It was assumed—and understandably so—that Georgia’s power numbers might be a bit down this spring compared to that of a season ago.
After all, the Bulldogs’ top three power hitters—Keegan McGovern, Michael Curry, and Adam Sasser—are no longer part of the team, after accounting for 41 of the team’s 64 home runs. Six games in, it appears that may have been an unnecessary concern.
Georgia’s up-to-date stats reveal that the Bulldogs (6-0) have hit 11 home runs, eight of which came during Sunday’s windy doubleheader sweep of UMass Lowell by scores of 13-5 and 12-5. Six of the home runs came in Game 2.
Through six game in 2018, Georgia had only hit four.
“I think everybody thought we lost a lot of pop with the guys we lost last year,” third baseman Aaron Schunk said. “But we saw it all Fall, we saw all Spring that guys were putting good at-bats together and while the wind was blowing out had a lot of guys put good swings on it.”
Schunk accounted for two of Sunday’s homers—one in each game—along with LJ Talley, C.J. Smith, John Cable (a grand slam), Riley King, and Tucker Maxwell, whose homer was of the inside-the-park variety in the sixth inning of game two.
With Georgia leading 8-3, Maxwell hit a ball off the wall in right center field, before it bounced back toward the infield. Maxwell never stopped, getting the go-ahead from third base coach Scott Daeley and easily beating the throw to home. It was the first inside-the-park homer since Bobby Felmy accomplished the feat in 2006 during a game at Arkansas.
“It’s a funny story about that. We all know Tucker Maxwell can really run, and I’ve been getting on him about hitting the ball in the air. I keep telling him he’s got to hit the ball on the ground,” Stricklin said. “Of course, he hits the ball in the air, and he was kind of mad at himself, he kind of flipped the bat, and I don’t think he ran really hard. If he’s running really hard out of the box, I think he’s standing up, but he was mad at hitting the ball in the air and ends up getting an inside-the-park home run. He still needs to hit the ball on the ground, but I still thought it was pretty funny.”
Cable’s grand slam was especially sweet.
Not only did the hit extend Georgia’s lead to 6-1, but it marked the first hit for the graduate transfer from New Orleans to snap a 0-for-9 start to his season.
“It was a rough start, but you just kind of have to keep your head up,” said Cable, a graduate transfer from New Orleans. “You just keep playing, go pitch-by-pitch. I got a good pitch to hit and did some damage with it.”
Starting pitcher Tony Locey (2-0) turned in his second quality start in as many outings.
The junior right-hander went five innings, allowing three runs on three hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts, tying his career high, set last week against Dayton.
UMass Lowell was able to scrape a pair of runs against Christian Ryder after two scoreless innings by Ryan Webb before Adam Goodman closed out Game 2 by allowing just one hit over the final 1.1 innings with three strikeouts.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today, but I competed my *&^$ off,” Locey said. “I did what I do best, I compete. It worked out for us.”
Sunday’s first game, a seven-inning affair, was over quickly as Georgia scored eight runs in the first, the big hit a two-run homer by Schunk.
He had a lot of help.
Cam Shepherd went 2 for 4 with two RBI, with King going 2 for 2 with three RBI, giving him 10 so far this year. Freshman Shane Marshall added a pair of hits, including his first career RBI, while C.J. Smith hit an opposite field homer to left, the second of his career.
Starter Will Proctor was the beneficiary of all the support. Proctor wasn’t quite as sharp as he was last week against Dayton, but still moved to 2-0 on the year, allowing two runs on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Highly touted Cole Wilcox saw his second action of the year, but struggled with his control, allowing three runs on two hits with four walks and no strikeouts in his two innings, before Smith closed out the contest with a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts.
Georgia returns to action Tuesday at 5 against LIU Brooklyn.
