, all three of which we've lost by the way. Conference play begins this weekend in College Station against newcomer Texas A&M. Not sure how much that will figure into the lineup. Likely not at all as Perno is notorious for using a lot of pitchers and is obviously still looking for some consistency with his batting order.
You'll certainly see true freshman right-hander David Gonzalez one of the two games. He's a big kid from nearby Gainesville. He was drafted late by the Mets and has a lot of potential, but he's obviously young and raw at this point in his development. Perno however likes to use a lot of pitchers. So you'll see plenty of arms. If Georgia has a lead late he'll likely go to either Jared Walsh or Blake Dieterich to close things out.
As for the bats, Curt Powell, Nelson Ward and Kyle Farmer are the most consistent. We're not a power hitting team with just eight home runs on the season. So Perno uses a lot of hit and run to try and generate some offense.
Defensively we've been pretty good thus far. Powell (3B) has a few throwing errors. The infield lineup is pretty much a given with him, Farmer, Ward and Daniel Nichols around the horn. The outfield sees some juggling and platooning but Hunter Cole is another good bat that is in the lineup consistently.
Stay Connected
If you're not making the trip down from the mountains, you can follow David Johnston on Twitter. He's our play by play radio guy and he usually tweets out the lineup once it's announced. And although the weather looks good for mid-week, he also gives a pretty good game time outlook from the press box. Another feed to look for is the official UGA baseball one which will give some play by play.
Depending on where you are geographically, you may be able to pick the game up for your listening ears. You can find a list of local affiliates by clicking here.
Wrapup
Don't let the general malaise around the program fool you. Diamond Dawg fans are a die hard bunch that love to see good baseball. And we desperately want Coach Perno to right the ship. He's helped the program through two devastating spinal injuries to a couple players in recent years, something that could've derailed many programs completely. We also enjoy welcoming in out of town guests, especially ones we don't get to see often.
While it's hard to predict exactly what you will see from our lineup, you'll definitely see a young team trying to find its identity right before conference play. The Diamond Dawgs will play hard and hopefully give you Mountaineers a taste of what you'll get from the football team this fall...a generous Bulldog bite!
But seriously, welcome to Athens y'all! Go Dawgs!
This week - we have a guest blog post from UGA blogger Bernie who runs Bernie's Dawg Blog. Bernie has agreed to give us a rundown of UGA's baseball team and what we can expect to see from them. We traded posts and our own writeup can be found on his site. We hope to make this a more common series in the future so stay tuned.
Coach Perno's Diamond Dawgs face Appalachian State in a Tuesday/Wednesday series this week. As a show of good sportsmanship, YosefsCabin.com's AppStateNate has graciously agreed to hijack my web space while giving me the keys to his. Together we aim to provide some perspective for the opposing fans. At least the ones that can read and operate a web browser. Here goes...
Some history
Georgia Bulldogs baseball has a rich history. Our head coach David Perno was a backup on the national title team of 1990 along with Dave Fleming and the 1990 CWS hero Michael Rebhan. Steve Webber is the Bulldogs winningest coach and always had a knack for crafting a competitive lineup. Georgia football legend Charley Trippi boasts one of the best winning percentages among coaches going 34-18 in two post-WWII seasons (take that Trebeck!)
More recently UGA has produced stars such as All-Americans Rich Poythress and Gordon Beckham. Perno has guided the Diamond Dawgs to three College World Series (plus one as an assistant under the legendary "Father of SEC baseball" Ron Polk) and was close to adding a national title to his coaching resume in 2006 and 2008 before losing the series to Oregon State and Fresno State respectively.
This Season
Since 2008 things have been pretty rough, to the point that many fans have grown restless. I thought a change would be made after last season's disappointing 31-26 (15-14 SEC) finish. There are numerous reasons why that change didn't happen, but it should be noted that Perno is a local favorite that is in a position where he has to recruit aggressively against some great programs as well as professional bags of cash. Recently we've lost a lot of players to the MLB draft which is why you'll see a very young roster in Athens this week. There's talent there, but when the bats work the pitchers struggle. And when the pitching is good the bats go quiet.
That last sentence about sums up Georgia baseball in a nutshell these days. The Diamond Dawgs lost a weekend series to Georgia Southern and Belmont before finding a groove against UAB. After sweeping the Blazers we've at least been a little more consistent. Heading into this series with App State we're coming off a near sweep of Liberty.
Overall we're 7-8 on the season and have outscored opponents 97-78. Often the first inning is critical and you may hear an audible sigh of relief if the starting pitcher makes it through the first three outs. One more key to note is that we're undefeated if leading after six innings. The problem has been getting to the position consistently.
The Matchup
So you're probably wondering what to expect in Athens at Foley Field tomorrow and Wednesday. First it should be noted that this is Georgia's first weekday series. Up until this point of the season we've only had one game during the week, all three of which we've lost by the way. Conference play begins this weekend in College Station against newcomer Texas A&M. Not sure how much that will figure into the lineup. Likely not at all as Perno is notorious for using a lot of pitchers and is obviously still looking for some consistency with his batting order.
You'll certainly see true freshman right-hander David Gonzalez one of the two games. He's a big kid from nearby Gainesville. He was drafted late by the Mets and has a lot of potential, but he's obviously young and raw at this point in his development. Perno however likes to use a lot of pitchers. So you'll see plenty of arms. If Georgia has a lead late he'll likely go to either Jared Walsh or Blake Dieterich to close things out.
As for the bats, Curt Powell, Nelson Ward and Kyle Farmer are the most consistent. We're not a power hitting team with just eight home runs on the season. So Perno uses a lot of hit and run to try and generate some offense.
Defensively we've been pretty good thus far. Powell (3B) has a few throwing errors. The infield lineup is pretty much a given with him, Farmer, Ward and Daniel Nichols around the horn. The outfield sees some juggling and platooning but Hunter Cole is another good bat that is in the lineup consistently.
Stay Connected
If you're not making the trip down from the mountains, you can follow David Johnston on Twitter. He's our play by play radio guy and he usually tweets out the lineup once it's announced. And although the weather looks good for mid-week, he also gives a pretty good game time outlook from the press box. Another feed to look for is the official UGA baseball one which will give some play by play.
Depending on where you are geographically, you may be able to pick the game up for your listening ears. You can find a list of local affiliates by clicking here.
Wrapup
Don't let the general malaise around the program fool you. Diamond Dawg fans are a die hard bunch that love to see good baseball. And we desperately want Coach Perno to right the ship. He's helped the program through two devastating spinal injuries to a couple players in recent years, something that could've derailed many programs completely. We also enjoy welcoming in out of town guests, especially ones we don't get to see often.
While it's hard to predict exactly what you will see from our lineup, you'll definitely see a young team trying to find its identity right before conference play. The Diamond Dawgs will play hard and hopefully give you Mountaineers a taste of what you'll get from the football team this fall...a generous Bulldog bite!
But seriously, welcome to Athens y'all! Go Dawgs!