Poythress Named National Hitter Of The Week

Junior first baseman Rich Poythress has been named the Pro-Line Athletic/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Hitter of the Week, according to an announcement today by the NCBWA.

The top-ranked Diamond Dawgs scored four runs in the third and held off No. 22 Clemson, 6-5, this evening at Foley Field. Georgia improved to 23-3 and won for the ninth time in 10 games while Clemson dropped to 18-8.

The Dawgs and Tigers will play again tomorrow at Clemson at 7 p.m. on CSS. LSU visits Foley Field for a three-game series beginning Friday.

The football team practiced for an hour and a half in shorts and shoulder pads in the rain this afternoon.

"We mostly tried to correct mistakes we made during the scrimmage Monday and I thought we did a pretty good job considering how short today was," said head coach Mark Richt.

The Bulldogs did suffer an injury on Monday as defensive end Jeremy Longo went down with a shoulder injury and is expected to miss the rest of the spring. This leaves Georgia with only two healthy defensive ends on scholarship ­Kiante Tripp and Justin Houston. The coaching staff also decided to move a pair of walk-ons from their positions to fill in at defensive end because of the injury situation.

"When June arrives and we've got 20 or so guys returning from injury and about that same number coming in as freshmen, I might be the happiest guy in America," Richt said. "I felt better about the scrimmage after I watched the film than when I was walking off the field (Monday)," said Richt, adding that he could not remember any another time when he had a team at Georgia have five practices in one week during the spring.

"A couple things I pulled from the scrimmage was that Geno (Atkins) is a dominant football player right now and I don't know if anyone can block him. I also noticed Nick Williams is still learning his position, but I like the fact that he tries to run right through people."

Tuesday's practice was actually a make-up practice after Friday's workout last week was rained out. The Bulldogs have practice again on Wednesday and Friday before participating in their final scrimmage of the spring on Saturday morning.

The women’s tennis team maintained its number two spot in the latest Campbell/ITA Top 25 Rankings, released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association today.

The Bulldogs are 15-2 overall and lead the Southeastern Conference with a 5-1 mark in league play. Up next, Georgia will go on the road against No. 29 Auburn Friday and then No. 25 Alabama Sunday.

Georgia Lady Bulldog signee Jasmine Hassell, a 6-2, forward from Wilson Central High School in Lebanon, Tenn., will take part in the two premier girls' basketball high school All-America games this week.

Hassell, Tennessee's Miss Basketball for Class AAA as both a junior and a senior, will play in the McDonald's All-America game in Miami on Wednesday before traveling to St. Louis for the WBCA's contest on Saturday.

Wednesday's McDonald's contest will be televised live on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m. The WBCA event is being held in conjunction with the NCAA Women's Final Four.