Game 13 - Ohio at Georgia State

February 28 at GSU Baseball Complex in Decatur, GA

Georgia State was picked by the Sun Belt Conference coaches to finish eighth, but that has more to do with the pitching (5.81 team ERA last year and 5.44 so far in 2015) than the bats. The Panthers are averaging 7 1/2 runs through the first two weeks of this season and Saturday, the hosts made short work of Ohio starter Connor Sitz.

The right-hander lasted just 2/3 of an inning, and though seven of the eight runs he allowed in the bottom of the first were unearned thanks to a throwing error by catcher Kyle Dean on the first batter of the game, he was still knocked around the yard. After eight base-runners, the last of which was a Ryan Blanton two-run single that put GSU up 7-0, Bobcats coach Rob Smith came out with the wheelbarrow to get Sitz.

"Things aren't going well, are they?"

The Georgia State fans have a number of names for Blanton, all of which were put to full use on Saturday during the sophomore center fielder's four plate apperances.

"Ryno" - called 14 times
"Ryan" - 12
"Ry" - 10
"Ry-Guy" - 9
(jersey number is 16) "One-six" - 2
"Blanton" - 1

Blanton not only went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored in GSU's 11-4 win, but more impressively averaged over three Rynos per plate appearance.

Game 12 - South Carolina at Clemson

February 27 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, SC
ESPN

When I saw color commentator Marty Clary wearing sunglasses during the pregame

then heard him use the term "over-adrenalized" I immediately thought "'over-adrenalized' isn't a word". But, apparently "adrenalized" is a word (affected with adrenaline), so I suppose you can be overly affected with adrenaline. You win this/the only round, Clary.

The former Braves pitcher also said these things:

"Flight or fight mode"
"Seasons are long"

Game 11 - Jonesboro HS at Salem HS

February 27 at Salem High School baseball field in Conyers, GA

My first live game of the season was a difficult one for the Jonesboro 9 as the visitors from Clayton County made five errors, had two runners picked off and three batters hit by Rocky Mauriello pitches.

Mauriello, a Maryville College (Tennessee) signee, pitched the first three innings and had his ups and downs (just two singles allowed and only one other ball left the infield, but he did have the three HBP). Left-handed relievers Kevin Barham and Yorel James had no such struggles. Barham, just a sophomore, struck out five and allowed only one base-runner in three hitless innings, while James, a senior, struck out the side in the top of the seventh to seal a 6-2 win for the 3-0 Seminoles.


* Add Thominique Stroy to the all-name team. The senior right-hander pitched the fifth and sixth innings for Jonesboro and gave up the final two runs of the night.

* High school baseball fans give advice; it's just WHAT THEY DO. On Friday, the Jonesboro faithful had plenty to say.

- "Anything close, send it back to him" was said seven times, five times alone during Jonesboro center fielder Jordan Holt's third-inning at bat. Holt was hit by a pitch, and the home plate umpire eventually sent the ball back to him (the pitcher).
- "Trade places with him" - 5
- "Read his hand" - 3
- "Watch him like a hawk" - 2

Said one time each:

"Beast mode"
"Don't let him freeze you out like that"
"Be a hero"
"You go we go"
"Have a plan up there"
"You're out there for a reason"
"Play the ball, not the base" (?)
"Put that jig on it, boy" (?)
"Don't think about it, be for sure"

Game 10 - Southeastern Louisiana at LSU

February 26 at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA
espn3.com (LSU sports radio 98.1 feed)

If you're a fan of good pitching and defense, then it's probably best you and what looked like most of the state of Louisiana missed this one. LSU scored twice in the bottom of the eighth on a Jake Fraley two-run triple and won 9-8. There were six errors (three for each team), 16 walks allowed, six wild pitches thrown and a hit batsman.

Most importantly, we have season-long tryouts for the 300 Game Season All-Name Team and the first two players were added during this game.

1. Webb Bobo, a Southeastern Louisiana sophomore, who had a pinch-hit, two-run single in the Lions' five-run fifth.
2. Parker Bugg, LSU's sophomore right-hander, who allowed an earned run and threw two of the wild pitches, but also struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

I might re-name the team the Webb Bobo All Stars.

Game 9 - Savannah State at Alabama

February 24 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, Hoover, AL
SEC Network (The Tide 99.1 radio)

I visited Hoover, back in June, 2012, and met Sparkles

I bet she(he?) is still as beautiful/handsome as the day I saw/poked her(him?) repeatedly with a celery stalk.

Anyway, the Tigers and Tide played game one of a doubleheader and Savannah State starter Ryan Doyle was not good. The senior right-hander allowed six earned, walked three and hit two batters in two innings. He served up a second-inning grand slam to Casey Hughston that landed.....somewhere. The camera used by 99.1 and espn3.com was being run by Hughston's mother Deloris? I'm not sure because this is what I saw while announcer Lee Tracy described the ball going over the wall.

Other things besides the ball, the right fielder and the wall not pictured: Savannah State head coach Carlton Hardy preparing the wheelbarrow that he'll use to remove Doyle from the game.

Hughston is red-hot to start the year (21-for-33, .636 average with 15 RBIs), and his two hits in a 4-2 Alabama victory in the nightcap gave him seven multi-hit games.

The sophomore is at the forefront of a Tide offense averaging nine runs during a 6-2 start.

Games 7 and 8 - Sunday in the SEC

Game 8 - Miami (Fla.) at Florida
February 22 at McKethan Stadium, Gainesville, FL
SEC Network

The Gators had a combined no-hitter going through 6 2/3 innings before Brandon Lopez Carleverett'd with two outs in the seventh and broke it up. Dave Dunning stated and went five no-hit innings to pick up the win and four pitchers joined him to only allow three singles as Florida took the three-game series.

Either Gators' coach Kevin O'Sullivan's nickname is "Sully" or the SEC Network announcers had the wrong guy all day.

Another great Baseball Phrase from this one:

"Gap integrity"


Game 7 - Northeastern at South Carolina
February 22 at Carolina Stadium in Columbia, SC
SEC Network

The Gamecocks used a five-run fifth (freshman Alex Destino's three-run home run was the big hit) to finish off the sweep and win their sixth straight with a 6-4 victory.

Couple quick notes:

* SEC Network color man Trey Dyson said "situational hitting" eight times during the eighth and ninth innings alone. What is situational hitting and does it need to be pointed out? Every time a pitch is thrown in a baseball game a situation is occurring.

A few examples:

- Man at second, nobody out: situation.
- Runner at first is forced at second on a slow ground ball to shortstop? That was also a situation. Now there's a new runner at first and he's part of a new situation.
- Bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the eighth, cotton candy vendor shouts "cotton candy here!", Taylor (age 6) in section 117 isn't allowed to have a bag because he's already had two bags plus a hot dog and a souvenir soda and Dippin' Dots:

SITUATION.

* The South Carolina logo stinks

Game 6 - Penn State at Texas A&M

February 20 at Blue Bell Park, College Station, TX
SEC Network

A&M's pitching staff came into the night having thrown 17 consecutive scoreless innings and the Aggies added seven more innings to that Friday in a 9-3 victory.

A.J. Minter had some A.J. Burnett in him, walking five, but with consistent mid-90s fastballs he also struck out nine Nittany Lions in five innings to pick up his second win. The Aggies have been swinging the bats (averaging over 11 runs) and the top five in the order Friday went 9-for-18, led by No. 3 hitter Mitchell Nau (3-for-3, two doubles, hitting .583) and Nick Banks, who had four RBIs out of the five-hole.

SEC Network color man Mark Johnson is one of the greats of our time. This was my first time listening to him and he had a solid night.

Johnson's Top 5 phrases

1. "I give him a lot of credit" - (said seven times)
2. "My hat goes off to him" - (4)
3. "Come-atcha stuff" - (2)
4. "You gotta be able to laugh. You can't be the guy who goes under the dirt and says 'I'm terrible'"
5. "Wipe-up guy"

Last thing, courtesy of the SEC Network, which had this graphic on the screen before the bottom of the first:

What a lineup!

Nau and Michael Barash sharing the catching duties, though not as a platoon. Five infielders, two outfielders, and A&M still picked up a convincing victory.

I give them a lot of credit.

Games 4 and 5 - It's cold in Mississippi!

Game 5 - Marshall at Mississippi State
February 20 at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, MS
SEC Network

Dudy Noble holds the current on-campus record for single-game attendance (15,586). There were chilly conditions in Starkville (game-time temperature was 37 degrees) Friday and a long camera shot at the stands before the bottom of the fourth allowed me to count Friday's attendance: 49.


Game 4 - Wright State at Mississippi
February 20 at Swayze Field in Oxford MS
SEC Network

David Dellucci, who came over at trade deadline and won an AL pennant with the 2003 Yankees, was the color commentator for this one between the Raiders of the Horizon League and the SEC's Rebels. 

Dellucci hit just .176 in 21 games after the trade, but that's not what's important. I'm a huge fan of the guy for just one reason: he was traded to the Diamondbacks for Raul Mondesi. I can't even describe the feeling I had on July 31, 2003 when I saw David Dellucci on the Yankees' bench instead of Raul Mondesi.

* The themes for today were: it's cold right now, it's going to stay cold for the remainder of the day/weekend/year(?!), it's never usually this cold in this part of the country, is it cold, or WHAT?

* Total mentions of the weather conditions in Oxford through the first five innings of the game: 38

* At one point, Dellucci said the steam coming from Wright State pitcher Robby Sexton's mouth was smoke.

Some other Delluccis from the broadcast:

"Bagels on the scoreboard"
"Angry swings"
"Instant elevation"
"Small ball approach"

Game 3 - Nicholls State at LSU

February 18 at Alex Box Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA
espn3.com (LSU sports radio network feed)

Couple quick things from this game, which Nicholls State won 6-3.

1. Our first installment of Is That A Name?

Nicholls State infielder Eagle Wuestney.

2. The LSU announcers provided out first extensive list of Baseball Phrases.

"Loose arm"
"Whip motion"
"Responding to adversity"
"Baseball maturity"
"Go oppo"
"Fohawk"
"Feast or famine innings"
"His mechanics are quiet"
"Texas leaguer"
"It fell in a Bermuda triangle"
"That's how the baseball gods work"
"You need a little HBA, head and body awareness"
"He had to put some mustard on that throw"

Game 2 - Florida State at Jacksonville

February 18 at John Sessions Stadium in Jacksonville, FL
espn3.com

I covered Cameron Gibson while he was at Salem High School and the Conyers, Georgia native is now a senior and at his third school. The center fielder signed with Georgia Tech out of high school, then transferred to Chipola Junior College in Florida and won the team batting title in 2013 (.352). Last year was his first with the Dolphins and he hit .245 in 54 games, and in the Dolphins' 5-3 win on Wednesday, he led off and had two hits and drew a walk in four trips to the plate. Through four games, Gibson has a .500 on-base percentage and the team's only home run.

Notes

* Florida State struck out 15 times, including eight against JU starter and winning pitcher Jeff Tanner. While Gibson set the table all day for Jacksonville, Noles' lead off man Joseph Delph was asked to take his supper and eat it in the driveway (0-for-4, 4 K).

* 'Crazy Train' by Black Sabbath was playing at John Sessions Stadium before the bottom of the fifth inning. I need to check my notes, but I believe that was the first time that song has ever been played at a sporting event.

* Baseball Phrase heard multiple times during the broadcast:

"Motor out of the box"

Game 1 - Georgia Tech at Georgia Southern

February 17 in Statesboro, GA
espn3.com

Game-time temperature was in the low-30s, which for residents of the state of Georgia is the equivalent of being buried under 17 feet of snow.

With all the milk and bread and gummi worms and microwave tostadas gone from local grocery stores, Statesboro residents had little else to do but head down to Clements Stadium and watch these two in-state rivals.

Southern jumped out to a 4-1 lead, thanks to a three-run fourth - Spencer Duffie had a two-run single in that inning and added a run-scoring single in the sixth. But Tech freshman Kel Johnson ripped a go-ahead grand slam off Tripp Sheppard in the seventh to give the Yellow Jackets the lead for good in a 7-4 victory.

Tripp isn't a name and Kel is barely a name, so I'm comfortable with this outcome.

Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?

I decided a few minutes ago over a big plate of Cheetos to set a goal of watching 300 baseball games by the end of October. Why 300? Because that was Bobby Bonilla's batting average in 1987.

I'm a sports writer for the Rockdale Citizen (rockdalecitizen.com/sports), so from February-through-July I'll be covering various games at the high school, American Legion and summer travel levels. I've also got three other levels of baseball to watch, including college baseball (covering live games for the Citizen and on television) and Major and Minor League Baseball (live and on television).

The goal is to have watched at least (could be more) 300 games by the final game of the World Series.

Here we go.