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Georgia (30-22) defeated East Tennessee State (22-30) 7-4 in an evening game that was the final regular season matchup at home.

The Diamond Dogs designated Tuesday as a staff night, and sent eight pitchers to the mound, with the longest outing at two innings, and the shortest at one-third of the inning.

Having had two days off as a result of Sunday’s rainout, Georgia head coach David Perno used the night to warm his pitchers up for this weekend’s series at Alabama and next weekend’s SEC tournament.

“We needed to pitch that many guys. You gotta get them ready. You can’t expect them to do good things in the SEC tournament if you don’t give them time leading into it,

It was all smiles for the Georgia baseball team, as 11 seniors were honored Tuesday night, and then enjoyed an early lead which carried them to a 7-4 victory over ESU.. EVAN STICHLER/Staff

and so any time you’re running eight, nine guys out there, it can get a little hairy. And they did a great job. The last seven guys don’t walk anybody, and we strike out nine, and really proud of some of these young arms, and some veterans that are starting to come back,” Perno said.

After giving up an early run on two singles and two walks in the second, the Diamond Dogs bounced back with the help of three doubles between the second and third innings, earning two runs in both innings and a solid 4-1 lead.

The early lead gave the Diamond Dogs a different mentality throughout the game than if they had spent much time trailing.

“It’s always good to get a strong lead in the beginning, because then you’re more relaxed in the game,” Georgia shortstop Kyle Farmer said. “You’re not pressing, and it’s more fun when you’re winning and you’re up, because you’re not pressing [and] having a good time.”

The Buccaneers partially closed the margin with leadoff home runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.

But the Diamond Dogs broke the game open in the sixth. With the bases loaded, Farmer tripled to score three runs. The Buccaneers would only score one more run after the Diamond Dogs were able to take advantage of their sixth inning mistake.

“We get two good at bats from [right fielder Kevin] Ruiz and [second baseman] Levi [Hyams], and then they walk [third baseman] Curt [Powell],” Perno said. “And boom, Kyle makes them pay.”

Because he hit the ball to deep center, the bases were cleared after Farmer reached second. But he decided to go on to third anyway.

“I saw him bobble it in the outfield and I was like, why not,” Farmer said. “I don’t think I’ve hit many triples before, but it’s always good to slide in headfirst into third, and give the third base coach a high-five.”

As a result of not having as quick of a turnaround as they did with most weekday games after weekend series, the Diamond Dogs were able to focus in on their opponent and what was necessary to win.

“We were definitely a lot more intense and fresher than we probably would’ve been had we spent a lot of juice on Sunday,” Perno said.

With an even 13-13 record, putting them fourth in the East and sixth in the conference, the Diamond Dogs enter their last SEC series guaranteed a spot in the ten-team SEC tournament, which begins a week from Tuesday in Hoover, Ala.

But their road through those games, and toward the NCAA tournament, does not run through Foley Field.

However, the Diamond Dogs don’t expect their away status to affect their play.

“If we take care of this weekend, the sky’s the limit,” Farmer said. “We’re gonna be road warriors, so we’re all on the road the season out. It was good to close out the… last home game with a win.”

In fact, the team believes that road games will help their postseason hopes, even though they’re only 6-10 away from Foley Field this season.

“We like being on the road, because we like being the underdog at people’s home places, and it’s gonna be a good time,” said catcher Brett DeLoach, who led the team with three hits and had one RBI. “We’re looking forward to it.”

With so much baseball left to play, and a record that puts them three games behind Ole Miss, the last ranked team in the Collegiate Baseball poll, the Diamond Dogs are far from certain of a spot in the 64-team NCAA tournament. But such a position is also one that the team feels they can work to their advantage.

“I feel like our team performs well under pressure,” DeLoach said. “It instills a mentality in us that we have to be locked in. We have to be ready to focus and ready to play.”

This year’s team easily compares to last season’s. The 2011 Diamond Dogs were almost certainly out of the NCAA tournament when they headed to Birmingham with a 28-28 record.

But the team won three games of five, including handing eventual champion South Carolina their final loss of the season, punching their ticket to a regional along the way.

“We took the mentality last year toward the end of the season where we knew we had to go to the SEC tournament and we had to win games just to make it to a regional,” DeLoach said. [We would] take every game like it was our last one, because you never knew if it could be.”

DeLoach also drew a comparison to the 2010 South Carolina team, which entered the NCAA tournament with a 44-15 record, having lost both games in which it appeared in the SEC tournament. But the Gamecocks went on a 10-1 run in the NCAA tournament to become national champions.

“No one ever pictured them winning the national championship, and they just got hot at the right time,” DeLoach said. “That’s all it takes, is get hot at the end of the year, and making a run, and you can do great things.”

However valuable a final 15-14 or 16-13 record would be for postseason prospects, it would also represent a significant accomplishment on its own, which Georgia would share with South Carolina and Florida.

“If we go and take care of business, we got a chance to be one of three SEC teams that has had winning conference records in consecutive years,” Perno said. “All that we’ve been through and struggles, we’ve got a chance to have another winning conference record. And that’s what the opportunity is. Hopefully we’ll take advantage.”

Of course, to accomplish any and all of their goals, the Diamond Dogs will have to continue to perform like the team that has a 6-2 record in their last eight games. But if the Diamond Dogs start out the rest of their season winning, more winning will follow.

“My dad always says winning takes care of everything. So when you win, everything’s rolling,” Farmer said. “Everything’s good, everybody’s happy, and if everybody’s happy, the team’s gonna win.”

California remained as the No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA poll with Arizona State behind at the second spot. Alabama takes the third slot followed by Oklahoma at No. 4 and Tennessee at No. 5.

California also claims the No. 1 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll while Arizona State grabs No. 2. Alabama follows at No. 3 as Oklahoma and Tennessee round out the top five.

Georgia (41-15) is the top seed in the Athens Regional, as the Bulldogs host North Carolina (41-13) of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion Georgia Southern (42-18) and Big South Tournament champion Coastal Carolina (43-18).

The regional round of play features a four-team double elimination bracket, and the Bulldogs’ opening round contest will come against Coastal Carolina at 5 p.m., on Friday. North Carolina and Georgia Southern will play in the opening game of the Athens Regional at 2:30 p.m.

Junior Kyle James, a distance runner from Marietta, and senior Carin Walker, a jumper/sprinter from Alpharetta, joined a host of the league’s other community service standouts on this year’s team.

James competed in both the 5000-meter run and the 10,000 over the weekend at his first SEC Championships while Walker, a four-time scorer at different SEC meets throughout her career, battled in the most competitive women’s high jump competition in league history. Five entrants cleared 6 feet, including Georgia’s Saniel Atkinson.

Here are the contributions James and Walker have made to their communities:

Kyle James, Jr., Distance (Marietta, Ga.)

·        Volunteered for the Leonard Leadership Scholars Program, which is a selective two-year leadership program in UGA’s Terry College of Business. There are academic and extra-curricular aspects of the program, but the highlight of his participation in the program has been the service-learning component.  James and other volunteers have partnered with a local alternative high school, Classic City High School, for a 16-month consulting project where their goal is to assist the school in creating a better community for the students as well as helping everyone receive a high school diploma.  The 30-person program has been split into 6 teams and James is a team leader for the duration of the project.

·        Within the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (S.A.A.C.), this was James’ first year as a team representative for the cross country and track and field teams and he has been a bridge between the athletic department/administration, the team and the greater Athens community.

The most rewarding experiences have been helping out with the Special Olympics day at Foley Field in 2011, giving Barrow Elementary a check to help families during Thanksgiving, and assisting withSoles for Souls this year.

·        James, along with some classmates, assisted a neighborhood group “Friends of Five Points” to put on their annual Easter egg hunt.

·       Member of the Dean’s List at UGA.

Carin Walker, Sr., Jumps/Sprints (Alpharetta, Ga.)

·        Helped collect food for the SEC Together We Can Drive.

·        Named to Coca-Cola Community All-American team for being a student-athlete who ismaking a difference in her community

·        Coordinated and volunteered at Track Day at Barrow Elementary School, which neighbors Georgia’s track, as current Bulldogs instructed students in track and field basics.

·        Volunteered for UGA’s Track Camp, which benefits area children during the summer.

·        Worked on the local “Soles for Souls” Shoe Drive, which collects a variety of shoes for needy people in the area.

·        Member of the Dean’s List and majoring in Mass Media Arts which is in the Grady School of Journalism.

·        Named to 2010 SEC Academic Honor Roll as well as the 2009 SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll.

·        Earned an internship with an L.A. production company called A Common Thread through the Grady School.

The Bulldogs will return to action at the NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 24-26.

The new e-transcript program, which is powered by Avow Systems Inc., allows any student or alumnus with an 810 identification number to request a certified PDF of their transcripts sent either to themselves or to a third party—whether to a future employer or another school or college. Students and alumni who have been issued an 810 number can log into the new system.

Jan Hathcote

“Prior to launching the e-transcript service, we required our students and alumni to send us a letter on paper requesting their transcripts be sent, then we would process their request in our office and mail a paper transcript to the recipient,” said Jan Hathcote, registrar for UGA. “The entire process took about two weeks, sometimes longer, depending on how much time it took the request to arrive in the mail and for the return mail to get to its destination.”

Last fall, following Hathcote’s new appointment as registrar in summer 2011, her office was able to incorporate the first step in the e-transcript process for users to send a request through an online form, and a paper transcript was generated by the registrar’s office and sent via first-class U.S. mail to the recipient.

“This sped up the process by several days on the front end, but the process still wasn’t as efficient as we envisioned,” said Hathcote. “We wanted to provide a better service that was much more efficient while maintaining security and reliability.

On May 1, Hathcote and her staff were able to take the next step in providing a fully integrated electronic process. Partnering with Avow Systems Inc., an authentic document delivery service company, the new e-transcript system allows the requester to order the transcript online and receive a certified PDF within a matter of minutes, cutting down the turnaround time by several days. The certified PDF allows only authenticated users—those users designated by the person requesting the transcript—to log in and access the student transcript.

“We had a student come into our office who needed his transcript for a job interview two days later. We were able to provide him with his transcript electronically within a couple of minutes,” said Hathcote, “and he was able to send his transcript simultaneously in a secure, certified PDF format to the person who was interviewing him as well.”

An additional service included by Avow provides tracking capabilities so that the user knows the exact location of the transcript. This alleviates the anxiety of knowing if records have been sent and received appropriately. It also allows students to attach supplemental documents, such as résumé, letters of reference and applications along with their transcripts.

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Gullickson has been named the ITA Southeast Region Senior of the Year while Herring is the ITA Southeast Region Rookie of the Year. These awards go to the top student-athletes from this region, which includes the states of Georgia and Florida.  The country is divided in to 12 regions, and they are now up for the ITA National Awards. Currently ranked No. 7 nationally, Gullickson owns a team-best 33-8 singles record and 30-11 mark in doubles. Herring is ranked No. 70 with a 29-8 singles record and 27-12 in doubles.

Gullickson is a six-time All-American with a career record of 123-33 in singles including the 2010 NCAA title and 101-40 in doubles. Gullickson’s 224 career wins is a school record. She has a chance to become the school’s first-ever eight-time All-American. Following the NCAA team competition, Gullickson is in the NCAA singles and doubles field. She has served as the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles player in the lineup throughout her Bulldog career.

Earlier this spring, Herring was named the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league coaches. An All-SEC selection, she played mostly No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles for the Bulldogs. Herring has tallied a team-best seven match-clinching victories. She is 13-3 at No. 2 singles and 12-4 at No. 2 doubles this year.

“We’re very proud of Chelsey and Lauren for being honored by the ITA,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. “Both are very deserving and have had a fine season in helping the team maintain a ranking in the top six in the country.  For Chelsey, this is the latest honor in her exceptional career as a Bulldog.”

Gullickson is the ninth Bulldog in school history to win to be named ITA Regional Senior of the Year and the first since Natalie Frazier in 2007. Herring is the fifth Bulldog to be tabbed ITA Regional Rookie of the Year and the first since Gullickson in 2009.

The Bulldogs (23-4) are the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Championships and are in the Round of 16 here in Athens after registering a pair of wins this past weekend at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Georgia will face the No. 11 seed Texas (19-7) here on Thursday at 4 p.m. Back in February at the ITA National Team Indoors in Virginia, Georgia posted a 4-2 win over Texas.

The settlement agreement pitting former professor Flynn Warren Jr., the University and the Board of Regents against the NABP involved accusations of copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. In the agreement signed by the parties on April 20, UGA and Warren consented to several conditions, including promising to no longer copy or disseminate NABP copyrighted material and ensure an attorney in the University Office of Legal Affairs will monitor this compliance.

WARREN

As part of the agreement NABP voluntarily dismissed with prejudice its lawsuit against current pharmacy professor Henry Cobb, who was accused of copyright infringement in the suit. The lawsuit accused the professors of distributing copyrighted test questions which forced the pharmacy licensure exam to be suspended nationwide for more than two months.

The controversy began in August 2007, when the NAPB filed a case against Warren and the Regents for copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract. As a pharmacy professor at the University until his retirement one month before the case was filed, Warren taught a review course for two pharmacy exams — the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, or NAPLEX, and the Georgia Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination — that was open to students at the University as well as other institutions.

“In 2007, NABP became aware of facts suggesting that the now former University faculty member obtained and distributed, at the University and at other colleges of pharmacy where he taught a board review course, actual or closely paraphrased questions from the NAPLEX and MPJE which allegedly infringed on the NABP ownership rights in the examinations,” the University wrote in a statement released Monday, as required by the settlement. “Upon learning of this, the College of Pharmacy immediately discontinued use of the disputed materials and took numerous specific precautions to ensure that such materials would not be used in future pharmacy board review courses at the University of Georgia. In the settlement, the University has affirmed its commitment to work with the NABP to ensure respect for the NABP’s rights and for the confidentiality of the NABP examinations among pharmacy school faculty and students.”

According to the lawsuit, Warren allegedly asked students to memorize questions from the NAPLEX and share them with him after taking the test. He then compiled the questions into a review packet, which were part of course materials for the review which were sold for $100. Warren was accused of copyright infringement because the NABP owns the copyrights to the test questions, some of which appeared word for word in Warren’s review materials. He was accused of misappropriation of trade secrets because the questions evaluate the competency of test-takers, and the questions’ value comes from them being unknown to students.

The breach of contract charge refers to a 1995 settlement from a similar dispute in which Warren and the University signed a contract agreeing not to infringe on the use of NABP copyrighted materials. The NABP suspended administration of the NAPLEX from Aug. 25 to Oct. 5, 2007, until it was able to create a new version.

Since the lawsuit began, there have been minor changes. In October 2007, five Pharmacy faculty were added to the lawsuit and all but one had the charges dismissed in April 2008. The judge ruled Cobb, who had taught at least one review course with Warren and allegedly helped compile materials, could still be liable for copyright infringement.

NABP/UGA-Flynn Warren Settlement Agreement
See the court documents from the lawsuit here.
The initial story about the case is found here.

Head coach Manuel Diaz – now in his 24^th season at the helm of the Bulldogs – collected the sixth Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year honor of his career, while Will Glenn earned his second Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year award since 2010.

Meanwhile, Wil Spencer was named the region’s Senior of the Year and freshman Nathan Pasha earned Rookie of the Year honors. All regional award winners are automatically eligible for the national award in their respective categories, which will be announced on May 22 during the NCAA Championships in Athens.

Diaz and Glenn led Georgia to a 20-2 regular season and the program’s eighth SEC Tournament title in 2012, while Diaz collected the 550^th win of his career this season vs. Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs reached the semifinals of the ITA National Indoors in Charlottesville, Va., and have gone 12-2 against the ITA top-25 this season.

Spencer has held down the No. 1 singles position for the Bulldogs for the second straight season, posting an overall record of 30-11 with a team-high 19 wins over ranked opponents. Spencer was also honored by the ITA in 2011, as he took home the Southeast Region’s Arthur Ashe/Osuna Award for Leadership & Sportsmanship.

Pasha won the SEC Freshman of the Week award four times this season, currently 32-8 overall, 21-2 in dual matches, and 14-1 at No. 6 singles.

Georgia men’s tennis is on its way to its ninth consecutive NCAA round of 16, set to take on 15^th-seeded North Carolina this Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.