Clemson vs. Georgia Midweek Preview

Georgia Bulldogs (10-17) vs. Clemson Tigers (20-8)

I was able to watch 2 games between LSU and Georgia this weekend, Georgia won the 2nd game of the 3-game series at Alex Box. The team hit .275 against the Bayou Bengals but their pitching abandoned them. They are on a horrible start so far this season with a very young team that has 17 sophomores and 14 freshmen, but they're improving...they just dont win the close ones. They have 7 1-run defeats this season.

Theyre also a team that has had to play most of those freshmen due to injuries by the few upperclassmen, and its affected their defensive play. The Pups have only been at full strength since the Miss. State series and their fielding has been greatly improved since, improving from .950 (Clemson crap-level) against Auburn to .982 for the last weekend against LSU.

In records dating back to 1950, Clemson leads the series with Georgia 67-48-1. However the overall record is in Georgia's favor. Clemson and Georgia have met 216 times on the diamond, with Georgia holding a 118-96-2 lead in the series dating back to 1900. Georgia is Clemson's second-most-played rival in history, trailing only South Carolina (290). Currently, Georgia is on a four-game winning streak in the series. Georgia was ranked #1 last year when they took both midweek games against us.

Game 1 is at Georgia, Game 2 at Clemson.

Clemson AD Series Preview -- Georgia AD series preview

Last Week:

During the week, the Tigers hit .303 with a .476 slugging percentage and .432 on-base percentage, 37 runs, 10 doubles, three triples, three homers, 33 walks, three hit-by-pitches, and nine stolen bases. The pitching staff though had a 5.92 ERA and .291 opponents' batting average along with 37 strikeouts in 38.0 innings pitched.

Hinson led the Tigers on the week by going 7-for-15 (.467) with six RBIs, four walks, and three steals, while Miller went 8-for-18 (.444) with a homer, triple, two doubles, three RBIs, and six runs. Freeman added six hits, including three doubles and one homer, six RBIs, five runs, and six walks. Chris Epps also had four hits, six runs, seven walks, and two steals in only 10 at-bats. Epps seems to have gotten off his slide a little, and we need that to continue in ACC play.

Georgia lost 2 of 3 to LSU. Friday night was a fight with the Pups coming out the loser 4-3. Saturday they jumped on LSU's starter early and won 12-6, while Sunday afternoon the Tigers exacted revenge and crushed the pups 15-5.

Starters:

Tuesday, 7pm CSS:

Swegman has made 3 appearances and 2 starts, one of which was planned for 2 innings against Presbyterian early this season. He made his lone relief appearance against FSU, going only one inning.

Leone has only started one game, against a good Coastal Carolina club last week, and I thought he pitched pretty well in his first start. He went 5.1 and gave up 1 unearned run.

Wednesday, 6:30pm:

Mike Kent made a start against Elon, going 4 innings and allowing 2 earned runs.

Hitting Comparison

Sophomore CF Zach Cone, who owns a 17-game hitting streak, is showing why he is a top pro prospect for 2011 with stellar defense (48 putouts, 5 assists, 0 errors) to go with a team-best .385 average, 27 RBI, four triples and six home runs. During his streak, he is batting .377 (26-for-69 with 21 RBI). Against #4 LSU, Cone hit .417 (5-for-12) with two home runs.

Sophomore INF Levi Hyams (.364-1-13) is healthy and making an impact. He posted the best offensive numbers in the Miss. State series at .467 (7-for-15) with four doubles and four RBI. Then against #4 LSU this past weekend, he batted .333 (4-for-12) with two doubles, a home run and 7 RBI.

Clemson's lineup will see few changes and Kyle Parker is undergoing an MRI on for his back and is still hopeful of playing in both games after missing the last 2 against BC. It is reported that he feels better. 1B Richie Shaffer is not expected back until Friday at best.

Team Pitching

Georgia's pitching has been their achilles heel more than anything this year. The bullpen is horrible as is their starting staff. Only 5 members of the staff have ERAs under 5.00. Their weekend rotation have ERAs of 4.46, 8.24, and 8.71 respectively, and there are 6 members of the Pen with ERAs over 10.00.

Clemson's pitching has trended downward and this weekend the starting staff (other than Harman) had their issues. The pen will come into play this week with the young starters, and in a battle between these two bullpens, Clemson comes out far far ahead.

Georgia has been bad at times defensively, while Clemson has been bad period, though thankfully we did improve defensively against Boston College. I think its too small a sample size to say that our defensive issues have been fixed, but it was at least encouraging.

And yes, its made by cockfan, but at least they got this right.