Diamond Dawgs’ Weekly Recap: Georgia goes 3-1 over the weekend to begin their 2025 season

It’s officially baseball season Dawg fans as the Diamond Dawgs kicked off their highly anticipated 2025 season on Friday and wrapped up their opening four-game stretch on Sunday. Let’s get into it.

The Diamond Dawgs got off to a dominant start in game one against the Bobcats of Quinnipiac, rattling off five runs in the first. Ryland Zaborowski capped things off in the inning with a three-run double, scoring Devin Obee, Slate Alford, and Robbie Burnett. Georgia would get the bats going once again in the bottom of the third as Henry Hunter ripped a ground rule double, scoring Burnett to extend the Dawgs’ lead to 6-1. A few innings later in the sixth, Devin Obee connected for an opposite-field home run to push the lead to 7-1, it would be Obee’s and the Dawgs’ first big fly of the year. Georgia would cap off their impressive offensive showing in the seventh with Robbie Burnett scoring Tre Phelps on an RBI double and Devin Obee would later score Burnett on a sac-fly to put things to the eventual final score of 9-1. Paul Farley and Zach Harris got things done on the mound for the Dawgs in game one as the two combined for six strikeouts and one earned run while allowing just four hits.

On Saturday, Georgia started quickly again in game two against the Bobcats as Slate Alford and Devin Obee earned RBIs in the first inning to give the Dawgs the early 2-0 lead. A few innings later in the fourth, the Bobcats battled their way back, putting up three runs to take a 3-2 lead. Georgia would battle back themselves in the sixth as Nolan McCarthy brought in Kolby Branch on an RBI triple to tie things up at three a piece. An inning later in the seventh, Ryland Zaborowski would score Slate Alford on an RBI single to take the 4-3 lead over the Bobcats. Quinnipiac would respond with their bats in the bottom of the seventh, tying things up at 4-4 going into the top of the eighth. It was in the top of the eighth where the Dawgs put the eventual nail in the coffin for the Bobcats as both Robbie Burnett and Slate Alford hit RBI singles to give Georgia the eventual 7-4 win.

Following their sweep of the Bobcats, the Dawgs would turn right back around to conclude their Saturday doubleheader against the Seahawks of UNCW. Not a whole lot of action took place in the first few innings of this one as both teams were scoreless through three. That was until the top of the fourth when Henry Hunter hit an RBI single to advance Slate Alford to third and score Tre Phelps to give Georgia the early 1-0 lead. Alford would later score on a balk to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Seahawks would respond with a couple of runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to tie things up at 2-2. The tie wouldn’t last long though as Tre Phelps would rope an RBI single in the top of the fifth, scoring Kolby Branch to reclaim the lead at 3-2.

The Seahawks wouldn’t go down easily though, as Alec Demartino hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to tie things up at 3-3. Fortunately, the Dawgs had plenty of fight in them as well, putting up three more runs in the top of the seventh with Robbie Burnett, Henry Hunter, and Devin Obee all earning RBIs to put things at 6-3. Georgia would go on to add one more run in the eighth on a Henry Hunter walk for the eventual 7-3 win.

As far as pitching in this one, Brian Zeldin, Alton Davis II, and Brian Curley all had solid days on the mound. Davis II led the team in strikeouts with seven while Brian Curley went viral for absolutely humming his 100 mph fastball on a delayed delivery, check it out.

The Diamond Dawgs concluded their weekend of play on Sunday, as they looked to sweep the Seahawks of UNCW to advance to 4-0 on the young season. Unfortunately, things would not turn out that way as Georgia struggled with the bats. The Diamond Dawgs would muster up just two hits through nine innings as they were hitless through the first seven. Georgia would manage to put a couple of runs on the board in the eighth with Devin Obee launching his second homer of the season.

The Dawgs would add on one more run on a Slate Alford HBP, but the Seahawks would prove to be too much, earning the 6-2 win. Georgia will spend a much-needed rest day today before resuming play Tuesday against the in-state Kennesaw State Owls as they look to get back on track. That’s all for this edition of Diamond Dawgs’ weekly recap. As always, Go Dawgs!