Behind Enemy Lines: Auburn-Georgia series preview

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Behind Enemy Lines: Auburn-Georgia series preview with Anthony Dasher of UGASports

Taylor Jones

6–7 minutes

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After a frustrating start to the SEC schedule, the Auburn Tigers are ready to welcome in rival Georgia to Plainsman Park for a three-game series beginning Thursday night.

Auburn kicked off the SEC slate by dropping all three of their games to No. 3 Arkansas on the road, being outscored 21-5 throughout the weekend. The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Friday’s opener before a Brady Slavens home run kickstarted a five-run 5th inning which led Arkansas to a 7-2 win. Auburn was never able to grab another lead in the series, as they dropped the final two games in the series, 9-3, and 5-0 respectively.

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Georgia suffered a similar fate in their SEC opening series against South Carolina at Foley Field in Athens, dropping all three games to the Gamecocks.  In Friday’s opener, Georgia held a 4-3 lead before South Carolina’s Michael Braswell hit a two-run double in the 9th inning to put his team ahead for good. The Gamecocks won the ensuing games of the series, 12-2 and 12-1.

In an effort to learn more about Auburn baseball’s next SEC opponent, Georgia, we called upon Anthony Dasher of UGASports to shed some light on the story of the 2023 Bulldogs to this point.

Here is this week’s edition of Behind Enemy Lines with Georgia beat writer, Anthony Dasher.

Joshua L. Jones, Athens Banner-Herald

Like Auburn, Georgia was swept to open SEC play. What factors led to South Carolina earning the sweep?

Georgia lost a heartbreaker in Game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader, losing 5-4 when South Carolina pinch-hitter took a two-out, 1-2 pitch and lined it down the line in right for a two-run double. For whatever reason, the gut punch carried over into Game 2, and the Bulldogs were run-ruled 12-2. South Carolina has a solid, solid rotation, so give them credit. Starting pitching depth, or lack thereof isn’t doing the team any favors right now. Jaden Woods and Liam Sullivan are solid, but after that, it’s very, very sketchy. I do think the Bulldogs are a much-better hitting team than what they showed against the Gamecocks; they just did not show up on this particular occasion.

Gary Cosby Jr.-The Tuscaloosa News/USA Today Sports

Who is the ace of the weekend staff, and how has the weekend rotation as a whole performed this season?

Kind of touched on this above. Thursday’s Game 1 starter Jaden Woods (3-0, 2.96 with 41 strikeouts in 24.1 innings) is a legitimate major league prospect. Tops out at 96, and has developed a nice curve ball to go with a slider that’s really made him a pretty complete pitcher. Liam Sullivan is a big dude, and like Woods is a lefty. However, Sullivan (3-1, 2.280 does not throw as hard (tops out at 92), but does feature a very good four-pitch mix, and he’s on, can be very tough. As I write this, I expect freshman Kolten Smith (1-0, 5.19) to get Sunday’s start. He was scheduled to pitch Game 3 against South Carolina, but he and like five other players came down with food poisoning the night before and was unable to go. Smith’s probably pitched a little better than his ERA suggests. He does have 12 strikeouts in eight innings, but still needs to learn to pitch deeper in games.

Tony Walsh/UGAAA

Charlie Condon is one of the top hitters in the nation. What makes him so special?

I’ve been covering Georgia baseball for 25 years and Condon hits the ball as hard as anybody I can recall. He’s 6-foot-6, 220 pounds (still adding muscle), and his exit velos have been as high as 115 mph. He’s got extremely quick wrists, rarely gets fooled (only nine strikeouts in 74 at-bats). Everything he hits just seems to get hit hard. He’ll take the ball to all fields, and so far, has hit left-handed and right-handed pitchers equally as well. He’s currently on a 19-game hitting streak after going hitless in the season-opener.

Gary Cosby Jr.-The Tuscaloosa News

Auburn is known for storming back to win games that there are behind in. How well has Georgia done at sealing games?

So far, we haven’t seen a lot of that. Georgia – seemingly – scores 10-plus runs and wins handily, or fall behind and never find a way to catch up. It’s been a strange season for the Bulldogs so far in that respect.

Joshua L Jones/Athens Banner-Herald

Who are other players that Auburn fans need to be aware of?

Condon overshadows Connor Tate, but the fifth-year Bulldog is hitting with seven homers and 24 RBI. Hit a home run this year that Trackman measure at 470 feet. Others include third baseman Parks Harber (.316-8-22), while outfielder/catcher Corey Collins has a lot of pop from the left side and has five home runs. Second baseman Mason LaPlante is a transfer from Yale who has adjusted well and comes in batting .338 with three homers and 10 RBIs.

Gary Cosby Jr.-The Tuscaloosa News

What will Georgia need to do well in order to win this upcoming series?

Starts with pitching. They’ll need to get length from both Woods and Sullivan. If they can do that, there are enough good pieces in the bullpen with Kyle Greenler, Dalton Rhadans, Chandler Marsh and freshman Matthew Hoskins to be effective. Hoskins is another player to watch. Tops out at 97 mph with 19 strikeouts in 12.1 innings.

Joshua L Jones/Online Athens

What is your prediction for this weekend’s series?

Both teams are in the exact same boat after being swept last weekend. Georgia fans are grumbling after seeing the Bulldogs swept by South Carolina, and the trip to Auburn is the first of two straight SEC road series for the team which travels to Vanderbilt next week. The team could not have played much worse in Game 2 Saturday and the finale on Sunday. I do not think that was indicative of what you’ll see this weekend. If the Bulldogs can get another good start from Woods on Thursday, then I believe you’ll see Georgia take 2 of 3. The bats have to do a better job. But again, there’s too many good hitters on this team to have what we saw last weekend happen again.