In a three-year span, the Georgia Bulldogs baseball program went from being one of the best in the Southeastern Conference to last season’s 29-26 squad that finished 10-20 in the SEC. The Bulldogs went 7-8 over their last 15 conference games that season or it might have been a lot worse.
Quite a fall from grace for the the Bulldogs, who will be LSU’s next SEC opponent this weekend in Alex Box Stadium.
It was only three seasons ago in 2001 when the Bulldogs under then-coach Ron Polk went 47-22 overall and 20-10 in the SEC to win the conference championship. Georgia also made an appearance in the College World Series that season.
Since then it has been a steady progression.
Polk returned to Mississippi State in 2002 and he was replaced with David Perno, who is currently at the head of the program.
Georgia finished 2002 32-29 and 15-15 in the SEC before last year’s disappointing season.
There has been some improvement this season as the Bulldogs are 20-13 and 5-7 in conference play heading into a weekend of baseball in Baton Rouge.
A Bright Spot
One thing Georgia has to brag about is the bat of Josh Morris, who leads the SEC with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs to go with his .378 batting average. Morris is tied with South Carolina’s Steve Pearce for the SEC lead in home runs. Gamecock Michael Campbell is second with 11 home runs and LSU’s Jon Zeringue is among five players tied for third with 10 home runs.
Speaking of Zeringue…
If anyone is happy to see the Georgia Bulldogs coming into town, it is probably Zeringue.
Thanks to a great hitting performance against the Bulldogs last season and the motivation of some Georgia hecklers with a megaphone, Zeringue turned his season around.
Zeringue entered last season’s Georgia series in late March hitting .204 with one home run and eight RBIs and struggling to find playing time in Smoke Laval’s batting order.
Laval inserted Zeringue into the lineup for the Saturday game on March 22, 2003, and he responded with a 3-for-5, three-RBI performance and a home run. That game earned Zeringue more playing time and his bat came around.
Zeringue finished the year at a .376 clip (67-for-178) with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs and had an overall batting average of .339 for the year.
Perhaps the Bulldogs bring out the best in Zeringue. He hit the first home run of his career against Georgia on April 12, 2002 — a monstrous shot that sailed high over the left field bleachers of Alex Box Stadium.
Going into Wednesday night’s game against Southeastern Louisiana, Zeringue is hitting .380 with 30 RBIs.