Dogs baseball faces Creighton in NCAA opener

CORVALLIS, ORE. -- Georgia opens up the NCAA Corvallis Regional Friday at 4 p.m. EDT when it battles No. 25 Creighton at Goss Stadium.

Georgia held a one-hour practice Thursday at Goss Stadium that consists of a field turf infield and a grass outfield. Earlier this week in Athens, Georgia spent a portion of two of its workouts on the football team's field turf practice fields to get used to playing on this surface.

The Bulldogs official 27-man postseason roster has been reduced by one with the departure of senior relief pitcher John Herman. The 6-5, 210-pound native of Atlanta, who earned a finance degree last year, accepted a job with Regions Bank and did not make the trip. He made 22 appearances this year and posted a 1-3 record and 6.97 ERA in 20.2 innings pitched. In what amounted to his last career appearance, the right-hander went a career-high 3.1 scoreless innings against third-ranked Florida at the SEC Tournament on May 28 in Hoover, Ala. Herman is in the process of moving to Alabama this week.

"John told me he had accepted a position with a bank, and he needed to get ready to move and was starting Monday," said Georgia coach David Perno. "I wished him well and thanked him for his contributions to the program. He's been with us since 2007 and got to pitch a little last year and then was doing a lot more this year. He had his best outing at the SEC Tournament last week."

The Bulldogs are making their 10th overall NCAA regional bid including their sixth under Perno. All Georgia baseball games can be heard live on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network from IMG College. They can be heard on WRFC 960 AM and 1230 AM, The Fan2 in Atlanta plus online at www.georgiadogs.com. Every game of the NCAA Corvallis Regional will be available on ESPN3.com.

On Friday, the Bulldogs will start junior right-hander Michael Palazzone (10-4, 3.20 ERA) while the BlueJays counter with senior right-hander Jonas Dufek (11-1, 2.17 ERA). Offensively, Georgia is paced by sophomore shortstop Kyle Farmer (.304-7-53), junior second baseman Levi Hyams (.318-4-37) and junior left fielder Zach Cone (.284-3-32). Georgia is one of the SEC's top defensive clubs and is on pace to set a school record with a .974 fielding percentage. Creighton's lineup features senior outfielder Trevor Adams who is batting .392 with 14 home runs and 57 RBI, all team-highs. Defensively, they rank among the nation's top teams at .980.

The host and top seeded Beavers (38-17) battle No. 4 seed Arkansas Little-Rock (24-32) at 9 p.m. ET Friday. The Coravallis Regional is one of 16 taking place around the country features four teams playing in a double-elimination format conducted from June 3-6.