To hit six home runs and not be the story of Saturday’s game at Florida, Brian Curley’s day had to be impressive.
It was.
Georgia’s closer-turned-starter delivered the best outing this year with five innings of shutout baseball as the Bulldogs rolled past the Gators, 17-2.
"Curley coming out, just establishing the strike zone, and pounding the strike zone with multiple pitches ... that was a lot of fun today," skipper Wes Johnson said on Georgia's post-game show on 960 The Ref. "I try to tell our guys all the time, nothing carries over. Play with energy, not emotion, play with focus. These guys understand that, it's no different than tomorrow. It's like it doesn't matter what you've done today, the score doesn't carry over. You've gotta come out, you've got to be focused. You gotta play this game one pitch at a time."
With the victory, Georgia (23-2, 4-1) does something it hasn’t done since 2006 – win a series at Florida.
"Yeah, we're tough," said outfielder Devin Obee, who hit two of Georgia's six homers. "Everybody had Florida to win this series. I saw the tweets and everything, We see that, but we don't say too much. We just come out and play hard and we just play our ball."
Despite the six home runs, the story of the game was Curley.
In his first start as a Bulldog, the transfer from Virginia Commonwealth gave the Bulldogs just what Georgia’s rotation needed: some length.
The right-hander only allowed two hits and two walks with five strikeouts before coming out of the game to start the sixth after throwing 85 pitches.
"Man, talk about dealing. As an offense, it just helps you; you know what I mean? Cuz you got a guy that's just shoving, you got the weight off your back," Obee said. "You just go and just play ball."
The decision to start Curley wasn’t the only button Johnson pushed correctly against the Gators (18-7, 0-5).
Along with inserting Henry Hunter into the leadoff spot, Christian Adams and Brennan Hudson also received spot starts for the Bulldogs.
Adams and Hudson both launched their first home runs of the year. It was also Hudson’s first hit, as the bottom four in Georgia’s lineup went a combined 10-for-18 with five home runs and nine RBI.
"Yeah matchup card was screaming to play him today against their starter (Billy Barlow). We really liked it. I thought he had a really good BP. He's had some really good BPs and got some work in. And like I said, I mean, the matchup grid was screaming to play him," Johnson said. "(Adams)I think was a four-hit day, that's why you do those things. I'm sure people are going, Henry Hunter's leading off. But that's another thing that we look at from an analytical standpoint, and as our guys know, you're gonna play multiple positions and hit in different spots in the lineup."
Obee’s fourth and fifth home runs were also part of Georgia's huge offensive day, along with Kolby Branch who blasted his third homer.
Robbie Burnett started the offensive outburst for Georgia with his 12th home run.
Adams led Georgia’s 12-hit attack by going 4-for-5 – his first four-hit game as a Bulldog with three RBI. Branch and Ryland Zaborowski also collected three hits and three RBI. Burnett and Obee also drove in three.
Reliever CJ Byrd allowed both of Florida’s runs in 1.1 innings before Zach Harris closed it out with a scoreless 2.2.
Georgia will go for the sweep Sunday at 1.
