Sports Page Atlanta

Georgia Bulldog closer Joshua Fields is having an outstanding season. He is 1-1 this season with 11 saves. The right-hander has also not allowed a earned run all season and has 36 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings pitched.

His 11th save came last night as the Bulldogs defeated the LSU Tigers 6-3 in Baton Rouge. The senior pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up 2 walks and another base runner via a strikeout/wild pitch. But with the bases loaded, Fields fired a strike past DJ LeMahieu to win the game. The win improved Georgia to 26-12 with a SEC best 13-3 in the conference.

His 11 saves added to his total coming into the season adds up to 34 which breaks a SEC and school record held by former two-sport star and former major leaguer Cris Carpenter. Carpenter played for the Dawgs from 1985 to 1987 and was part of Georgia’s first College World Series team in his final season.

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.

Georgia Bulldogs closer Joshua Fields notched another save as the Dawgs edged the Kentucky Wildcats 3-2 to improve to 10-3 in SEC play which leads the conference. The senior now has 32 career saves which ranks his 2nd in Bulldog history. Here is the top 3…

1. Cris Carpenter - 33
2. Joshua Fields - 32
3. Alex Barylak - 30

Fields is 3rd all-time in games pitched with 95 (Barylak leads with 104)

Georgia Tech takes the first game of three against in-state rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs by defeating them 9-4 at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets were led by designated hitter Luke Murton as he went 4-for-5 on the night with a home run and 3 runs batted in. Thomas Nichols also helped with 2 hits of his own and also drove in two and scored two.

Deck McGuire was solid as he improved to 5-0 on the season, pitching 5 and 2/3 innings strong allowing just 3 earned runs.

Ryan Peisel did most of the damage for the Bulldogs driving in two runs of his own.

Both teams resume to conference play this weekend as Georgia hosts Kentucky and Georgia Tech takes on top-ranked Miami.

Georgia and Georgia will face each other two more times during the season with the next time being on May 7th in Athens.

The state’s two big collegiate power houses will collide this Wednesday at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.

Georgia who is currently #16 in college baseball’s RPI list will tangle with #14 Georgia Tech on Wednesday night. Georgia is currently 20-10 and leading the SEC with a 9-3 conference mark, while Georgia Tech is 25-7 and is in 3rd in the ACC Coastal division with a 9-6 record. The Bulldogs have another game first as they take on Winthrop at home on Tuesday.

The two teams battle each other 3 times every year. One time at Tech (Wednesday), one time at Georgia (May 7th) and another time at Turner Field (May 13th).

Georgia Bulldogs senior pitcher Joshua Fields won the SEC Pitcher of the Week. The closer went 1-0 and 2 saves in games against #17 Clemson and #9 South Carolina this week. On the season, the right-hander is 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA. He also recorded 32 strikeouts with just 6 walks in 15 1/3 innings.

In his career, Fields has 31 saves which is 2 shy of a Georgia record.

You were once a fan of theirs when they were 18, 19, 20 or 21, but then they left you to get a job somewhere else. I am talking about Georgia Tech and Georgia baseball players who got drafted and now most are playing for teams not named the Atlanta Braves.

Some of them are doing a pretty good job so far…

Georgia Tech

• Mark Teixeira (Braves) .192 avg (5-for-26) 2 hr, 5 rbi, 4 runs scored
• Jason Varitek (Red Sox) .261 avg (6-for-23) 2 hr, 3 rbi, 3 runs scored
• Jay Payton (Orioles) 3-for-10, 3 runs scored
• Nomar Garciaparra (Dodgers) on DL (hand)

Georgia

• Jeff Keppinger (Reds) .435 avg (10-for-23) 2 hr, 4 rbi and 6 runs scored
• Robby Hammock (Diamondbacks) 1-for-7 with a walk and strikeout
• and pretty soon maybe Clint Sammons (Braves)

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.