Sports

Levi Hyams is the only one with something to celebrate

Kirk Carter here from beautiful Foley Field. It’s another gorgeous Friday evening in Athens, Georgia. This game is getting a late start thanks to ESPN, who obviously thinks everything should revolve around their schedule.

Tonight will be the first of a three-game series with Ole Miss. The Rebels come in to this series ranked #15 in the country by Baseball America. The Rebs are one of 7 SEC teams enjoying a spot in the top 25 this week.

Georgia comes into this one after losing two straight to #16 Clemson in the middle of the week. Georgia is currently in the middle of a nightmare stretch that features a three game road trip to #5 LSU, two midweek games with #16 Clemson, a three game home set with #15 Ole Miss, a Wednesday night matchup with #2 Georgia Tech, and a three game road series with #10 Arkansas before getting a much needed break against Winthrop.

Oh, after that their set to play #8 Florida, #20 Vanderbilt, and #11 South Carolina in consecutive weekends.

Before giving up on this Georgia squad, consider that Ole Miss comes into Athens riding a three game losing streak. SEC East co-cellar dwellers took two of three from Colonel Reb and the gang in Oxford. Then Arkansas-Little Rock snuck out an upset this past Wednesday.

If there was a time to draw Ole Miss its now.

Too bad he goes to a hick school like Ole Miss

Tonight won’t be easy of course. Ole Miss throws out its ace in lefthander Drew Pomeranz. The article below this one details just how nasty he is. I’m excited to see him up close and personal in tonight’s game.

Again, I’ll be bringing you all the coverage you could possibly want tonight. I’ll also try and be here Saturday and Sunday, because I know how much all of you love this live blog.

I want to give a special shout-out to my girlfriend who is fortunate enough to be out of the country. Some people go to great lengths to avoid seeing this atrocious baseball team.

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

Ole Miss 21-9 (5-4 SEC)
Tim Ferguson – cf – r
Matt Tracy – lf – l
Matt Smith – rf – r
Matt Snyder – l – dh
Zach Miller – 3b – r
Miles Hambin – 1b – l
Alex Yarbrough – 2b – s
Taylor Hightower – c – s
Kevin Mort – ss – r

On the mound: Drew Pomeranz
see above

Rebel to watch: Matt Snyder
Missed some time due to shoulder surgery, but he’s back now. Leads Ole Miss in slugging percentage, on base percentage, and OPS.

Georgia 10 – 19 (2-7 SEC)
Johnathan Taylor – lf – l
Peter Verdin – rf – r
Levi Hyams – 2b – l
Zach Cone – cf – r
Kyle Farmer – ss – r
Brett DeLoach – dh – r
Colby May – 3b – r
Kevin Ruiz – 1b – r
Carson Schilling – c – r

On the mound: Justin Grimm
Justin has struggled this year, but he’s the most reliable arm that Georgia has. He’s 2-3 with a 4.46 ERA.

Bulldog to watch: Levi Hyams
Levi has played his way into the third spot in the order. No matter which way you cut it, he’s on fire. The last two weekends, Levi has hit .407 with 6 doubles, 1 home run and 11 RBI. Now if everyone else could catch up.

Different look for Georgia tonight. Carson Schilling makes his second straight start behind the plate. Robert Shipman will be getting some much needed rest tonight so Brett DeLoach takes over at designated hitter. Meanwhile, Kevin Ruiz’ play in place of Colby May against Clemson this week has earned him some weekend PT in place of the scuffling Chase Davidson.

How can you not love a beautiful night like this? Come on down to Foley Field if you can. If you can’t, park it in front of your computers and get ready.

It’s all the excitement of baseball with the added burden of reading… the blogging begins next: (more…)

It's a trap! Actually, its Ole Miss' newest mascot.

It’s a trap! Georgia continues is gauntlet of ranked competition with a three game series against Ole Miss here at Foley Field.

Tonight Ole Miss will be throwing left-hander Drew Pomeranz. Pomeranz will be a top 10 pick in this summer’s MLB draft and is quite possibly the best pitcher the SEC has seen since David Price of Vanderbilt a few years back. The lefty is 5-0 in 7 starts on the year. He leads the SEC in strikeouts (65), ERA (1.65), and opponent’s batting average (.178).

In fact, he’s pitched so well that Baseball America recently named him the best pitcher of the first-half of the season. He’ll be looking to snap Ole Miss’ three game losing streak. The Rebels dropped the last two of their weekend series with Tennessee and were upset on Wednesday night in Oxford by Arkansas-Little Rock.

Georgia might be catching the Rebels at the right time. The Bulldogs are looking to win their first SEC series of the year. They’re also looking to get their first conference win at home after suffering a sweep at the hands of Auburn three weeks ago.

Georgia was handled easily by Clemson earlier this week, dropping both mid-week games by huge margins. Once again their success will hinge on their pitching… the Bulldogs have a league worst team ERA of 9.85. Justin Grimm, Michael Pallazzone, and Jeff Walters need to get it together if Georgia hopes to salvage a birth in the SEC tournament.

No need to argue David, the ump agrees that your team stinks.

Ole Miss is not a slug-it-out kind of team. The Rebels only have 27 team homers (Georgia has 29), and they average 7.7 runs a game a little better than Georgia’s 6.3. However, Ole Miss is only giving up 4 runs a contest. If there’s a silver lining, its that the Reb’s conference ERA is 5.85 compared to 3.89 against opponents outside of the SEC.

Georgia will have a chance this weekend if they can get into that Ole Miss bullpen. The Rebels lost closer Jake Morgan to graduation and have sought to fill the void with a series of shaky relievers, Brett Huber, Eric Callender, David Goforth, and Trent Rothin aren’t the type of pitchers that Georgia should be too fearful of.

The Dawgs will also have to locate their pitches. Georgia is last in the SEC with 47 wild pitches, 31 hit batters, and 146 walks. 10 of those wild pitches belong to sophomore Cecil Tanner. The Diesel has a 98 mph heater, if he can dial it in, Georgia can rest easy at the back end of ball games.

My prediction: Georgia takes two out of three to win their first SEC series.