College

Dogs set for weekend series at LSU

From UGA Sports Communications

ATHENS-----Georgia opens Southeastern Conference play Friday in Baton Rouge against sixth-ranked LSU.

The entire series will be available on SEC Network+ and the Bulldogs Sports Network from IMG. Friday's opener, set for 8 p.m. EDT, will be part of the SEC Network's Bases Loaded coverage, featuring every SEC team in a live compilation of seven games.

Here’s a few tidbits regarding the LSU series:

*Georgia (8-10) enters the LSU series Friday after concluding a season-long 11-game home stand in 16 days where it went 5-6 including six one-run games, winning just two of those. This year, Georgia is 2-2 on the road, claiming a series at Georgia Southern 2-1 and dropping a one-run decision at Mercer. The Tigers are 13-5 overall including 12-1 at Alex Box Stadium. They dropped their first home game this past Wednesday, losing a 15-inning affair to New Orleans as the game lasted five hours and eight minutes. The Bulldogs are led by Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin while the Tigers are coached by Paul Mainieri.

*No Bulldog on Georgia's travel roster has ever played LSU in Baton Rouge. In fact, Georgia's starting lineup has featured as many as seven freshmen this year and regularly includes at least five freshmen. Georgia has utilized 19 pitchers this season and that is the most since 19 were used during the 2014 campaign. In the late innings, freshman OF/LHP Tucker Bradley (0-0, 1.50 ERA, 1 SV & .275-0-0) has been getting the call along with sophomore LHP Adam Goodman (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV). Five weeks ago, Goodman changed to a submarine delivery, and he has been very effective. He entered the year with seven career innings and got his first save Wednesday.

*Georgia's rotation for the LSU will be making their first career SEC starts. On Friday, senior LHP Andrew Gist (0-0, 2.20 ERA) will make his second start of the year and eighth of his career. In 16.1 innings this year, Gist has 21 strikeouts and just two walks. His SEC experience is just 2.2 innings of relief last year. Sophomore RHP Kevin Smith (1-2, 7.31 ERA), who had made the previous four Friday starts this year, is out due to a sore back. On Saturday, freshman RHP Tony Locey (2-2, 7.47 ERA) will be making his fifth career start. Junior transfer RHP Chase Adkins (3-0, 2.08 ERA) will make his fifth straight Sunday start. He has allowed just one run in his last 21 innings pitched. Adkins and LSU's Jared Poche' are the only two SEC hurlers with a complete game shutout.

*Sophomore C/DH Michael Curry (.294-5-22) is tied for second in the SEC in home runs and fourth in RBI. He has driven in a run in six straight games and in that stretch is batting .400 (10-for-25) with 14 RBI. A Freshman All-America selection in 2016, Curry batted .262-11-34 including seven home runs in SEC action. Freshman SS Cam Shepherd (.270-1-8) has been heating up at the plate, batting .375 (12-for-32) in his last seven games including going 4-for-6 with 6 RBI versus Xavier on March 7. Shepherd has started all 18 games at shortstop. Junior OF/1B Keegan McGovern (.291-1-6) enters the LSU series on a seven-game hitting streak (his career best is 8 set in 2016) and during this span, he is batting .417 (10-for-24) with a home run and four RBI.

*Series History: LSU leads the series with Georgia 64-21-3. Georgia last played the Tigers in 2015. That year, then No. 2 LSU took a rain-shortened series 2-0 at Foley Field. In Georgia's last trip to Baton Rouge coming in 2014, the Bulldogs went 0-2-1 against then No. 6 LSU, tying the final game of the series 2-2 in 13 innings due to a travel curfew. Georgia's last win over LSU came in 2012 in Baton Rouge, a 5-3 victory in the final game of a series. Georgia's last series win over LSU came in 2011 in Athens (2-1), and the last series win in Baton Rouge came in 2008 (2-0-1) when the Bulldogs went on to reach the College World Series Finals.

Pitching Matchups: UGA @ LSU

Fri. at 8 pm EDT #5 Andrew Gist (0-0, 2.20), LHP, Sr. vs. #35 Alex Lange (3-1, 3.05), RHP, Jr.

Sat. at 7:30 pm EDT #25 Tony Locey (2-2, 7.47), RHP, Fr. vs. #16 Jared Poche´ (4-0, 0.00), LHP, Sr.

Sun. at 2 pm EDT #23 Chase Adkins (2-0, 2.25), RHP, Jr. vs. #10 Eric Walker (2-0, 2.14), RHP, Fr.

Television/Radio

TV: SEC Network+ (Lyn Rollins, Ronnie Rantz, Ben McDonald)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network from IMG College (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston)

Stations: 960 AM-WRFC and selected affiliates (check your local listings), georgiadogs.com and via the Georgia Bulldogs app and TuneIn app.

Additional Coverage on Twitter: @BaseballUGA;

Follow the Dawgs

For the latest on Georgia Baseball, follow the team on Twitter (@baseballUGA), Instagram (@baseballuga) and Facebook (GeorgiaBaseball).

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