Wildcats battle Bulldogs to open CWS

Arizona baseball head coach Andy Lopez will face a familiar foe in Georgia when opening the Men's College World Series.

In his seven years at Florida, Lopez became familiar with Bulldogs head coach David Perno.

"I know them very well, I know the coach very well, he's a dear friend, dear friends with me and I was in that conference for seven years obviously," Lopez said.

In addition, Perno was on UGA's national championship team in 1990.

While they began the NCAA tournament by hosting a Regional as a No.1 seed, the Bulldogs' second stop on the road to Omaha was similar to the Wildcats'. Georgia and Arizona were the only road teams to win their Super Regionals.

Georgia (43-21), SEC co-champions, advanced to the CWS by winning the Atlanta Super Regional, beating Georgia Tech 7-5 and 5-3. The Yellow Jackets were ranked as high as No. 3 at the time.

"(Georgia is) a good team, they have a very good closer, they have nine tough outs at the plate, they don't really have good long ball numbers but they are very confident at the plate. They are a solid baseball team, very similar to us - very similar to us to be honest with you," Lopez said.

Sophomore closer Will Startup (7-2) is 20th in the nation in saves and has a 2.34 ERA, 30th in the country.

Leading the way for UGA is freshman first baseman Josh Morris, who is poised to set a couple freshman school batting records. Morris is second on the Georgia freshman RBI and home run lists

UA senior third baseman/second baseman Moises Duran didn't know much about the Bulldogs before practice yesterday but was impressed after seeing them on TV.

"I saw them on ESPN against Georgia Tech, and I think they can hit, they are a very good hitting club," Duran said.

The Bulldogs went 19-11 in the SEC, widely regarded as college baseball's top league. Half the teams in the World Series, Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina and LSU, are from the SEC.

The probable starter for Georgia will be either sophomore Michael Hyle (7-2, 3.10 ERA) or junior Sean Ruthven (7-1 2.94 ERA).

On the other side of Arizona's bracket is Texas (55-13), ranked No. 2 and No. 5 ranked Arkansas (44-22). The winner of the UA and UGA game will play the winner of the Longhorn and Razorback game, with the losers of each game also playing.

"Any bracket is a tough one there. If you got out of that one you would be against Miami, LSU and Fullerton. It is very very tough when you are in that environment," Lopez said.

2004 College World Series
Teams to Watch

ARIZONA

35-25-1 Pac-10 ranked No. 12

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