Sports

Now first off, I would like to admit that I do not know a thing about gymnastics. However, when both myself and the majority of my fellow students seemingly ignore/do not give the proper respect to the most successful sports team on campus, in my opinion, that is just flat-out embarrassing.

So, for those of you who have never been to a competition (such as myself unfortunately as I have heard from numerous people that they are a great time) you are out of luck this year…unless of course you want to drive up to Raleigh, NC a week from Saturday for the NCAA Southeast Regionals.

The team is currently ranked #1 at 17-1 (11-1 in the SEC) after finishing 2nd at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, TN this past weekend. Led by long-time coach Suzanne Yoculan (who has won an incredible 16 SEC Titles and 9 National Championships, including a current streak of four in a ROW during her tenure in Athens that started back in 1983), the Gym Dawgs are trying to make history in a variety of ways.

If they can pull off the 5-peat, they will  become just the second program to ever win 5 straight NCAA championships (Utah won the first 5 NCAA championships from 1982-1986) and by doing so would break the tie with Utah for the most NCAA championship titles in Division 1 Gymnastics history with 10.

This is Coach Youculan’s last season with the program she has built up to be the finest in the country. Whether or not her team can take home the title, the lasting impact she has had on the program will certainly not be forgotten by those fortunate to have had a chance to follow the impeccable amount of succcess the program has had throughout her tenure. Best of luck, ladies.

While the vibe around the program has been pretty depressing of late after just finishing up a 12-20 season and with  sophomore guards Zac Swansey and Troy Brewer recently deciding that they will be transferring, optimistic Dawg fans now hope that the new coach can begin to right the ship in the coming weeks. The question is, who exactly will that be?

Ever since Coach Felton got fired on January 29th in the middle of the season, speculation has swirled, espicially with Athletic Director Damon Evan’s vow to the fans that the school will more than likely spend the big bucks to bring in a great coach. From Bob Knight to former UGA head coach and current Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, plenty of names have popped up. But lately, one has begun to emerge from the others.

Virginia Commonwealth’s Anthony Grant, who just a few years back was the heir apparent to UF’s Billy Donovan when he appeared to be off to the NBA’s Orlando Magic, has been the hot name of late. Now, mostly this is due to the fact that his team just got knocked out of the first round the NCAA Tournament last Thrusday by UCLA, 65-64, but he has reportedly been on UGA’s radar for quite some time now.

Some media outlets have even speculated that recently UGA has even already offered him the head coaching spot, though both VCU and UGA deny that the two sides have even made contact yet.  Alabama is also reportedly courting Grant as well, who at just 42 years old, is a young and upcoming coach that has a pretty solid resume.

However, look for more names to continue to be resurfaced again (e.g. Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel, Xavier’s Sean Miller, Missouri’s Mike Anderson, ect) as each of those programs inevitably get knocked out of the tournament in the coming week(s).

For those of you who want to get an inside look at what goes down at UGA’s Pro Day (which occurred last week), take a look at these videos below. But first though, I would like to thank David Hale (who has an excellent blog at http://dawg-extra.blogspot.com/) and cameraman Doug Strutsman for providing the public with these videos:

DBs CJ Byrd and Ramarcus Brown bench pressing 225 pounds

QB Matt Stafford throws in front of countless scouts

CB Asher Allen and S CJ Byrd run the 40-yard dash

Defensive End Jeremy Lomax participating in the Vertical Jump

DE Jeremy Lomax and WR Mohamed Massaquoi participate in the broad jump

And finally I would like to wrap this post up on a rather humorous note. Now, while I am not the biggest fan of the SportingNews, this post by Spencer Hall was rather entertaining as he compares the Wonderlic scores (which is essentially the IQ Test that the NFL gives to pro prospects every year) of Matt Stafford and UF’s Percy Harvin:  http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/22362/stafford_is_wonderlic_ninja;_harvin_not_so_much

Robert Inskip and Michael Terry, will be live blogging from Foley Field this afternoon when UGA takes on Wright St. I’m a member of the Sunrise Sports Shows (Thursday, 7AM). Robert has joined WUOG as part of the sports writing staff.

This will be just the beginning of WUOG’s UGA sports coverage. For most of the spring, WUOG will be covering baseball fairly regularly throughout the spring, as well as some of the other UGA spring sports. We’ll be sure to post updates on our sports coverage as we develop the plans for WUOG’s new online sports feature.

7:43 UGA 5, WSU 8. Levi Hyams grounds out to third base for the first out of the inning. Michael Demerio then grounds out to the shortstop, and the Dawgs are suddenly down to their last out. Zach Cone works a walk. Johnathan Taylor flies out to centerfield to end the game. The final score is Wright St. 8 Georgia 5.

7:36 WSU 8, UGA 5- Tristan Moore grounds out to start the inning. Weaver then gets Garrett Gray to fly out to right field. Jake Hibberd strikes out swinging as we head into the bottom of the ninth.

~RI

7:29 UGA 5, WSU 8 Peter Verdin strikes out swinging for the first out of the inning. Designated hitter Adam Fuller then hits a single up the middle. Colby May grounds into a 4-3 double play to end the eighth inning.

~RI

7:22 WSU 8, UGA 5. Earl Daniels (RHP) comes in to pitch for Georgia, replacing Tyler Maloof. He gets Kory Twede to ground out to Michael Demperio, who is now in at second base for the Dawgs. Ryan Ashe then hits a single up the middle.  R.J. Gundloff hits a ground ball to third base. Ashe is thrown out at second and Gundloff is safe at first. Casey McGrew singles to right center, putting runners at the corners for the Raiders.
Dean Weaver (RHP) comes in to pitch for Georgia, replacing Earl Daniels. Weaver strikes out Jeff Mercer for the third out.
~RI

7:09- UGA 5, WSU 8. Zach Cone leads off the inning with a single for Georgia. Johnathan Taylor then gets an infield single. With runners at first and second, Rich Poythress comes up to bat. Travis throws a wild pitch and the runners advance. Poythress then hits a ground ball to third base. Cone tries to score and his thrown out at home plate.
Michael Schum (RHP) comes in to pitch for Wright St., replacing Lamar Travis.
With runners at the corners and one out, Bryce Massanari grounds into a 4-3 double play to end the inning.

~RI

6:57- WSU 7, UGA 5. Tyler Maloof comes in to pitch for the Dawgs. He gets Jeff Mercer to fly out to right for the first out of the inning. He then strikes out Tristan Moore.

Garret Gray drops in a single into shallow right center. Then Jake Hibberd hits an RBI triple into left center field. Maloof then gets Aaron Fields for the third out.

~RI

6:44- UGA 2, WSU 7.  Chase Davidson grounds out to second for the first out of the inning. Rich Poythress then works a walk. Bryce Massanari hits a two-run home run to almost dead center field. The Raiders have a meeting at the mound.

Lyle Allen grounds out to third base. Adam Fuller, who is in the game for Joey Lewis, hits a solo home run to right center field. Travis Lamar (RHP) comes in to pitch for the Raiders, replacing starter Tyler Newhart.

LaMar walks third baseman Colby May. Levi Hyams hit a bloop single into right field putting runners on 1st and 2nd, but Demperio flew out to left field to end the inning.

-MT and RI
6:34- WSU 7, UGA 2 – Ryan Ashe (WSU, CF) leads of the inning with a groundout to second baseman Michael Demperio for the first out.

After a relatively long at bat, Tanner gets R.J. Gundolff (WSU, SS) to pop up to shallow center field for the second out. Michael Demperio makes a great stop on a screamer to the gap and throws out WSU’s McGrew at first for the third out of the inning.

-MT

6:28- UGA 2, WSU 7 – Tyler Newhart records another one, two, three inning for the Raiders. He first gets Levi Hyams to ground out to WSU second baseman Aaron Fields. David Thoms then flies out to WSU left fielder Casey McGrew. Matt Cerione grounds out to second base for the third out.

~RI

6:23 – WSU 7, UGA 2 - Cecil Tanner, who gave up three runs in the 4th, returns for the top of the 5th. Tanner gets Garrett Gray (WSU, C) to pop out to center field, then gets Jake Hibberd (WSU, 3b) to hit a pop up a mile high. For the second out.

After giving up a walk to Aaron Fields (WSU, 2b), Tanner gets Kory Twede (WSU, RF) to fly out to center field. UGA’s Matt Cerione makes a really athletic play to come up with the out.

-MT

6:16 – WSU 7, UGA 2 - Lyle Allen hits a towering fly ball to centerfield. Ryan Ashe makes the catch for first out of the inning. Joey Lewis then strikes out swinging. Colby May hits a long fly ball to centerfield and excites the fans here at Foley, but Ashe makes another catch to record the third out.

~RI

6:10-WSU 2, UGA 2 – Tanner inherits runners on 1st and 2nd, then gives up a hit Kory Twede to load the bases up WSU 3rd base coach , Greg Lovelady, thought about sending Jake Hibberd home, but held him up after a strong throw in by rightfielder Chase Davison.

Lovelady’s decision proves to be a good one Ryan Ashe gets an RBI anyways and puts the Raiders on top with his knock. Ashe is called out on a close call at first.

Tanner has run into some more trouble—a four pitch walk which loads up the bases for Wright State. Wright State’s Casey McGrew just put together an excellent at-bat and drew the walk and the RBI after seeing about 10 pitches. Tanner got called for a balk during the next at-bat, giving the Raiders a 5-2 lead with two men on. Tanner, who’s got to be rattled, allows a two-run single by Jeff Mercer into center field. The Dogs finally get out of the inning when Tristan Moore grounds out. Score at the end of the inning, WSU 7, UGA 2.

-MT

5:45 – WSU 0, UGA 2 - After a long at-bat, and near strikeout on a border line 7th pitch, Cerione popped out to CF Ryan Ashe. Chase Davison followed by allowing Ashe to recorded the second out as well.

Poythress hit a line drive single into left field, but Massanari couldn’t get him around. End of the 3rd.

-MT
5:36- WSU  0, UGA 2 - Aaron Fields (2B) is the first out of the inning as he flies out to Georgia right fielder Chase Davidson, who records the next out as well, when Kory Twede (RF) lines out to right.

Ryan Ashe gets things started for the Raiders with a ground ball up the middle for a base hit. R.J. Gundloff then gets his own single, sneaking a ground ball in between shortstop and third base.

Hawkins is able to get out of the ending when he forces Casey McGrew to ground out to Georgia first baseman Rich Poythress, who steps on the bag himself for the out.

~RI

5:30-WSU 0, UGA 2 End 2nd - Quick inning…Colby May began the inning with ground out. Then, after tough at-bat, Levi Hyams grounded out to third base. Next, David Toms hit a dribbler down the first base line directly to Raider 1B Tristan Moore.

-MT

5:22- WSU 0, UGA 2. Hawkins has a one, two, three 2nd inning. After starting out with a 3-0 count against Tristan Moore (1B), he makes the count full before getting Moore to ground out to shortstop. He then strikes out Garrett Gray (C) on three pitches. Jake Hibberd (3B) then lines out to second base for the third out.

~RI

5:17 – WSU 0, UGA 2 – Tyler Newhart who, in 6 appearances, has yet to get a decision is starting for Wright State. Junior Matt Cerione started things out for Georgia by popping out to the left fielder. After a Chase Davison walk, Rich Poythress hit a homerun off the scoreboard in right field to put the Dawgs up 2-0.

The hitting appears to have been contagious—Bryce Massanari sent a curveball into left field. Lyle Allen and his bloop pop to the Raiders’ shortstop, R.J. Gundolff, accounted for the second out of the inning.

Joey Lewis, today’s DH, struck out for the third out.

The stadium is really starting to fill up nicely and the clouds look to be clearing up.
~MT

5:06 – Georgia starter Chase Hawkins, a left-handed freshman from Snellville, strikes out Wright State’s Ryan Ashe (CF) and R.J. Gundloff (SS) to start the game, then walks Casey McGrew (LF). He then gets designated hitter Jeff Mercer to ground out to Georgia second baseman David Thoms, who flips to shortstop Levi Hyams covering second base for the out.

~RI

4:55 – Robert Inskip here coming from Foley Field. We’re moments away from the first pitch between #1 Georgia and Wirght State. We’ve got mostly cloudy skies and a fairly small crowd today. The umpires have just gone over the ground rules and we’re just about ready to play. Per NCAA regulations, Michael and I will only be updating once per half inning.