Alex Mcree Trevor Holder Head Coach
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who accounted for nearly 40 percent of Georgia’s hits and 46 per- Editorial Courtesy of Ben Beaty - University of Georgia Athletics; cent of its runs in 2008. Freshman Colby May is expected to con- Photos Courtesy of UGA Sports Communications tribute at third while Michael Demperio, returning from a season- ending knee injury in 2008, will move over to shortstop. Freshman nly one game separated Georgia from the ultimate goal of Levi Hyams, senior Miles Starr and junior David Thoms are candi- a National Championship in 2008. Many of the same play- dates to play second base for the Bulldogs. ers who were part of the Bulldogs’ improbable run to O Junior out- College World Series finals return in 2009 as Georgia hopes to build fielder Matt on that success and establish itself as one of the elite programs in Cerione (.303- college baseball. Dean Weaver 7-33) is poised Overall the Bulldogs return eighteen lettermen off the 2008 SEC to have a solid Championship squad that posted a 45-25-1 record and a consensus season after a number two final ranking in the national polls. Pitching looks to be a strength again for Georgia in 2009 as Trevor Holder (8-4, 4.41 ERA), a 10th round pick in the 2008 Major League Draft, returns to the No. 1 spot in the rotation. Sophomore left-hander Alex McRee, who posted a 7-1 record with a 3.98 ERA in 2008, will move into the No. 2 slot while sophomore Justin Grim is a can- didate to occupy the No. 3 spot. Junior Dean Weaver (6-1, 4.24 ERA) will replace All-America Joshua Fields as the Bulldogs closer, and senior Will Harvil (2-1, 4.88) and junior Justin Earls (2-1, 6.21 ERA) are expected to get key middle relief innings. Senior Jason Leaver and junior Steve Alex McRee Esmonde return for Georgia after combin- ing to win four games last year. Freshmen right-handers Michael Palazzone and Cecil Tanner are also expected to contribute. “Our biggest strength is pitching, pitch- ing, pitching,” said Georgia Head Coach David Perno, who enters his 13th season with the Bulldogs including his eighth as Head Coach. “Our top 10 is as good as we have ever had. We don’t have the star power like we had with Josh Fields, but we feel like we are just as capable as last year’s staff.” Offensively, the Bulldogs return six starters off a unit that improved from a .279 average in 2007 to hit .309 in 2008. Leading the way will be junior first baseman Rich Poythress, who was second on the team with a .374 average, 15 home runs and 75 RBI in 2008 and senior Bryce Massanari (.325-11-65). Both were named to the Brooks Brown Player of the Year Watch List. Trevor Holder Georgia will have to fill the void left by third baseman Ryan Peisel, left fielder Matt Olson and All-America shortstop Gordon Beckham, strong fall, and sophomore Lyle Allen (.274-2-30), junior catcher Joey Lewis (.274-6-38) and junior infielder Michael Demperio (.238-2-16) also return for the Bulldogs. Johnathan Taylor, Peter Verdin, Zach Cone, Chase Davidson, Hyams and May are among the freshmen expected to contribute right away. “There are so many newcomers that will be helping us,” Perno said. “From a performance standpoint Colby May was the biggest surprise in the fall. He hit .405 and played good defense at third. It looks like that is going to be his home. Cecil Tanner and Michael Palazzone from the pitching department were really good. They are still freshman but advanced. They have a ton of talent and great arms. We’re excited about those two.” Georgia will play 30 games against 2008 NCAA Tournament teams including a series at Arizona during the second weekend of the season. In addition to a 30-game SEC slate, the Bulldogs have annual home-and-home tilts against Clemson and Georgia Head Coach David Perno Tech. “We scaled down a little bit,” Perno said. “I knew last year was Page 60 • Baseball The Magazine • Issue 1 2009 Matt Cerione Joey Lewis Rich Poythress going to be an experienced team and one of the toughest things this program has been faced with is the inability to do it in consecutive years. In all our history of Georgia baseball, we’ve only been to the postseason in back-to-back-years once. That was 2001 and 2002. That is something that is important to this team and to me per- sonally. That is what pushed me to scale back the schedule a little bit. It’s still going to be good because we get tested at Arizona and we still have the Clemson series. We still have three with Georgia Tech and we have a good Winthrop team coming in here.” With a manageable schedule and several players returning from one of the best teams in school history, Georgia’s first priority will be to return to Hoover, Ala., for the SEC Tournament. “All our focus comes into a day-to-day deal and staying in the moment,” Perno said. We’ll do less and less talk about Omaha and more talk about trying to get to Bryce Massanari Birmingham and see if we can position ourselves in the front part of our league. Then you open opportunities to play at home and potentially host Regionals and Super Regionals. If you are in that position, your chances of going to Omaha increase dra- matically.” www.baseballthemag.com•www.batwars.com • Page 61.