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BASEBALL
2001 Schedule
February
17
East Tennessee State
2 p.m.
18
East Tennessee State
1:30 p.m.
20
Wofford
4 p.m.
21
Georgia Tech
4 p.m.
24
Birmingham Southern
2 p.m.
25
Birmingham Southern
1:30 p.m.
27
Georgia State 4 p.m.
March
2
Connecticut
4 p.m.
3
Connecticut
2 p.m.
4
Connecticut
1 p.m.
6
Charleston Southern
4 p.m.
7
Charleston Southern
4 p.m.
9
LSU
6:30 p.m.
CSSE-TV
10
LSU
2 p.m.
11
LSU
2:07 p.m.
GSN-TV
13
Belmont
4 p.m.
14
Belmont
4 p.m.
16
at Arkansas
5 p.m.
17
at Arkansas
3 p.m.
18
at Arkansas
1:30 p.m.
20
at Mercer
7 p.m.
21
at Georgia Tech
7 p.m.
23
Auburn
6:30 p.m.
24
Auburn
2 p.m.
25
Auburn
1:30 p.m.
27
Georgia State
6:30 p.m.
28
Clemson
6:30 p.m.
30
at Ole Miss
7:30 p.m.
31
at Ole Miss
5 p.m.
April
1
at Ole Miss
2 p.m.
3
Georgia Southern
6:30 p.m.
4
Georgia Southern
6:30 p.m.
6
at Alabama
8 p.m.
CSSE-TV
7
at Alabama
5 p.m.
CSSE-TV
8
at Alabama
3 p.m.
CSSE-TV
10
Winthrop
6:30 p.m.
11
Winthrop
6:30 p.m.
13
Florida
6:30 p.m.
14
Florida
2 p.m.
15
Florida
1:30 p.m.
17
at Clemson
7:15 p.m.
CSSE-TV
20
South Carolina
6:30 p.m.
21
South Carolina
2 p.m.
22
South Carolina
1:30 p.m.
24
at Georgia Tech
7:30 p.m.
FOXSS-TV
25
Georgia Tech
6:30 p.m.
27
at Tennessee
7 p.m.
28
at Tennessee
2 p.m.
29
at Tennessee
2 p.m.
30
USC-Aiken 6:30 p.m.
May
4
Vanderbilt
6:30 p.m.
5
Vanderbilt
4 p.m.
FOXSS-TV
6
Vanderbilt
1:30 p.m.
9
Georgia College
6:30 p.m.
11
at Kentucky
6 p.m.
12
at Kentucky
2 p.m.
13
at Kentucky
2 p.m.
16-20
'SEC Tournament
TBA
SEC-TV
25-27 "NCAA Regionals TBA
June
1 -3 "NCAA Super Regionals TBA
8-16 "'College World Series TBA
Home games in bold
'held in Birmingham, Ala.
" Campus Sites TBA
'"Omaha, Neb.
2001 Roster
Player
Position
1 Jody Friedman
RHP
3 Kris Edge
OF
5 David Coffey
OF
6 Andy Neufeld
3B/SS/2B
7 Jeff Keppinger
SS
8 Adam Swann
OF
9 MattCavender
1B
10 Mark Thornhill
1B/3B
11 Jeffery Carswell
RHP
12 Jody Pollock
2B/SS
13 Steven Van Note
OF-SS
14 David Lamberth
2B/SS
15 Jamie Cline
C/1B
16 Darryl Blaze
OF
17 Ryan Schuetz
SS/OF
18 Shaun Helmey
RHP
19 Tony Burchett
C
20 Jeremy Brown
RHP
21 Doc Brooks
C/OF
22 Bill Sharpton
RHP
23 Kyle Magee
RHP
24 Scott Lawson
LHP
25 Lee Mitchell
OF/3B
26 Max Havel
RHP
27 Scott Murphy
RHP
28 Brad Whitfield
C
29 Brandon Moorhead
RHP
31 Rusty Krueger
COB
32 Michael DeRosa
OF/1B
33 Rob Moravek
RHP
34 Brandon Anglin
LHP
35 Jarrett Warren
3B/1B/RHP
36 Parks Robinson
LHP/OF
37 Jeremy Brotherton
2B/SS
38 Brett Campbell
SS/P
39 Andy Hussion
RHP
41 Jon Armitage
SS/2B
42 Blake Bodenmiller
1B/OF
43 William Sartain
RHP
44 Ned Yost
C/OF
45 Chris Webb
RHP
46 Matt Woods
RHP
49 Brandon Woods
RHP
50 Chris Fordham
RHP
Running For Home
Second-year coach Ron Polk and the No. 16 Diamond Dogs have high hopes for the 2001 season
By CHARLES SHEPARD
cshepard@randb.com
Expectations are high for the No. 16 Diamond
Dogs with all the pre-season awards the team
snagged.
And when the first pitch is thrown at 2 p.m.
Saturday at Foley Field against the Buccaneers of
East Tennessee State, it will be the team’s first
chance to prove itself.
“We’re ready to go,” said
pre-season All-
American Doc
Brooks.
Progress is one of
second-year head
coach Ron Polk’s
top priorities, he
said. With that in
mind, Georgia will
look to improve upon
its 2000 record (32-26,
14-15 SEC) and sur
pass last season’s
postseason perfor
mance by advanc
ing past the SEC
Tournament to
NCAA regional
competition.
Circumstances
seem to be shap
ing up in the Dogs’
favor.
The pitching
staff has resurrect
ed from being
Georgia’s Achilles
heel a year ago to one
of the brightest spots
on the team, Polk said.
Bulldog pitching
coach Daron
Schoenrock welcomed
junior transfers Scott
Murphy (Alabama) and
Jeremy Brown
(Tennessee), who will join
returning hurlers Rob
Moravek and Brandon
Moorhead in the starting
rotation.
The coaching staff will look
to the starters for more
innings in 2001, Polk said.
“We are hoping our pitch
ing staff will have the
starters to take us later in
the game than last year,” he
said. “It pays a lot of divi
dends on a Sunday SEC
game when you don’t have
to look down into a bullpen
that has already been used.”
The bullpen looks to be
strong as well, and will be led by junior Jeffery
Carswell, who was the squad’s top reliever in 2000
with a team-leading 3.20 ERA. Carswell will gang up
with the 2000 team leader in appearances Jody
Friedman and junior transfer Max Havel (Chipola,
Fla. Junior College), who will give hitters a different
look with his submarine arm motion.
The only concern from the staff is a shortage of
left-handed arms, Polk said. Juniors Brandon Anglin
and Scott Lawson are the lone Bulldog southpaws,
although Lawson will start the season on the dis
abled list.
Brown will get the ball Saturday and will be sup
ported by a team that returns six starters from a 2000
club that led the SEC in defense, including
catcher/left fielder Brooks and fellow pre-season All-
American shortstop Jeff Keppinger.
Four seniors flank Keppinger in the infield. Mark
Thornhill travels across the diamond to fill the vacan
cy left by the graduated Josh Dorminy at first base.
Senior Jody Pollock transferred in from Georgia
Southern to play second base. Co-captain Andy
Neufeld, who was named one of the top defensive
players in the SEC in the pre-season, will call third
base home during the 2001 campaign.
Tony Burchett, the other co-captain, starts
Saturday at catcher and will see considerable time
handling the pitchers with Brooks in left field.
Brooks will be joined in the outfield by junior
Adam Swann, who will play right field.
The lone remaining line-up question mark
rests in center field. Polk will decide today
whether junior transfer Darryl Blaze
(Georgia Perimeter Junior College) or true
freshman Lee Mitchell will start
Saturday. Junior Chris Edge will also
figure into the mix once he
_ recovers from a shoulder
injury. He’s expected to
return to action Feb.
27, assistant coach
David Pemo said.
The three
major college
transfers —
Brown. Murphy
and Pollock —
have Polk excited,
he said.
“All three will be big
factors in this year’s ball
club,” he said. “It is very
unusual to have three guys coming into the
program (from four-year schools). It just
shows that we’re making progress.
“Normally when you get a transfer from
another four-year school, you’re getting a
bad student, a bad kid or a bad player. That’s
not the case with these three young men.”
And if the talent wasn’t enough by itself,
Saturday marks the beginning of a 17-game
homestand, with 14 non-conference games,
highlighted by a match-up against rival Georgia
Tech Feb. 21. The remaining three games will be
the SEC opening series against defending
STEPHEN JONES ! The Red .Black
▲ Baseball head coach Ron Polk gives notes
on running bases and reviews signs with part
of the team Thursday afternoon.
national champion No. 3 LSU, which begins March 9.
The schedule includes 20 more home games, with
another against the Yellow Jackets and one against
Clemson. Top SEC East foes Florida and South
Carolina will also be coming to town.
The schedule is good news for Georgia, which
posted a stellar 26-6 record at home last season. A
key to this year’s success will be surpassing last sea
son’s 6-20 road record, Polk said.
“A lot of (the reasons for the poor road record) is
very inexperienced, young pitchers,” Polk said. “Our
pitching is a lot better than it was last year, believe
me.
“We have got to play better on the road. If we play
as good at home as we did last year and play .500 ball
on the road, we’re going to be in good shape.”
The Diamond Dogs were picked to finish third in
the SEC East by the league’s coaches in the pre-sea
son. Polk has set goals with cautious optimism.
“Can we win more games in the SEC than we did
last year? The players think we can,” he said. “If we
stay healthy and we pitch well can we win the SEC?
Yeah, we can be competitive. But every weekend is
tough.”
STEPHEN JONES j The Red . Buck
▲ Starting catcher
Tony Burchett throws
during practice
Thursday afternoon.
Ghosts of the past may aid Diamond Dogs
STEPHEN JONES I The Red * Buck
▲ Junior Doc Brooks, one of the Diamond Dogs' two pre-season All-
Americans, promises to make an impact in NCAA play this season.
By CHARLES SHEPARD
cshepard@randb.com
An eeriness surrounds the Georgia
I basebaU team as the 2001 season sets
to open.
It’s as if ghosts from the Diamond
I Dogs of eleven years ago have come
! back to haunt Foley Field. The similar
ities between the current team and
that of 1990 run throughout.
And if aU similarities hold true, the
2001 team has a lot to look forward to
— the 1990 team won the College
I World Series and laid claim to
Georgia’s lone national baseball title.
The teams’ reflections go beyond
i the No. 16 pre-season rankings each
team has garnered.
Both Georgia squads were and are
marked by experience.
The National Championship team
I returned seven starters from the previ-
j ous year, with three seniors and a
junior plugging up the holes in the
infield, and a senior, a junior and a
I freshman patrolling the outfield.
This year’s squad returns six
I starters from last year, and also has
three seniors and a junior in the infield
; — all at positions identical to 1990 —
i and the possibility of three juniors in
the outfield.
The presence of seasoned veterans
I was the key to success in 1990, said
j then-head coach Steve Webber.
“They were an experienced group,”
said Webber, Georgia baseball’s win-
! ningest coach (500-403-1) who left
Georgia in 1996 to become the coordi
nator of instruction for the New York
Yankees’ minor league system. “They
) had been together. They were great
people. That was the primary reason
j for their success.”
The experience built team chem
istry, Webber said.
“(The players) were familiar with
each other,” he said. “The chemistry
was great. That lends itself to
i success.”
The chemistry for this year’s team
will depend on whether the players
respond well to their roles on the
team, said 1990 team member and cur-
! rent assistant coach David Pemo.
“What has to happen here is guys
I have to fall into their roles, accept
their roles and do a great job doing it,”
he said. “I think (current head coach
i Ron) Polk will do a great job of defin-
Projected Starting Lineup
Darryl Blaze
Lee Mitchell
Adam Swann
Doc Brooks
Jed Keppinger
Andy Neufeld
Mark Thornhill
Tony Burchett
GRAPHIC BY IAN SHELTON | The Rid a Buck
ing people’s roles and then it’s up to
the players to take their role and run
with it.”
The individual players are very simi
lar, especially on the left side of the
infield.
Current junior shortstop Jeff
Keppinger batted .374 with 17 home
runs and 95 runs batted in while com
piling a .947 fielding percentage during
the 2000 campaign. J. R. Showalter, a
junior in 1990, batted .341 with 14
home runs and 74 RBIs while fielding
at a .953 clip.
Current senior third baseman Andy
Neufeld batted .333 with 11 home runs,
43 RBIs and posted a .960 fielding per
centage compared to 1990 senior Jeff
Cooper, who hit .314 with 13 home runs
and 59 RBIs, while maintaining a .916
fielding percentage at the hot comer.
Pitching was pivotal for the national
champions, with All-American starter
Dave Flemming leading the staff to a
4.14 team ERA, said Pemo.
“We just pitched,” he said. “They
went out there and threw strikes.”
This year’s Diamond Dogs have bol
stered their pitching staff with the
advent of junior transfers Scott
Murphy (Alabama) and Jeremy Brown
(Tennessee) to help out returning
juniors Rob Moravek and Bill
Sharpton in the starting rotation.
The biggest difference between the
teams was the outstanding size of the
championship club, said 1990 team
member and current Georgia assistant
coach David Pemo.
“That team in ’90 was huge,” he
said. “They were physically very
intimidating.”
But despite what they may lack in
size, depth will give the current
Diamond Dogs an edge, Pemo said.
“We have some depth in our pitch
ing,” he said. “And even position-wise
we have some depth this year. This
year, if someone goes down, I think we
can move some guys around and be in
pretty good shape.”
The current talent has arguably
drawn more respect than in 1990. The
national champions boasted one pre
season All-American in Flemming. The
2001 squad has two — juniors Doc
Brooks (first team) and Keppinger
(third team).
And the presence of a large fan base
will add a new dimension to the 2001
season. In 1990, the stadium, which
now holds over 3,000 fans, was in the
groundbreaking stages. The larger
crowds have led to greater expecta
tions, Pemo said. But he doesn’t see
the increased attention causing a
problem.
“These guys — a lot of them — came
in here three years ago and they want
to taste it,” Pemo said. “They’re tal
ented enough. I don’t think expecta
tions bother them. The kind of kids
we’ve got on our club now, they want
expectations,” he said.
Saturday, if an unseen object brush
es up against you in the stands, there’s
no need for alarm. If you feel prickly
things on the back of your neck, it’s
not dead people, it’s the real thing.
History can sometimes repeat itself.