The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11 players ejected after UGA, Miss. St. face off
Incident at plate mars Dawgs’ only victory in series.
ATHENS — At the start of each week throughout the regular season, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will take a closer look at the Georgia baseball team. Here’s a breakdown of the Bulldogs going into the eighth week of the campaign:
Record: 24-8, 5-7 SEC
Streak: Lost 1
Ranking: No. 24
Last week (2-2)
Tuesday: beat Georgia State 10-1
Friday: lost at Mississippi State 6-1
Saturday: won at Mississippi State 3-2
Sunday: lost at Mississippi State 9-8
This week
Today: vs. Kennesaw State, 5 p.m.
Thursday: vs. Missouri, 7 p.m., SEC Network Friday: vs. Missouri, 6 p.m. Saturday: vs. Missouri, 3:30 p.m.
Week in review
Lots of drama. There is no other way to describe the Bulldogs’ weekend at Mississippi State.
In the end, Georgia dropped two of three to the Maroon Bulldogs in Starkville. But that was hardly the story. It was the craziness that ensued Saturday night, when 11 players between the two teams were ejected in the top of the eighth inning.
The controversy started when Georgia’s Dylan Carter was thrown out at home to end the Bulldogs’ half. But State catcher Johnny Long taunted Carter and used his shin guards to kick him as he lay on the ground after a head-first slide.
Long was rightfully ejected from the game. But the other players were removed because of the SEC rule against leaving the bench and entering the field of play. Three Georgia players and two for State subsequently were suspended for the following game, per conference bylaws.
Since two of those were UGA catchers, the Bulldogs were allowed to stagger the suspensions of Fernando Gonzalez and Henry Hunter. Gonzalez will sit out Tuesday’s game. Daniel Padysak also missed Sunday’s game.
Georgia came back to win Saturday’s game on Clayton Chadwick’s ninth-inning home run and 4⅓ scoreless innings of relief by Brian Zeldin. Playing shorthanded Sunday after a late-night game, neither team played particularly well in the rubber match. State plated four unearned runs in a 9-8 comefrom behind victory.
Week ahead
It’s good to be home. That certainly is the feeling inside the Bulldogs’ clubhouse after spending the last two weekends on the road.
Georgia starts an eightgame homestand today against Kennesaw State (1713) and has back-to-back SEC weekend series against Missouri (15-18, 4-8) and Ole Miss (18-15, 3-9). The Bulldogs are 19-1 at Foley Field this season.
However, Missouri arrives hot. The Tigers are coming off a shocking sweep of Florida in Columbia.
He said it
“I don’t know if they beat us as much as we gave it to them with a lot of miscues. We have to clean that up. We’ve got to get that heartbeat back down when you’re in a environment like this, and we’ll get back home and work on it.” — Georgia coach Wes Johnson