The Diamond Dawgs are off to a good start. The team swept both Youngstown State and Presbyterian, neither of whom will be heading to Omaha anytime soon. Both teams are winless in this very young season. But, the Dawgs did what you're supposed to against inferior competition, as they pounded them into a bloody heap. In the two opening series, the Dawgs scored 60 runs to the opposition's 15 (only 7 were earned).Leading the way in more ways than one was freshman lead off man Johnathan Taylor, the SEC Freshman of the Week. He was 8-for-10 in the Youngstown series with and .867 OBP, 5 RBIs and 5 runs scored. He's been as good as a lead off man can be, getting on base, stealing a base or two (actually he's 4-5), and scoring runs. Taylor is not alone, though. Fellow freshmen May, Hyams, Davidson, and Cone have impressive numbers, too. Plus, the veterans are doing their fair share as well. Bryce Massanari, Joey Lewis and Rich Poythress have big power numbers, too (25 RBIs, 5 HRs).
The weakness, so far, has been middle infield defense. Hyams and Demperio have five errors between them and Demperio's led to Youngstown's only major offensive outburst of the series, a six run sixth on Sunday. Perno was not pleased about it in his weekly podcast.
The competition amps up this weekend. The Dawgs travel west to face Arizona, who is 4-1. The Wildcats aren't ranked, but are a historic college baseball power. The freshmen have shown they can perfom at Foley. This weekend they get to show if they can keep up their bulging numbers away from Athens.
Quinton
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