Sports Page Atlanta

Both the Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets won their weekend series after posting victories on Sunday. Georgia continues their winning ways as they defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 11-4. Four Bulldogs hit home runs including Gordon Beckham who hit his NCAA leading 22nd in the game. He is now one away from tying the team season record and four away from tying the team career record. In the game, closer Joshua Fields gave up his first earned run of the season.

Georgia Tech on the other hand defeated #15 ranked Coastal Carolina 11-4 as the Yellow Jackets won their 2nd straight weekend series. First Baseman Tony Flagman hit his ACC leading 15th home run and Derek Dietrich hit his 14th.

These two local powers will square off against each other on Wednesday night in Athens at 7:00 pm.

I just took a look at the top home run hitters in NCAA baseball. These numbers are tabulated through games on April 28th, and I only went as far as the top 50. Here are the best home run hitters in Georgia, and where they rank on the NCAA list.

• Gordon Beckham, Georgia - 20 Home Runs (1)
• A.J. Wirnsberger, Georgia Southern - 16 Home Runs (T7)
• Chris Shehan, Georgia Southern - 14 Home Runs (T21)
• Derek Dietrich, Georgia Tech - 13 Home Runs (T31)
• Tony Plagman, Georgia Tech - 13 Home Runs (T31)
• Ty Wright, Georgia Southern - 13 Home Runs (T31)

Georgia Tech traveled down to Statesboro on Wednesday and the Yellow Jackets defeated Georgia Southern 14-8. Tech hit 4 home runs total as 11 of the 14 runs were scored via the long ball.

Luke Murton hit two blasts, while Derek Dietrek hit one and Brad Feltes provided the other. Feltes was extra special since it was a grand slam, the 3rd one he has hit this season.

Georgia Tech travels to Maryland this weekend to take on the Terrapins in an ACC showdown.

Georgia on the other hand extends their winning streak to five games as they won their 2nd straight in comeback fashion winning the game in the 9th inning. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs were down 8-1 in the 6th to East Tennessee State before winning the game when Gordon Beckham scored on a wild pitch. On Wednesday the Dawgs trailed once again, this time to Georgia State 4-0 in the 4th, but they roared back and won it again in the 9th courtesy of a 3-run home run by who else…. Gordon Beckham.

Beckham leads the nation with home runs with 17 and is batting .430 on the season. The junior shortstop was just named the “Midseason Player of the Year” by both Baseball America and rivals.com.

Georgia travels to Baton Rouge this weekend to take on LSU.

The Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft is always held in June and this year two Georgia athletes could play prominently towards the top of the draft.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the first pick in the 2008 draft and according to Kiley McDaniel of Saber-Scouting, both UGA shortstop Gordon Beckham and Griffin High School shortstop Tim Beckham are on the short list to be taken with that first pick.

The Rays own the first pick in this draft this June and one source with knowledge of the Rays thinking noted that the club is intent on taking a position player with the first overall pick. Granted, it’s still early and things could very well change as the draft approaches, but the candidates under consideration are Georgia prep SS Tim Beckham, Vanderbilt 3B Pedro Alvarez, and Georgia SS Gordon Beckham, with the latter Beckham being a clear third amongst these three.

That being said, if there’s a bat with some serious helium this spring, UGA’s offensive powerhouse Gordon Beckham is the man. (He’s the Beckham on the left in the graphic above, for those who are already confused.) He began the season with some momentum after a stellar showing in the Cape Cod League this summer, but has really shot up draft boards with a .427/.513/.855 line through 131 at-bats, with 15 HR, 10 for 11 in stolen bases, and 18 walks to 11 strikeouts. He’s gotten the token mention as longshot choice at #1 overall but his momentum, premium position, potentially quick-moving bat, and low-risk profile add up to the buzz that he could hit his way into the top 5.

Covering all of our Beckham bases, Tim Beckham (the one on the right in the graphic above) has emerged as the near-consensus top prospect thus far. Phrases like “franchise shortstop,” “Edgar Renteria, at least,” and “B.J. Upton, but in the infield” have been tossed around, and he seems like a perfect fit for the Rays with a glut of young pitching and corner talent.

Jim Callis of Baseball America answers a question that many baseball teams might have to answer in June.

Which Beckham shortstop appears to be the better draft pick, Tim or Gordon?

Gordon is still a Junior and can still comeback for another year like fellow teammate Joshua Fields did. Here are Gordon’s season stats through 30 games…

• .419 average (52-for-124) (2nd in SEC in avg, but leads in hits)
• 15 home runs (leads SEC)
• 36 RBI (t-5th in SEC)
• 44 runs (leads SEC)
• 10 stolen bases (t-7th in SEC)

Georgia Bulldog shortstop Gordon Beckham is two-for-two this season. No, he is not batting 1.000 although he is pretty close. The pre-season All-American won his 2nd consecutive SEC Player of the Week Award. He is the first Bulldog to win that award two weeks in a row.

In five games last week, he batted .556 (10-for-18) with 4 home runs and 9 rbi.

On the season, Beckham is batting a robust .517 with 13 home runs and 32 rbi and has scored 32 runs as well.

Georgia Bulldog shortstop Gordon Beckham was named SEC Player of the Week. In five games this week, the junior from Atlanta batted .563 (9-for16) with 2 home runs and 8 RBI. This season he leads the SEC in hits (35) and runs scored (25) and ranks 2nd in the conference in batting (.507) and home runs (9).

The Bulldogs have the reigning SEC Player of the Week in softball, too. Sophomore Kate Gaskill went 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA this week. On Saturday she pitched a perfect game vs SEC foe South Carolina. On the season, she is 12-3 with a 0.98 ERA.