Good morning, DawgNation. Unfortunately there was disappointing news for Georgia’s baseball team on Monday.
The Diamond Dawgs found out they’ll be without sophomore outfielder Henry Allen for the rest of the season after Allen injured his knee in this past weekend’s series against Missouri.
Allen was hitting .321 with 13 home runs.
His injury is a rare blemish on what has otherwise been a stellar run as of late for UGA.
Georgia is ranked fifth in the country currently after sweeping the series against the Tigers.
However, even with Allen’s injury, the Diamond Dawgs remain among the favorites to earn a berth in the College World Series.
Elsewhere in football, we had an interesting conversation on “DawgNation Daily” on Monday about how UGA can best use the amazing collection of talent the program has amassed at tight end. This topic was reignited after 5-star tight end Jaxon Dollar committed to the Bulldogs last week.
It seems there’s excitement around DawgNation that the program can heavily lean into this position, and utilize it to upgrade the overall offensive performance and generate more explosive plays.
It will be fun to see that play out this fall.
Check out the rest of our coverage below.
Trivia time
How many SEC series has Georgia baseball won this season?
Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Georgia baseball loses one of its top hitters for rest of the season
Georgia baseball announced Monday that Allen will miss the rest of the season with a right knee injury he sustained while running to first base in Friday’s 4-0 win against Missouri.
Allen had appeared in 46 games and made 42 starts — with 40 of those in left field, one at first base and one at second base. He had played some at third base, too.
Allen is third on the team with 15 home runs, fourth in batting average (.321) and fifth in slugging percentage (.635) and RBIs (41).
The Bulldogs (38-11 overall, 18-6 SEC) have a 2½-game lead in the SEC with two conference series left to play. They host LSU this weekend before heading to Auburn on May 14.
It dominated during a brutal conference road stretch in April, then didn’t let up when returning home to Foley Field.
“I think with this team, they feel the pressure, they rise to the occasion,” Branch said April 30, the day before the Bulldogs hosted Missouri for a three-game series. “So, part of that message needs to be brought into the locker room, you know, with a team like Missouri, and you say, there’s pressure, you know, you go take care of business, you stay in first place.”
No. 5 Georgia (38-11 overall, 18-6 SEC) did just that, winning 4-0 Friday and earning run-rule victories Saturday and Sunday. After sweeping the Tigers, the Bulldogs have a 2½-game lead on Texas A&M and Texas in the conference standings, putting them in the driver’s seat to claim the regular season championship for the first time since 2007-08.
The roster that won the SEC regular season in 2008 featured first-round draft picks Gordon Beckham and Joshua Fields. The Bulldogs reached the College World Series finals that year.
Georgia also advanced to the College World Series in 2006 and won it in 1990. The Bulldogs were the regular-season SEC co-champs in 2004 and earned regular-season SEC titles in 2001, 1954, 1953 and 1933. The Bulldogs have never won the SEC Tournament, which will be played May 19-24.
The Diamond Dawgs will be without sophomore outfielder Henry Allen for the rest of the season.
Quote of the day
Branch on Allen before the season:
“(He) hits the snot out of the ball.”
Former Bulldog Kyle Farmer relishing past three months with Braves
Maybe it’s a little romantic, a tad bit corny even. Realization of childhood dreams can be that way, though.
And so it was after the top of the ninth inning Friday at Coors Field. Kyle Farmer, a 35-year-old veteran of this game and former Georgia baseball star, took his glove and trotted out to play shortstop with the Braves trying to hold on for an 8-6 win over the Rockies.
Hold on they did, when Mickey Moniak swung at the first pitch with two outs and hit a sharp grounder to Farmer, who threw to first to seal the victory.
“I called my dad (Friday) night — he stayed up to watch the game — and I’m like, ‘Do you remember me like being in the front yard at like, 6 years old, wanting to play shortstop for the Atlanta Braves?’ And then I got to go out there and do it,” Farmer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday. “That’s all I could think about last night, was being out there. And I was like, ‘This is so cool.’ I am just living my dream right now. Growing up as a little kid, I’ve always wanted to do that.”
Farmer joined the Braves in spring training as an infielder, quite honestly in the twilight of a professional baseball journey that began as an eighth-round pick by the Dodgers in 2013. He likes to tell the tales of how he and his high school buddies attended Braves games at Turner Field when he was a star quarterback and baseball player at Marist and how he remained a Braves fan while playing for Georgia in college.
Since making his debut with the Dodgers in 2017, Farmer has played for the Reds and Twins and, last season, the Rockies. The Braves gave him a minor-league contract in February, then a split contract in March, meaning a certain salary at the minor-league level and a higher one if he made the MLB roster.
