The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: DANIEL SHIREY Trevor Holder said he hopes to pitch better after giving up four earned runs against LSU. [Click to enlarge]

For the No. 5 Georgia baseball team, the home cooking of Foley Field has been kind to them, to the tune of a 17-4 record.

But with the benefits of home come the distractions of being home.

"The guys are everywhere with families or girlfriends or whatever," head coach David Perno said. "On the road we don't have that issue."

After losing three of their last five home games, the Diamond Dogs (26-6, 8-4 SEC) and their six-game road winning streak head to the Bluegrass State to battle the Kentucky Wildcats (18-13, 4-8 SEC) for three games in Lexington, Ky.

"One of the best things about going on the road is that you eliminate the distractions," senior pitcher Trevor Holder said. "At home last weekend there was so much going on with the record crowds and everything that I think we got too caught up with it and didn't play the game the right way. This weekend will be good for us to get away from everything."

The time on the road will give the team a chance to do some soul searching, to find the team that won the first 14 games of the season - not the team that has been consistently inconsistent during the past week.

Georgia believes winning the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader over Winthrop 13-2 is a big step in returning to their early season form.

"We looked like a completely different team and it's a positive to know that we can turn it up when we need to," Holder said.

Added junior first baseman Rich Poythress: "We need to get back to executing our game plan, and that will be the biggest thing. We have gotten away from doing what we do best, and I think our main goal up there will be to play our kind of baseball, and if we do, I think it will work out for us."

It was that early season form that saw the Diamond Dogs not make foolish errors and receive quality pitching from the entire staff.

"I have to go out there and give my team a chance to win, and I have to pitch better," Holder said. "I want to eliminate the mistakes and just have an overall improvement. I was really disappointed with how I pitched last weekend, and I feel like I let my team down."

Perno expects to leadoff all three games with freshman Peter Verdin, who hit his first career home run Wednesday night against Winthrop, and to keep a similar lineup all three games.

"I think a little continuity on the weekends and having players know they will have 10, 11, 12 at bats - and hopefully that will bring a little continuity up there and will lead to a successful weekend," Perno said.

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