The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: JAKE DANIELS Senior Ryan Peisel stands in for the pitch in a game against Kennesaw State Wednesday with one of the team's new bats. [Click to enlarge]

The "ping" of aluminum bats is one of college baseball's defining characteristics. The ping is still there, but some Georgia baseball players are experimenting with composite bats.

Head coach Dave Perno said the bats arrived from Nike Tuesday morning and that they are different from the ones his Diamond Dogs are used to.

"It's a tough adjustment," Perno said. "We haven't had the opportunity to swing them enough to get comfortable. The guys that have swung them have had success with them but there's a lot of going back and forth."

The new bats, which are made of an alloy of metals rather than aluminum, are more top-heavy than what most collegiate baseball players are used to. Because of the bats' different feel, there have been mixed reviews. Bryce Massanari, Ryan Peisel, Matt Olson and Rich Poythress were the only Bulldogs to start Wed-nesday's game with them. Massanari ditched it after one at-bat and Peisel went back to aluminum when he came up in an important late-inning situation.

"I used it for the first couple [at-bats] then switched back just for comfort level," Peisel said. "If we get down in a tough spot I just don't want to have any excuses, blaming it on the bat or whatever."

The timing of the switch is odd, but for now, it appears the team will stick with the new bats.

"A couple of guys like them, a couple of guys don't," Peisel said.

The Diamond Dogs (13-9, 4-2 SEC) return to SEC action today against Mississippi State in Starkville.

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