Diamond Dogs to spend weekend in Tuscaloosa

The Georgia Bulldogs (26-11, 9-6 SEC) hit the road to face Alabama (23-15, 8-7 SEC) starting Friday in Tuscaloosa.  Game times are 7 pm ET Friday (SECN+), 3 pm ET (SECN+) on Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm ET (ESPN2). The entire series will be available on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

The Bulldogs, under the direction of Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin, are ranked as high as No. 10 this week. They are 5-5 on the road including winning an SEC series at South Carolina (2-1) and dropping one at Kentucky (2-1). Alabama is 18-6 at home, losing a series to then No. 9 Florida (2-1) and beating Texas A&M (2-1). This will be UA’s first SEC home series since facing the Aggies (Apr. 1-3). The Crimson Tide swept No. 9 Ole Miss in Oxford and went 1-2 at top-ranked Tennessee the past two weekends.

Georgia holds a slim lead of 75-72-2 in the series history with Alabama which dates to 1904. The Bulldogs have a five-game winning streak over UA after taking the series in Tuscaloosa in 2018 (2-1) and posting a sweep in Athens in 2019.

At the halfway point in the SEC this season, Georgia is 9-6 in league play, and that is good enough for the third best overall mark. Due to

injuries, Georgia has used five different SEC starting rotations and six different pitchers have started a league game. Bulldog ace Jonathan Cannon (6-1, 1.71 ERA), a preseason All-America selection and Golden Spikes Award Midseason watch list candidate, has missed the past two weeks with a muscle strain (non-throwing injury) while graduate shortstop Cole Tate (.332-2-16) has missed the last five games. Cannon returns for the UA series and will get the Saturday start on a pitch count while Tate (stress fracture/leg) will be out at least another week. Senior Josh McAllister (.299-3-24) has been the starter at shortstop with Tate out.

Georgia is batting .293 with 41 home runs while posting a 5.69 ERA and a .975 fielding percentage. The Bulldogs fell 8-6 to Clemson this past Tuesday at Foley Field to drop the season series (2-0) for the first time since 2017. Meanwhile, UAB beat Alabama 7-6. The Crimson Tide owns a .287 batting average with 43 home runs. They have a 4.29 ERA and a .978 fielding percentage.

Graduate starting CF Ben Anderson (.304-6-25) is Georgia’s male nominee for the H. Boyd McWhorter post-graduate scholarship, the SEC announced last week. The recipients of the scholarships, which have been presented by the conference since 1986 to the league’s top male and female scholar-athlete, will be announced in May. A native of LaGrange, he has already earned a degree in biochemistry. He is working on a master’s degree in comparative biomedical sciences. He has had a 31-game on base streak and twice led off games with home runs including to start the season. He owns a perfect career fielding percentage in 237 total chances including six assists.

Bulldog graduate LF Connor Tate (.348-5-34) leads the team in batting and ranks among the conference leaders with a .382 average in SEC games. He has a team-best 17 multi-hit games. Sophomore C/DH Corey Collins (.315-9-32) leads the team with nine home runs and ranks third in RBI. Last week in four games, he batted .412 (7-for-17) with a home run and six RBI plus six runs scored.

Probable Pitching Matchups: UGA vs. Alabama G38      #11 Nolan Crisp (0-1, 4.62, RHP, RJr.)    vs. #39 Garrett McMillan (4-2, 3.02, RHP, Jr.)

G39      #12 Jonathan Cannon (6-1, 1.71, RHP, Jr.)            vs. #34 Jacob McNairy (4-1, 5.68, RHP, Sr.)

G40      #14 Liam Sullivan (3-1, 5.40, LHP, So.)   vs. #26 Grayson Hitt (3-1, 4.12, LHP, So.)

Georgia Baseball Radio Links/TV Stream

Georgia Bulldog Sports Network (Announcers: Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston)

Free audio streaming of all Georgia Bulldogs games can be heard using the Gameday LIVE app.

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