The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: Sports

MCREE [Click to enlarge]

On the eve of tonight's chance to set the school record for best start to a season, the No. 10 Georgia baseball team was dealt a major blow to its pitching staff.

Junior starter Alex McRee has been diagnosed with mononucleosis and will miss anywhere from two to four weeks. He will miss Saturday's start against Quinnipiac and is doubtful for next Saturday's start at Alabama.

While other teams might crumble under the pressure of replacing their Saturday starter a mere two weeks into the season, the Diamond Dogs (9-0) are remaining confident.

"It's a really good situation for us because in previous years if we had lost our No. 2 starter this early in the year we would have panicked," head coach David Perno said. "But there is no panic here. We feel bad for Alex, but we have pitchers that can pick up the slack for us."

McRee won his first two starts (against Youngstown State and at Arizona) without allowing a run, but walked two batters in the fifth inning of Saturday's start in Tucson as he started to run out of gas because of his illness.

To fill in for McRee, sophomore Justin Grimm (1-0) and senior Jason Leaver (2-0) will pitch Saturday and Sunday respectively.

But despite the bad news, the team still has an opportunity to stand alone in the Georgia record book.

By winning their first nine games of the season, the Diamond Dogs tied the 1911 team for best start to a season and will look to set a new high water mark tonight.

"It means a lot," Perno said. "I told them that all those teams that put [College] World Series emblems on that fence did something that other teams hadn't and this is one of those things. It is a great opportunity. "

Added catcher Bryce Massanari: "It's cool. It hasn't happened since 1911, which is a really long time and it will be awesome to break that record and be a part of the team that did that."

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