Georgia Bulldogs Baseball

University of Georgia baseball player Adam Sasser has been kicked off the team after he allegedly shouted racist remarks at Bulldogs quarterback Justin Fields during Saturday's 38-12 win over Tennessee. 

According to ESPN.com's David M. Hale, Sasser's alleged remarks were highlighted in a Facebook post by UGA junior Klarissa Gulebian. Her friend, Africa Buggs, alerted Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin and athletic director Greg McGarity of the incident via email, per DawgNation's Chip Towers.

"I personally didn't hear the words that he said," Gulebian said, per Towers. "When I reached them there were words being exchanged. My friends were telling him, 'Hey, you can't say that. That's not OK.' A little while later, they started saying again, 'I still hear you saying that' and started arguing again. That's when I ended up involving a police officer."

Gulebian also said she intervened because no one else in Sasser's section was taking action. 

"Everyone else around him wasn't saying anything, just laughing at the situation," she said, per Hale. "So, I involved the police officer and told him there was somebody using racial slurs."

https://twitter.com/AdamSasser/status/1047607942235742210

Asked about the allegations Tuesday, head football coach Kirby Smart said they are "unacceptable" if true. 

"We’re trying to build a program on tolerance and mutual respect," he added, per Towers. "You can't control what other people say, but the expectation is that people that are part of our program and come to our games share the same beliefs that we do. It's sad that something like this would happen. I'm disappointed. But it doesn't affect our family, our unit here and our kids have been great. It's not something I've had to address with them. I've addressed it with Justin. That’s the most important thing."

The Georgia Bulldogs baseball team just swept the Clemson Tigers for the second year in a row, beating the Tigers 4 - 2 in a close, hair raising finish.

The No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs moved to a 24-3 record heading into a weekend series against the LSU Tigers.  

Despite the victory tonight, Georgia's head coach David Perno was not pleased with the performance.  He said the "bats were looking heavy and sluggish out there tonight".  

And his biggest concern with that, he went on to say is "we simply cannot play like that against LSU—their pitching is too strong and if we play that way, we are going to disappoint the home crowd, and I don't plan on doing that to our fans."

Perno has every right to worry about the fans this weekend. The upcoming series with LSU is completely sold out. And I believe that is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 tickets.

Is it possible that we'll see scalpers in front of Foley Field?

Has there ever been scalpers at Foley Field in the history of Georgia baseball?

Two weeks ago against Mississippi, Foley Field has it's largest crowd in history for a Georgia baseball game with nearly 4500 fans showing up to watch the Diamond Dawgs.

Coach Perno is obviously well aware that the LSU series this weekend is sold out.  And that explains his comments about not wanting to let the Georgia baseball fan base down.

However, with a performance like tonight against the Clemson Tigers, coach Perno is going to have to find a way to get Georgia's bats loosened up and swinging hard.

Perno speculated after the game tonight that maybe too much batting practice is the cause of the sluggish bats.  

He said they had batting practice this morning, and again this afternoon before they left for Clemson, and that maybe we need to let the team's arms and hands get a little rest before facing LSU.

"You do not want to face LSU with sluggish bats," Perno said.

Regardless of what Perno does to prepare Georgia for LSU, one things for sure, the fan base for Georgia baseball is fired up.  

And this coming weekend, Foley Field is going to be rocking with sold out crowds, lots of red and black... and who knows—maybe even some scalpers!

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Join the Georgia Bulldog crowd at www.BulldogVoices.com

After a disappointing loss to Fresno State in the College World Series, the Diamond Dawgs left Oklahoma knowing they would lose two of their best players in Gordon Beckham and Joshua Fields. These big losses lowered the expectations for the 2009 season, and it showed when the Dawgs were ranked as low as No. 14 in the preseason polls.

However, the Diamond Dawgs are 14 games into the season, and they are 14-0 heading into conference play this weekend verses Alabama.

And for what it's worth, the Dawgs have climbed up to No. 1 in two polls, and are in at least the top five of every other major poll (does 14-0 and No. 1 look eerily simliar to what we hoped the football team would be in 2009?). So, looking on to the rest of the season, here are some pros and cons about the Dawgs being 14-0 right out of the gates.

Cons:

This 14-0 start is the best start in Georgia baseball history, and it is tied for 2nd for longest streak in UGA baseball history. While this is great news, this may give the team a false sense of security going into the gaunlet that is an SEC baseball schedule.

I say this because while the Dawgs are undefeated, they have played the likes of: Youngstown State (2-9), Presbyterian (2-9), Arizona (8-6), Wofford (5-5), Quinnipiac (0-8), and Le Moyne (2-8).

So, the Dawgs are 14-0 with victories over one team over .500. I wouldn't get too excited just yet, but hey, they are 14-0, how many more cons can there be right now?

Pros:

The 14-0 start is also great because it gives the young Dawgs experience, and it gives the entire team confidence going into conference play. The teams knows what they are capable of, and that they are a force to be reckoned with in '09 (weak schedule or not). Now for the statistics, (which are definitely all pros):

• The Diamond Dawgs have 10 batters averaging better than .300 (four of which are batting .400 or better).
• Both starting pitchers have ERAs under three.
• In the 1st fourteen games, the Dawgs have outscored their opponents 164-49.
• The Dawgs have scored in double digits 11 out of 14 games.

So, with the start of a new college baseball season comes many surprises, and the 2009 Georgia Baseball team is one of them. The Bulldogs look to defend their SEC title this year, and hope to finally win the CWS under Dave Perno. 14-0. No. 1. Do we have any believers?

The Seattle Mariners drafted Josh Fields with the 20th pick in the 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

That was back on June 5th. Over six months later, Fields remains unsigned and is one of just three first rounders who have not signed.

The Washington Nationals didn't sign Aaron Crow, the ninth pick in the draft; the two sides couldn't agree on the financial terms of a contract. Crow will likely end up playing in the Independent Leagues before re-entering the draft next year. The Nationals will receive the 10th pick as compensation.

The Yankees took Gerrit Cole with the 28th pick but Cole opted to attend UCLA. Cole won't be draft eligible again until after his junior season at UCLA. As compensation, the Yankees will be awarded the 29th pick in the draft.

Crow and Cole had to sign by August 15th. Fields, as a college senior, wasn't subjected to that deadline and can sign right up until the 2009 draft.

Fields was originally drafted 69th overall by the Atlanta Braves in 2007. But he struggled in his junior season at Georgia, especially with his control and his velocity, and opted against signing with the Braves. He returned to school and hoped to improve his draft stock.

And he did.

He was selected 49 spots higher in 2008, thanks to a big senior season at Georgia, where he allowed just 12 hits in 32.2 innings while walking 18 and striking out 56.

Fields can enter a game and dominate. He has a mid-to-high 90's fastball and a wicked low 80's curve. But his control can elude him, and at 6'0"/183 lbs, isn't a physically imposing presence.

Fields is viewed as a guy who is close to the majors as well as someone who could eventually be a closer. Some analysts said if any of the '08 draftees could make it to the big leagues before the year was out, it would have been Fields.

Obviously, that didn't happen. So why is Fields still unsigned?

He's a Scott Boras client and there's reportedly a $500,000 difference between Fields and his representation and the Mariners.

While Fields was a consensus first round talent, very few thought the Mariners would have taken him.

Why would a team going nowhere spend a first round pick on a quick-moving relief pitcher? It didn't make much sense.

Detroit and Milwaukee were more popular landing spots for Fields, largely because both did (and still do) need relief help. Detroit picked Ryan Perry, another college reliever who could move fast, one pick after Seattle nabbed Fields. Milwaukee selected catcher Brett Lawrie with the 16th pick.

More importantly, much of the regime in charge for Seattle at the time, including general manager Bill Bavasi, have been canned.

Back in June, Rotoworld speculated that "the staff in Seattle knows it's running out of time and Fields will be ready to help earlier than practically anyone else left on the board."

It's possible that the new members of the front office realized that Fields wasn't the right pick for the organization, given its bleak short term outlook.

If they don't sign Fields, the Mariners would receive the 21st pick in the 2009 draft as compensation.

In one of the best College World Series I have ever seen, the Fresno State Bulldogs shocked the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs in the rubber match of the best-of-three series Wednesday night, 6-1.

Fresno State was a four-seed in the Regionals, which is the equivalent of a 13-16 seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. 

They started out in a very tough Regional in which they had to beat Long Beach State and San Diego, two teams that were nationally ranked, along with a Pac-10 team in Cal.

After facing their first elimination game they advanced to the Super Regional in Tempe, Arizona against the Sun Devils of Arizona State.  ASU was a favorite not only to get the College World Series, but to win the National Championship.

After losing their first game, the Bulldogs rallied to win Game Two of the three-game series.  Then after the Sun Devils faked a fight before the third game between their two top draft picks, Fresno went on to win their second game while facing elimination to become the lowest seed to ever advance to the CWS.

Their first CWS game was against a national powerhouse in Rice.  Rice has always been known for their pitching, but the Bulldogs put up 17 runs on the Owls to win their first game.  Their next game featured the No. 2-ranked UNC Tar Heels and their 55 wins.  The Dogs beat the Heels in their first meeting 5-3, and they seemed to be in the driver's seat in this double-elimination tournament. 

The Tar Heels advanced and now had to beat the red-hot Bulldogs twice to reach the finals.  An eighth-inning homerun gave UNC a 4-3 win over the Bulldogs, and everyone thought was that this would be the end to this Cinderella story.

But no, Fresno came back with yet another win while facing elimination.  They outscored the Tar Heels 6-1, ending their season, and put themselves just two wins away from winning the National Championship.

The CWS final was set.  It was Bulldogs vs Bulldogs.  The No. 8 team in the country against the Cinderella story.

In Game One, Fresno threw almost every arm they had left in the pen, and every pitcher who threw had an ERA over 6.00.  The whole staff for Fresno threw very well, and they had the lead going into the late innings.  Then Fresno put in their closer, who had an ERA below 3.00.  Georgia came back on Cinderella, 7-6, and it looked like the clock was about to strike 12:00 in Fresno. 

In Game Two, Georgia jumped out to an early five-run lead, and it appeared this miracle run was about to come to an end.  Then the Bulldogs put on one of the most impressive hitting displays in CWS history, scoring 19 runs on Georgia and winning by a football score of 19-10, once again winning while facing elimination.

In Game Three, it seemed as though Fresno was meant to win this game.  They got a great outing from their starting pitcher, Justin Wilson, who pitched eight very strong innings and allowed only one run.

But the two big time heroes for this Cinderella were their third baseman, Tommy Mendonca, who made some outstanding plays in the field in the series while playing with dislocated fingers, and their right fielder, Steve Detwiler, who drove in all six of their runs with two home runs and a double.  This gave Fresno a 6-1 victory to win the National Championship.

Being a college baseball player, I really did enjoy watching the whole tournament play out.  I still think that it might be time to think about maybe switching all college baseball to wood bats instead of metal.  High-scoring games are great for some people to watch, but really, 19-10?  I don't think the Georgia Bulldogs Football team's defense gave up 19 PPG. 

All in all, the Fresno State Bulldogs' Cinderella season should go down as one of the biggest upsets in college sports, but saying that it was the greatest of all time is going a little too far.  You still have the Villanova Wildcats beating the Georgetown Hoyas in basketball to win the National Championship.

But take nothing away from these guys—facing six elimination games and winning all of them is truly special, and they have reserved their seat in not just College Sports, but American Sports history. 

Congrats to all the teams on another great season, and maybe this CWS will convince ESPN to start broadcasting the regular season on TV as well.  Maybe.

OMAHA, Neb. — Gordon Beckham is good.

Beckham, the eighth overall draft pick of the White Sox in this year's MLB draft, is the lifeblood of the Georgia baseball team, and never was that more apparent than in Monday's Game One of the College World Series championship series.

With his team down three in the eighth inning, Beckham launched a two-run shot that put his team within one and ignited the Bulldog offense—and he called his shot, too.

"I told [Georgia] coach [David Perno] earlier on in the week you know, every one was giving me grief for not hitting a home run and breaking that record and our school record and all that stuff," said Beckham, one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes award, which will be announced at the MLB All-Star Game.

"I turned to coach and said, ‘I’m going to hit it when we need it the most.'"

The homer was the 52nd in the shortstop's Georgia career (the school record), and his first since the Bulldogs' Super Regional against N.C. State. His 27th shot of the season added to the single-season Georgia record he already owns, and pulled him to within one of the NCAA lead (LSU's Matt Clark had 28 before his Bayou Bengals were ushered out of Omaha).

"He's a pretty special player," Perno said. "He's called a bunch of shots throughout his career. A couple of guys have been on him about when he would hit his next home run and he said, 'When we need it the most.' He delivered."

More importantly, the .404 hitter again served as a catalyst for his team en route to another win, this one pushing Georgia baseball to within one win from its first national championship since 1990.

"He’s our leader, if he goes we’ll go, and the time that he picked you couldn’t have asked for a better time to get going,” said designated hitter Joey Lewis, who delivered the game-winning RBI double in Georgia's 7-6 Game One win. “We see what he does and go from there.”

This isn't the first time Beckham's done it. From walk-off home runs to scoring the winning run on wild pitches, the Bulldog junior has done it all season after a "mediocre" sophomore campaign (.307-13-51). His team looked dismal in a first-game loss to Lipscomb in the Athens Regional, and not much better in the first six innings of its second game against Louisville.

Cue the SEC Player of the Year, whose seventh-inning, three-run shot set off a four-game winning streak in the Regional and carried them all the way to the championship series in Omaha.

"[Monday's] homer is bigger, because this is the national championship," said the six-foot, 185-pound righty. "But the Louisville one got us going, and it's the reason we're here."

It's an oft-used cliche in sports, but Beckham makes his teammates better too. Georgia cleanup hitter Rich Poythress is having an outstanding season in his own right, batting .374 after Monday's game with 15 home runs and 71 RBI.

Though this "pick your poison" situation doesn't allow Beckham to be walked as often as his All-American status should dictate, when it does happen, Poythress makes opposing pitchers pay—he's hitting close to .700 (yes, that's a seven) after a Beckham intentional walk this season.

"When Rich is up there he's got as good of a chance as I do," Beckham said. "If he wasn't producing [the walks] would be aggravating."

During the entry draft, ESPN's Peter Gammons repeatedly praised Beckham as, simply, "a baseball player," and that's exactly what he is—the Atlanta native does it in the field and on the basepaths too. On Monday, his unassisted double play (where he snagged a line drive and dove to tag a Fresno State runner caught off of second) kept a three-run Fresno inning in check.

The three-hole hitter also leads the Bulldogs in stolen bases (17-for-19 on the season).

"It's unbelievable, he's like Nintendo," Perno said in March.

Along with closer Joshua Fields, Beckham is part of only the second Georgia tandem to go in the first round (Cris Carpenter and Derek Lilliquist in 1987). After a dismal 2007 season that saw the Bulldogs go 23-33 and not ranked this preseason, if Georgia goes on to win its second national championship, Beckham will obviously be a huge reason why.

With Fields projected to be one of the first draftees to debut in the Majors (20th overall pick to the Mariners), Beckham shouldn't be far behind.

OMAHA, Neb. — It’s not typically a good thing when the opposing team sends 27 batters to the plate in a three-inning span.

Leading 5-0 after the top of the third, Georgia’s version of the Bulldogs learned that the hard way—Fresno State’s “Wonderdogs” proceeded to rattle off 15 runs in the next three frames en route to a 19-10 win in Game Two of the College World Series’ championship series.

Those 19 runs are the most Fresno State has scored in the NCAA postseason since 1959.

“They beat us.  They just beat us straight up,” Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham said.

“We were not fooled, we weren’t thinking, ‘we can let down.’  They kicked us in the rump.  We were ready and they just did it.  They just kept hitting the ball.”

Georgia starter Nick Montgomery faced only seven batters in his first two innings of work, but faced six in only a third of an inning in the third.  Three of those scored before Montgomery left the game, and reliever Stephen Dodson gave up a three-run shot to Tommy Mendonca that sealed the six-run inning for Fresno State.

Mendonca’s 18th homer was his fourth of the College World Series, tying him with seven other players for the most all-time.

It didn’t end there, though, as Fresno added five more runs in the fourth, and another four in the fifth, capped by a Steve Susdorf two-run shot.

“Fresno State had the merry-go-round or circus or whatever you want to call it going around the bases all night,” Beckham said.

“They’re a good team. I told y’all last night that anybody that thinks they’re out of it is crazy.”

Despite the cringe-inducing deficit in the loss, Georgia coach Dave Perno had enough perspective to know there’s still one game left to play.

“We had a tough time defending the post pattern across the middle,” he said, smiling.

Fresno State’s 19 runs were by far the most they have ever scored in the College World Series, and the most Georgia has allowed in Omaha since matching that mark against Tennessee in 2001.

It was also the most the Diamond Dogs have given up in any action since surrendering 20 that same year to Arkansas.

The Georgia offense showed some signs of life in the seventh, with the first four batters reaching and scoring, but couldn’t muster a multi-RBI hit after loading the bases with no outs.

The Wonderdogs added three more in the bottom of the inning to squelch any Georgia momentum.

First baseman Rich Poythress finished the game 2-for-2 with three RBI and a pair of sac flies for Georgia.  Gordon Beckham and Joey Lewis both drove in two runs for the Athens Bulldogs.

Fresno State is now 5-0 in NCAA elimination games, as is Georgia.  One set of Bulldogs will have a blemished record after Wednesday’s deciding game, which is again set for 7 p.m. ET.

“It’s going to be a battle of the undefeateds in elimination games.  It’s going to be a ‘dogfight,’” Beckham said, laughing and waving his arms.

Southpaw Nathan Moreau will get the nod for Georgia, while Fresno will have No. 1 starter Justin Wilson back, though on three days' rest.

That said, Perno has more specific plans for his pitchers.

“We’re going to start Nathan Moreau, you’re going to see Dean Weaver, you’re going to see Alex McRee, and you’re going to see Josh Fields.  And everybody else is going to be cheerleading,” he said.

“We’re in Game Three or Game Seven or whatever you want to call it, it’s for all the marbles.  Those are our guys that got us here, and they’re gonna get the ball tomorrow.”

Box Score

Georgia    3 1 1 1 0 0 4 0 0    10 15 0

Fresno St. 0 0 6 5 4 0 3 1 x    19 19 2

WP - Holden Sprague (6-2)

LP -  Stephen Dodson (5-5)

HR - Fresno State: Mendonca (18), Susdorf (13)

For more complete coverage, visit The Red & Black online.

Between the Regionals, Super Regionals, and the actual World Series itself, College Baseball's postseason goes on for weeks. However, this year seems to be the most enjoyable in recent years, mainly in part to one extraordinary player: Gordon Beckham.

This right-handed hitter with the sweetest swing is currently taking Omaha by storm. In the opening game of the College World Series (where Georgia is still undefeated), Beckham led the eighth-inning comeback with a two-run home run to left field. Beckham hit the ball precisely on the sweet spot of the bat and the sound that echoed through Rosenblatt Stadium was incredible.

Beckham, followed by his newly inspired teammates Matt Cerione and Joey Lewis, completed an amazing comeback to put the Cinderella-story Fresno State Bulldogs back in their place.

Gordon was drafted by the Chicago White Sox earlier this month, and Kenny Williams must be drooling every time he turns on ESPN. How can a player who has already hit 52 collegiate home runs, finished the regular season with a .404 batting average, with 108 hits, 74 RBI, and a .956 fielding percentage stay focused?

Pure love of the game.

In this day and age, when Toronto's GM J.P. Ricciardi can accuse Cincinnati Reds' outfielder Adam Dunn of just going through the motions, a player who plays because he loves the game is a rare commodity.

Whether it's been tearing up the competition in the Cape Cod Summer league, dominating high schoolers back at Westminster, or putting on a display of his impeccable hitting skills in the SEC, Gordon Beckham has been second to none. 

With a 33-year-old player currently manning the infield dirt between third and second, Beckham has a shot at reaching the bigs within the next two years. When he does, you better get used to it, because he will be there to stay. 

Throughout his career, as the skill level of the competition increased, so did his own. That's a scary thought, when he will be competing against the likes of Derek Jeter, Michael Young, and Julio Lugo for starting A.L. All-Star shortstop in 2010.

But for now, let's just watch Gordon Beckham try and cement his collegiate legacy with a National Championship for his Georgia Bulldogs. Because, when someone loves the game as much as he does, they are second to none.