The No. 14 Georgia baseball team entered the 2009 season with more questions than answers.

How would the freshmen react under the big lights? How would the offense respond after losing Gordon Beckham, Ryan Peisel and Matt Olson? Can the pitching staff survive the loss of the nation’s best closer – Joshua Fields?

Well so far, the answers are a resounding “just fine, thank you.”

The freshmen, though only three games into the season, have performed above and beyond expectations, beginning with leadoff man Johnathan Taylor, named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday.

“Its unbelievable,” head coach David Perno said of Taylor’s debut. “He understands and he gets it. He knows who he is and he plays to his identity. He hits the ball on the ground, he hits it the other way, he gets bunts down, he runs the bases and he just plays the game the right way.”

Taylor finished the weekend with an .800 batting average and a .867 on-base percentage. He leads the conference in batting average, OBP, hits (eight) and runs (five).

As for the rest of the freshmen, Colby May and Chase Davidson each hit the first home runs of their careers and May and Zach Cone are tied for fourth on the team in RBI with four apiece.

The offense scored a combined 41 runs over the weekend, led by veterans Rich Poythress and Joey Lewis, who are first and second on the team in RBI, respectively.

As for the pitching staff, the starting staff of Trevor Holder, Alex McRee and Justin Grimm pitched 16.2 innings and allowed only two earned runs.

The staff as a whole has an ERA of 1.33 and allowed only four earned runs all weekend.

The Diamond Dogs look to continue their early season success tonight and on Wednesday against Presbyterian with freshman Cecil Tanner starting tonight and senior Jason Leaver to start on Wednesday.