Diamond Dogs open series against 5th ranked Arkansas

Georgia resumes Southeastern Conference play with fifth-ranked Arkansas visiting Foley Field for a three-game series starting Thursday at 7:02 p.m. on SEC Network and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

Georgia (20-17, 4-11 SEC) finally returns to Foley Field after spending three of the past four weekends on the road in the rugged SEC. Fifth-ranked Arkansas (30-7, 11-4 SEC) marks the fourth straight top 10 SEC opponent for the Bulldogs who went 1-2 last weekend at No. 2 Florida. Georgia stunned the Gators with a seven-run ninth to take the opener 13-11 and then game two was 1-1 going to the ninth before the Gators posted a 2-1 walk-off. It marked Georgia’s fifth one-run loss of the year.

Georgia got its first one-run win this past Tuesday with a 5-4 road victory over Clemson that featured the Bulldogs throwing out the tying run at the plate to end the contest! RF Josh Stinson threw to 2B Mason LaPlante who fired home to C Fernando Gonzalez for the win. It was Stinson who drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI-double in the fourth as neither team scored over the final five frames. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks lead the Western Division and just swept Tennessee last weekend in Fayetteville. They dispatched UCA 6-3 this past Tuesday for their 30th win including going 25-3 at home. UA is just 3-3 on the road.

Series History: Arkansas holds a 37-25 edge in the series history that began at the 1987 College World Series. UA eliminated Georgia 5-4. The teams last met in 2021 with UA winning a home series 2-1 as well as a game at the SEC Tournament. The last SEC series in Athens came in 2018 with the Bulldogs taking that one 2-1 including a dramatic double play to secure a 3-2 win as the tying run was thrown out at the plate by LF Keegan McGovern. Incidentally, that was the last time Georgia won a game that ended with a runner being thrown out at home until this past Tuesday!

On The Mound: Georgia’s rotation will be freshman RHP Kolten Smith (1-1, 4.80), junior LHP Charlie Goldstein (1-1, 5.67) and junior LHP Liam Sullivan (3-2, 5.59). Arkansas has named only Thursday’s starter in junior LHP Hunter Hollan (6-1, 2.81) with games two and three TBA.

For the season, the Bulldogs have a 6.32 ERA with 352 strikeouts and 186 walks. Opponents are batting .265 against the Bulldogs. The Razorbacks sport a 4.77 ERA with 323 strikeouts and 149 walks. Opponents are hitting .267 against UA.

At The Plate: Georgia is batting .290 with 65 home runs, a .387 on base percentage and is 19-for-22 in stolen base attempts. Georgia’s leading hitter is Charlie Condon, a National Freshman of the Year candidate, who is batting .444 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI.

Arkansas is batting .291 with 60 home runs, a .406 on base percentage and is 33-for-44 in stolen base attempts. The Razorbacks top hitter is junior Jace Bohrofen (.388-10-32), and he earned National Player of the Week honors this past Monday,

Journey to Zero Waste Weekend at Foley Field: During UGA’s three-game series against Arkansas, everything at the baseball stadium will be diverted from the landfill. All cups and plates will be composted, recycling will be available for bottles and cans. Members of UGA’s Office of Sustainability along with student volunteers will be on hand to explain to fans the benefits of these efforts. Hunter Scully, a master of natural resources student in the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources helped organize the efforts of this this project. For more on this or to volunteer, please click here:

https://warnell.uga.edu/news/stories/2023/student-organizes-journey-zero-waste-weekend-during-april-uga-baseball-series

Radio/TV/Live Stats Information

Thursday at 7 pm at Foley Field, Athens (SEC Network)

Radio: 960TheRef: https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4394&type=Archive

TV: SEC Network (John Schriffen & David Dellucci) https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=d43e922c-5913-480d-b2bb-cafa2c5ba795

{Re-air link: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=0c24e1c7-6f8f-4861-8f6d-ef5d2febb248

Live Stats: https://georgiadogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

Friday at 6 p.m. at Foley Field, Athens (SECN+)

Radio: 960TheRef: h https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4395&type=Archive

TV: Streaming: SECN+ (Matt Stewart, Jason Jacobs): https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=8f15da7f-435b-498c-a437-b2f4cf3b2f1e

Live Stats: https://georgiadogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

Saturday at 2 p.m. at Foley Field, Athens (SECN+)