Tell Georgia center fielder Matt Cerione that baseball isn’t intense and you might think twice before you say it again.

Although baseball doesn’t have the collisions football does, Cerione said intensity is something he’s always brought to his game.

“It’s the way I’ve played my whole life,” Cerione said. “I’ve always been intense, and I have a great passion for the game. I love to play and I love to win and compete.”

Cerione’s teammates often find themselves using his intensity to get energized themselves. Whenever he makes a great play in the outfield or gets a hit, his team often uses those as a spark to get their offense started.

“His intensity gets our whole team fired up … he plays with a lot of passion,” freshman third baseman Colby May said. “Especially when he makes a big play or gets a big hit, he just goes crazy. It shows up after that and it seems like we all get fired up and do a lot better.”

Cerione’s defensive prowess is one of the best in the SEC, and is more prideful of it than his batting skills.

“I feel like my defense, I take that very personal,” he said. “Anybody in [our] lineup can put the ball out of the park at anytime, so I’m not worried about me trying to do that.”

The name Cerione is pronounced like Suh-ro-knee, which led to a nickname “Rice.” When you say “Rice-Cerione,” it sounds like nothing other than the San Francisco treat itself.

“[Assistant] coach [Jason] Eller and a bunch of the kids on the team came up with it last year and it kind of stuck,” Cerione said. “It’s just what everyone calls me now.”

But last fall, Cerione ran into trouble off the field with the law for underage possession of alcohol, which forced him to miss the first six games of this season.

“It was tough to sit out and it was a tough time for me, but I got through it,” Cerione said. “I put it behind me, but it made me put a lot of things in perspective. You just have to be careful of what you do and be smart.”

When Cerione returned from his suspension he came back with a vengeance, going 7-10 with 7 RBIs in the last two games of the Diamond Dogs’ trip to Arizona. He cooled off briefly but has found his swing again.

“He had a great start, a quick start, but then he scuffled a little bit and he seems to be getting his confidence back,” Perno said. “When he’s struggling he doesn’t bring that energy that our team thrives off of. That’s what I’m pleased about seeing him getting going again.”