Sports

Georgia and Stetson are set to get underway here at Foley Field for the first of a three game set between the Hatters and Bulldogs. I’m Kirk Carter and I’m only allowed to update once every half-inning. So feel free to read along at home. If you have questions during the game send them along to me at highnoonsports@gmail.com

Tonight’s starting lineups:

Stetson Hatters (3-1)
1. Spencer Theisen – cf
2. Mark Jones – 3b
3. Aaron Crittenden – dh
4. Nick Rickles – c
5. Sean Emory – rf
6. Robert Crews – 2b
7. Jacon DeGrom – ss
8. Ryan Lashley – 1b
9. Jeff Simpson – lf

Starting pitcher: Lindsey Caughel (R) – 6.23 ERA, 6K

Georgia Bulldogs
1. Jonathan Taylor – lf
2. Chase Davidson – dh
3. Peter Verdin – rf
4. Colby May – 3b
5. Zach Cone – cf
6. Christian Glisson – c
7. Kyle Farmer – ss
8. Robert Shipman – 1b
9. Todd Hankins – 2b

Starting pitcher: Justin Grimm (R) – 3.60 ERA, 6K

Hankins continues to start at second base while Levi Hyams serves his suspension. Shipman will get his second start at first base in place of the injured Chase Davidson. Davidson is making his first appearance of the year, although Perno will be protecting him at the DH spot.

Grimm will be making his first start of the year at Foley Field. He looked ok in 5 innings against Baylor. But certainly we hope he lights it up tonight.

Georgia is in black caps with red brims, black jerseys, white lettering, and white pants. Stetson will be wearing green caps, grey jerseys with green lettering and grey pants.

Top of the 1st

Spencer Theisen is first in the box for Stetson and Grimm sits him down swinging to start off inning number 1.
Jones grounds out to short for out number 2. Grimm is clicking tonight.
Grimm fanns Crittenden for strikeout number 2. The scouts are perched in the front rows trying to get a look at Grimm tonight. He’s certainly giving them a show.

Mid 1st: Stetson 0 – Georgia 0
Due up: Taylor, Davidson, Verdin

Bottom 1st

Taylor leads it off for Georgia. Now would be time to mention that it is very very cold out here. Thank goodness the press box windows are closed.

Taylor battles Caughel before taking a 2-2 pitch right back up the middle for a basehit.

Caughel is taking no risks with Taylor on base. He’s thrown over 5 times in this at bat. At this point he’s thrown to his first baseman more than his catcher.

Davidson grounds weekly to Jones and the Hatters turn a 5-4-3 double play. Nice debut for Davidson.

O runs on 1 hit. No errors.
End of 1st: Stetson 0 – Georgia 0
Due up: Rickles, Emory, Crews… 2nd inning after the break.

Top 2nd

The wind takes a Rickles fly and turns it in a lazy pop fly to right-center. Cone settles underneath it and the Dawgs have another out.

Grimm has been hitting in the mid 90’s pretty consistently. That fastball will usually hang out around the 94 mark. He compliments it with some sick breaking pitches.

Emory works the count to 3-2 before taking a Grimm fastball out to left field where Taylor has zero trouble with it. That wins is stiff out there in center field. Its going to be hard to take one down the lines tonight.

Crews plays a fastball up the middle and it scoots by Farmer and into left center. Its ruled and error on the shortstop and Crews stands at first.

deGrom lets loose a deep liner to center field. Cone is there at the warning track to put it away and end the inning. No runs, no hits, one error.

Mid-2nd: Stetson 0 – Georgia 0
Due up: May, Cone, Glisson

Bottom 2nd

May goes opposite way with a nice liner through the gap and into right. Georgia has the lead off runner for the second inning in a row.

A bouncer from Cone confuses the Stetson defense. Jones and Caughel had no clue what was going on there. It counts as a base hit in the box score and Georgia has two men on.

Glisson is up to B-A-T and he’ll look to lay down a B-U-N-T. Note: that last line only made since if you are here and have heard his intro song. Apologies.

Lefty on righty and Glisson pulls a looper out to right . May shows some wheels and Georgia takes a 1-0 lead. Zero out and men on the corners.

Righty versus righty as Farmer stands in for the first time tonight. He drills one up the middle and off the glove of a leaping Crews. Cone will come around to make it 2-0.

Shipman has stepped in. I’m still trying to figure out whether its more accurate to call the lefty husky or rotund. Grounds one to 2nd and Crews starts the 4-6-3 double play. Two outs with a man on 3rd for the Dawgs.

Caughel throws one in the dirt and Glisson will score as the wild pitch gets away from the catcher. Caughel only had three wild pitches all of last season. Georgia moves ahead 3-0.

Hankins goes down on strikes and the inning ends. 3 runs on 4 hits and no errors.

End 2nd: Stetson 0 – Georgia 3
Due up: Lashley, Simpson, Theisen

Top 3rd

Grimm breaks out a nice curveball to sit down Lashley and start the inning. Thats strikeout number 3 from the junior out of Virginia.

Simpson draws a walk and he’ll shimmy on down to first base. Grimm walked 3 in 5 innings his last time out. He’s had a little trouble with locating the fastball low.

After taking Theisen to 2-0, Perno will come out and have a talk with his righty. Words obviously didn’t help… he walks Theisen on 4 straight pitches.

Grimm fans Jones to get back on track. He’ll have to be careful here, Crittenden can be dangerous.

Grimm gets Crittenden to ground back up the middle to Farmer. He makes the toss to Simpson at 2nd and the Dawgs get out of trouble. No runs, no hits, no errors.

Mid-3rd: Stetson 0 – Georgia 3
Due up: Taylor, Davidson, Verdin

Bottom 3rd
Kudos to Brittany Berger for cheering me up with a friendly phone call. Best girlfriend in town… I think so.

Taylor draws the walk and quickly moves ahead on a blazing steal. He had that one by a mile… bodes well for his chances on the basepaths the rest of this evening.

Davidson ground in to a double play his last time up. The lefty, a former 3rd round pick, stands in for this second AB of the season. He’ll ground it weakly down the first base line to Lashley who makes the unassisted out. Caughlin sawed him off on that one… Taylor moves down to third on the play.

Verdin with a high hopper down the third base line. That will continue his 6 game hit streak and will go down has his first double of the year. Taylor scores easily and Georgia is up 4-0.

Colby will stand in, he singled to right last time up. He’ll be looking for his 5th RBI of the year. Verdin steals third and slides in without a throw. That’s Peter’s 4th steal of the season, he leads the team.

Colby goes down swinging his 9th whiff of the year. Cone strikes out swinging as well and the Georgia threat is quelled. One run on one hit.

End 3rd: Stetson 0 – Georgia 4
Due up: Rickles, Emory, Crews

Top 4th

Don… err, Nick… Rickles leads Stetson off with a wimpy ground out to Hankins for out number 1. After a tough inning las inning, Grimm could use an easy one without a lot of pitches.

Emory might be trying to give him that inning. He takes the second pitch he sees and grounds it out to Farmer at short. 2 out here in the 4th.

Crews stands in, he reached on an error last time. He takes this one the opposite way for a nice base hit through the gap.

deGrom bounces one high down the first base line. No trouble for Shipman he’ll make the unassisted put out. No runs on one hit and no errors.

Mid-4th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 4
Due up: Glisson, Farmer, Shipman

Bottom 4th

Glisson chops the first pitch down to second base. Crews nabs it but can’t plant and  make the throw. He’ll be charged with the error and Glisson will settle in at first.

Farmer skys a foul ball down the third base line. Jones attempts to make the over the shoulder grab, but Farmer lives to swing another day. Farmer takes advantage of it and rips it down the third base line for another base hit. Men on first and second with 0 outs.

Shipman comes up with two men on just like last time… he grounded into a double play in the 2nd.

Shipman rips a ball down to right and beyond a diving Lashley. Glisson shows off the wheels to score and make it 5-0 Georgia with runners on the corners.

Hankins lays down a bunt down the first base line. Caughel fields and throws home to get a running Farmer on a bang-bang play at the plate. Georgia has men on first and second with one out.

If I’m Perno, I’m encouraged by the bunt, but I’d like to see him hug the line more… it would have gotten that run home.

JT takes the fifth pitch of the at bat and lines it to left field. Simpson misplays the sliding catch and it will get past him and roll to the wall. Shipman and Hankins score easily and Taylor is called out on a tough play at the plate. Score it a triple for the talented sophomore.

Davidson smashes a ball down the left field line that catches some wind and carries out to left field. Simpson makes a spectacular running catch and crashes into the wall… that’s the end of the 4th. 3 runs on 3 hits and an error.

End 4th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 7
Due up: Lashley, Simpson, Theisen

Top 5th

Lashley nearly rips Grimm’s head off with a drive up the middle. Simpson fields it though and tosses it to Shipman for the put out. 1 away here in the 5th.

Grimm issues a walk to Simpson and Stetson has a man on here in the 5th. No one up in the pen just yet for the Dawgs.

Grimm gets Theisen for strikeout number 5 tonight. Theisen has been victimized twice this evening.

Grimm issues another walk. This one to Jones. He’s at 71 pitches on the night. He went 5 full in his last outing, so I don’t know how long Perno expects to ride him. Still no one in the bullpen.

Crittenden stands in for the third time tonight. He has been swinging a hot bat for the Hatters, coming into this game at 8 for 16 on the year. He’s 0-2 tonight though and Grimm would like to get K number 6.

He does and Georgia is out of the 5th unscathed. O runs, no hits, no errors.

Mid-5th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 7
Due up: Verdin, May, Cone

Bottom 5th:

Its a rude start to the 5th for Caughel. Peter Verdin takes pitch number one and sends it flying into the Athens night. A screaming home run and Verdin tallies his 2nd round tripper of the year. Georgia leads it 8-0.

May lifts a shallow fly out to right field. Crews makes the long run from second to put it away for out number 1.

Cone pokes a 1-2 ground ball down to 2nd base. Crews fields it easily and tosses it to Lashley for out number 2.

Glisson has had a good night tonight, he continues it by drawing a walk. Thats the third time he’s made it on the basepaths in three trips to the plate. He’ll need some two out magic if he hopes to score for the third time tonight.

Farmer with a seeing eye grounder out to left for his third hit of the night. The Hatters will go the pen here and it will be the right hander Robbie Powell.

Shipman will be the first guy to stand in against Powell. Its a rude welcome for the right hander as Shipman takes his first offering out to center. The fly ball will score Glisson from second. Men on first and second with two out.

A Powell pitch gets away from Rickles and the runners will move up a base.

A frozen rope by Hankins into left. Jones can’t catch up to it and it’ll score Farmer and Shipman. Two more runs for Georgia… they’re 11 to nothing.

Taylor chases a fastball low and away for strike number 3. Georgia scores 4 runs, 3 of them with two outs. 4 hits in the inning, including the big home run by Verdin.

End 5th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 11
Due up: Rickles, Emory, Crews

Top 6th

Defensive change for Georgia: Lance Martin replaces Johnathan Taylor in left field.

Grimm gets Rickles swinging, but the ball gets away from Glisson and Rickles makes his way down to first. Its scored as a strikeout and a wild pitch… that’s Grimm’s first wild pitch of the year and his 7th K on the night.

Grimm is at 87 pitches and he’s still having no trouble hitting 92 or 93 on the gun. He’s been spotty with the location, but with a 1 hit shut-out going, who am I to complain?

Emory lines a fly out to left field that will drop in front of Martin for a base hit. Stetson has two on with nobody out here in the 6th. That will prompt Brady Weiderhold to emerge from the dugout.

Ground ball from deGrom is fielded easily by May. After tagging the bag, he opts to go to first base for the 5-3 double play.

With that, Grimm’s night is done. David Perno pulls his starter with two outs here in the 6th.  Grimm’s line: 5.2 IP, 7K, 2 H, 0 ER.

Replacing Grimm will be the senior left-hander Justin Earls. He is 1-0 on the year with 0 earned runs inn 2.1 innings this year. He gets a ground out to second base to end the inning. No runs on one hit. No errors for the Dawgs.

Mid-6th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 11
Due up: Davidson, Verdin, May

Bottom 6th

Davidson leads it off for Georgia in a big way. He puts a charge in to fly to center field… a big home run that makes its way to the tennis complex. At least a 450 foot shot on Davidson’s first home run of the year. Georgia leads it 12-0.

Another change for the Dawgs. Zach Taylor checks in to replace right fielder Peter Verdin. He’ll ground it to first and Powell will beat him to the bag for out number 1.

May will go down swinging. The Freshman All-SEC and All-American has really struggled to start the season here this year.

Zach goes down on a sweet looking pitch from Powell. That will do it for the Bulldog 6th. Georgia got one run from the moon shot by Davidson.

End 6th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 12
Due up: Schluter, Mierzwinski, Theisen

Top 7th

Schluter grounds out for out number 1. He was pinch hitting for the first baseman Lashley. Changes of note for the Dawgs. Carson Schilling is in the game at catcher and Zach Taylor stays in to play right field.

Mierzwinski steps in to pinch hit for Simpson and he whiffs on three pitches. Thats Earls first strikeout of the night.

A grounder down the line from Theisen will end the inning. This one is O-V-E-R. Not really. But its competitively over.

Mid-7th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 12
Due up: Schilling, Farmer, Shipman

Bottom 7th

A new pitcher for the Hatters. Right hander Tucker Donahue checks in for Stetson.

A chopper from Schilling gets it started for the Dawgs it scoots down the third base line for a base hit. Farmer will stand in… a base hit would put him at .500 on the year.

A new catcher as well for Stetson. Brad Carlton replaces Rickles behind the plate.

Farmer grounds it sharply to second. Crews will pick it up and start up the 4-6-3 double play. Shipman follows with a weak poke to short. That’ll end the inning, no runs on one hit.

End 7th: Stetson 0 – Georgia 12
Due up: Jones, Crittenden, Carlton

Top 8th:

Earls gives way to right-hander Steve Esmonde. Earls went 1.1 with no walks, no hits, and a strike out. Esmonde is 4-0 in his career here at Georgia, the senior is got the win on Wednesday over PC, his first of the year.

Jones will bounce one beyond the glove of Hankins and into center field for the base hit. That bring Crittenden up to the plate. The Stetson DH is 0 for 3 tonight.

Lefty closer Alex McRee is up in the pen fro the Dawgs. It looks like Perno is going to give him some work despite the obvious non-save situation.

The shut-out is over. Crittenden homers over the scoreboard in right field. No doubt on the fate of that pitch. Stetson gets on the board with the two run shot.

James Rasmussen comes on to pinch hit. In what should be Carlton’s spot. I’m not sure how that sub worked. Either way, he whiffs and goes back to the dugout.

Which brings up Carlton… now I’m confued. Carlton’s first AB of the night is a shallow fly to 2nd and Hankins reels it in for out number 2.

Crews up to the plate and I can now explain the lineup change. Rasmussen subbed for Rickles spot in the order… but took over for Emory in right. Carlton meanwhile, took over for Rickles defensively but stands in for Emory in the order. Confused yet? Good.

A deep fly from Crews goes over the head of Farmer and bounces off the left field wall. Thats a double for the sophomore, the Hatters have another man in scoring position with two men out.

A fly ball from deGrom ends what was left of the Stetson threat. Two runs on two hits.

Mid 8th: Stetson 2 – Georgia 12
Due up: Hankins, Farmer, Davidson

Bottom 8th

Crews has moved over to third for the Hatters. Jones’ night is over. Nathan Cox will check in at 2nd base.

Easy ground out from Hankins and Georgia has one away here in what will certainly be their last at bat. This is the first time tonight that the Dawgs have not had the lead off man on.

Martin stands in, he will ground out to 2nd, but not without displaying some impressive speed. Georgia is awash with talent on the basepaths this year. They are 10 of 11 on steal attempts so far. Verdin, Martin, Cone, and Taylor are all legit threats to swipe a bag. Glisson has displayed tonight that he can motor more than your typical catcher.

Davidson will strike out to end the inning. Georgia heads to the 9th with 0 runs on 0 hits.

End of the 8th: Stetson 2 – Georgia 12
Due up: Schutler, Mierzwinski, Theisen

Top 9th

Freshman Patrick Boling makes his Bulldog debut here in the 9th inning. The left hander is from Cartersville, Georgia… a place near and dear to my heart. His intro music is “Wild Thing,” I hope that isn’t an indicator of things to come (I do appreciate the Major League reference).

His fastball looks good, touches 87 on a foul ball from Schluter straight back and over the press box. “Wild Thing” winds up walking Schluter… the Hatters have man on with one one out.

Mierzwinski flies one out to second base and Hankins will settle under it for out number one. Ethan Maskolunas will stand in for Theisen… Stetson is not making my night easy with these last names.

Boling is firing some impressive stuff, that fastball is up there in the high 80s. He’ll induce the 6-4-3 double play and Georgia comes out of this one with a win.

Final Score: Stetson 2 – Georgia 12

Stay tuned for a post-game recap and be sure to check out tomorrow’s blog. First pitch is 2 pm.