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10 | Thursday, June 22, 2006 | The Red & Black
SPORTS
CWS: Bulldogs exit Omaha early,
despite a record setting season
>- From Page 1
“We just had to survive and
work so hard the last three
weeks leading into Omaha,
we were probably just a little
out of juice,” head coach
David Perno said.
“I thought we were better
than we played,” said Jacobs,
calling the quick exit “disap
pointing.”
An offense that was led by
two juniors — center fielder
Joey Side and first baseman
Josh Morris, and two seniors
— right fielder Bobby Felmy
and Jacobs, was rendered
obsolete by two of the coun
try’s best pitchers, going
a combined 2-for-27 with
seven strikeouts and just two
RBIs.
“It’s tough when the guys
you look to to lead the team
just aren’t getting the job
done,” Jacobs said. “We went
cold at the wrong time.”
Oregon State junior Jonah
Nickerson (12-4, 2.50 ERA)
and Rice senior Eddie
Degerman (13-1, 1.93) com
bined to hold the Diamond
Dogs to five runs on just five
hits, while registering 12
strike outs in 13.1 innings.
In their first game against
No. 2 Rice (56-11), Degerman
held the Georgia offense hit
less through the first six
innings en route to striking
out nine Bulldogs as they lost
6-4 on Saturday.
Finishing with a team ERA
of 4.79 for the season,
Georgia’s pitching wasn’t
much help to the struggling
offense.
Senior reliever Rip Warren,
who dominated both Florida
State and South Carolina in
the regionals, left a lot to be
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desired in Omaha after giving
up five runs and seven hits in
only 3 1/3 innings of action,
including a horrendous four
run, five hit outing against
Rice.
Regardless of their per
formance in the College World
Series, the season was still
one of the best ever for a team
that combined for 786 hits —
the most ever for a Diamond
Dog squad.
Contributing to that
impressive hit total were
Morris and Side, who each
plastered their names all over
the Georgia record books
during their very productive
years.
Side became the single
season hits (111) and total
base leader (188), and Morris
shattered the career
home run record of 45, with
the 51st of his career and 23rd
of this season, which also
tied the Georgia record for
most round-trippers in a sea
son.
Regardless of the accom
plishments achieved, the sea
son was more about the 35
guys that filled the bench.
“There was just a lot of
leadership, a lot of experi
ence, a lot of confidence —
they really leaned on each
other,” Perno said, calling this
year’s team the best he’s ever
been around.
‘Dogs didn’t disappoint’
D
espite their inauspi
cious two-and-out
exit from the College
World Series, the 2006
Diamond Dogs (47-24) have
no reason to hang their
heads.
They already had their
lows, like a 7-5 loss to
Western Carolina — often
mistaken for a Div-II school
— on April 25.
But their highs were so
much better, like the three-
week run of 13 straight
wins, including the sweeps
of SEC-rivals Florida, South
Carolina and Auburn.
Such an example of
sheer willpower defined this
year’s squad as they went
on to defy all odds and win
both the Athens Regional
and Super Regional tourna
ments, despite having to
battle back from the loser’s
side of the bracket.
If the Diamond Dogs
were down by three in the
eighth, junior outfielders
Jonathan Wyatt and Joey
Side would find some way
to get on base and allow the
always-powerful stroke of
junior first baseman Josh
Morris to tie the game up,
thrusting a dagger into the
hearts of their poor oppo
nents with a 400-foot bomb
over the trees in left field.
As a journalist, especially
a sports journalist, you are
taught to maintain an unbi
ased attitude about the
Alex Byington
abyington@randb.com
team you are covering, thus
some of the more experi
enced of us tend to develop
a very critically derisive atti
tude about our beats.
Yet, as I watched each
game and interacted with
the players, I began to
waver in my objectivity. As
a fellow Georgia student
and fan of most sports, I
ultimately became torn
between my choice of pro
fession and my inner child’s
deepest love — baseball. As
Georgia began to build
momentum and confidence,
the small Georgia fan inside
of me secretly grew.
With teammates like the
always-smiling senior catch
er Jason Jacobs and the
fiery senior right fielder
Bobby Felmy balancing out
the rest of the dugout, this
season’s Diamond Dogs just
seemed to thrive within a
cocoon of childhood dreams
— and like a child, they just
wanted to play.
“After we prayed (before
the start of each game), I
would just start screaming
— getting ready, I just got
to get my blood going,”
Felmy said of his excitable
nature.
“J.J. was the rock. He
came so far since his fresh
man year, and to be our guy
this year and lead us like he
did was tremendous,” head
coach David Perno said.
Despite the varying
degrees of their child-like
approach, it was the senior
that looked most like a
child to whom Perno attrib
utes much of the team’s
success.
“(Matthew) Dunn was
that kid, I think he was our
inspiration,” Perno said of
his second baseman. “Those
kids saw him playing, know
ing he was too small and
too slow, but he was just
always in the right place
and just played tremendous
defense for us all year.”
“The tough part for me
right now is just saying
goodbye to so many good
people,” Perno said, prefer
ring to focus on the memo
ries.
“I’ve seen them more
then my family the last few
years, I mean, they are my
family. They will always be
Bulldogs,” Perno said.
— Alex Byington is the
sports editor for
The Red & Black
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