UMass at Georgia

WHERE: Foley Field

WHEN: Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m.

RECORDS: No. 3 Georgia 11-2; UMass 1-5

STARTING PITCHERS: Friday - Emerson Hancock (2-0, 5.40), RHP, Jr. vs. Sean Harney (1-1, 7.00), RHP, Jr.; Saturday - Cole Wilcox (2-0, 2.00), RHP, So. vs. Ben Shields (0-1, 4.00), LHP, Jr.; Sunday - TBA vs. Jack Steele (0-1, 11.37), RHP, So.

RADIO: Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Jeff Dantzler and David Johnston)

Eight games in 10 days is a lot to play, no matter what part of the season you’re talking about.

Nevertheless, neither head coach Scott Stricklin nor pitching coach Sean Kenny believe that’s necessarily a bad thing.

“We’ve still got a lot of guys who haven’t pitched maybe as much as we would have liked, so we’re looking forward to it,” Kenny said Thursday. “I think there are going to be some guys that will get in that we’ve wanted to get in and haven’t been able to. We want to win them all, certainly, but I think it’s an interesting opportunity for some of these other guys to get some work.”

Still, it’s going to be a busy stretch.

After hosting UMass for three games this weekend at Foley Field, the third-ranked Bulldogs play Georgia Southern on back-to-back days (Tuesday at SRP Park in North Augusta and Wednesday in Statesboro) before traveling to Gainesville to open SEC play next Friday against top-ranked Florida.

For Stricklin, knowing Emerson Hancock (2-0, 5.40) and Cole Wilcox (2-0, 2.00) will start four of those contests alleviates whatever concerns he might ordinarily have.

“You’re going to see Emerson and Cole get to 100 (pitches), we hope. That’s usually the threshold where we keep them. We need good starts out of our guys, and I think when you have a lot of games in a limited amount of days, the importance goes to your starting pitching to give you some length,” Stricklin said. “If they don’t, then you get taxed a little bit, but we feel pretty confident this weekend that Emerson and Cole will be able to get their pitch counts up, give us some good innings.”

Sunday’s starter is up in the air.

C.J. Smith has started each of the first three Sunday’s, but some control issues regarding his changeup has Stricklin and Kenny considering a different starter for the first time this year.

“We’re trying to fix C.J. Smith’s changeup, get it back to where it needs to be, so that requires a little bullpen work,” Stricklin said. “But also, we want to just try to strategy around these five games in six days so we can maximize the 45 innings, that we’ve got to pitch, so we can do that and be 100 percent ready to go for Florida.”

Freshman Garrett Brown will pitch one of the two games against Georgia Southern.

“He’s given us four a couple of times but we’d like him to give us five and take the stress off the bullpen,” Stricklin said. “That’s the key through getting through a stretch like that.”

Stricklin feels the bullpen is deep enough for the upcoming stretch.

“We’ve got five guys we feel can shut down games. We’ve got Ryan Webb, Tucker Bradley, Jonathan Cannon, Justin Glover, got Will Childers and also Michael Polk hasn’t thrown a whole bunch so that’s six guys we feel really good about out of the pen,” Stricklin said. “Then there’s Jack Gowen, Cain Tatum and some others guys who need to get on the mound and step up too. So, we’ve got plenty of arms, plenty of guys we can get through with this stretch. We just need guys to step up.”

An MRI on freshman pitcher Brandon Smith revealed damage in his right elbow, Stricklin confirmed.

“It looks like it’s going to be an arm surgery, that’s what it looks like. We’re going to get a second opinion and communicate everything, but that was what it looked like when it happened, I’ve seen it a couple of times, and that was my fear,” he said. “We’re still waiting to get a final answer but it looks like that’s what it’s going to be.”

Smith-who has appeared in three games-exited Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to Georgia Southern after throwing just two pitches in the seventh

Outfielder Randon Jernigan, meanwhile, has a concussion that he suffered while making a diving catch in the top of the ninth.

“Randon was diagnosed with a concussion; he hit his head when he made that catch and he’s day to day,” Stricklin said. “He’s a tough kid, he’s a football guy. In his words, I got my bell rung, Coach. He wants to play, but with concussions, we’re all very sensitive to that. He’s technically in the concussion protocol right now.”

Designated hitter Kaden Fowler and catcher Kyle Ledford will make their first career starts for the Bulldogs in Friday’s opening game against UMass, Stricklin said.

In two at-bats, the left-handed hitter Fowler has a double and a home run in his only two at-bats this year.

Ledford, meanwhile, will start his first game at catcher as Stricklin will sit starter Mason Meadows, who is batting just .118 with two hits in 17 at-bats.

“Kale is a guy that can really swing the bat. Catching-wise, he’s come a long way, so I think you’re going to see some of both of those guys this weekend. They’ve worked really hard and deserve some of those opportunities, like everybody else,” Stricklin said. “I’ve been happy with how they’ve responded and how they’ve worked.”

As for Meadows, Stricklin said the decision to rest the redshirt junior was a mutual decision between the two.

“It’s the hardest thing to do in baseball, separate your offense from your defense. I can speak personally as a defensive catcher that doesn’t hit, it’s really, really frustrating when offensively you’re struggling and it’s really hard to turn that switch off and become that defensive guy and that’s what we stressed to make sure they’re handling that pitching staff,” Stricklin said. “So, he is probably not going to play this weekend, just to try to get him to take a step back and relax a little bit. We need him. He’s perfectly healthy, we had a really good conversation yesterday. He is admittingly pressing, he’s trying to do too much and I’d imagine anyone can realize that’s normal. But he will take a step back. He’s going to be Coach Meadows this weekend, listening to the coaches, watching what’s going on during the game and process it that way to slow things down for him.”

Stricklin said he expects Mason to be back in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game at SRP Park in North Augusta against Georgia Southern.

“This is almost kind of a head-clearing situation and it’s a conversation that he and I had – and we both agree – that’s good for him,” Stricklin said. “I said if you’re going to pound your fist and say ‘No, Coach, I want to play and go right now’ then we can discuss this. But he said ‘Coach I think this is good for me,’ so he’s going to take a step back, Shane (Marshall) is going to catch two of these games, Kale the other, and Mason will be back on Monday.”

Outfielder Tucker Bradley has enjoyed one of the hottest starts in the country and come into play leading the SEC in home runs, RBI, total bases and is second in hits.

The redshirt junior has reached base in all 13 games this year. Also, he has made two relief appearances for a total of 3.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. In four games last week, Bradley hit .412 (7-for-17) with eight runs scored, one double, three home runs and nine RBI to earn Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honors.

Outfielder Ben Anderson, meanwhile, is second in the SEC in runs scored with 19. He has an eight-game hitting streak (which ties his career-high from Furman), a team-high five doubles, 11 walks and ranks second on the club in batting.

Bulldog senior shortstop Cam Shepherd (.255-4-18) ranks third in the league in RBI and stolen bases. As a four-year starter, Shepherd is poised to enter the top 10 of the Bulldog record book in several categories this season.

He has started every game since stepping on campus, a streak of 193 games. Also, he earned a Rawlings Gold Glove from the ABCA last year as the nation’s top defensive shortstop.

The Minutemen (1-5), coached by Matt Reynolds, are in the middle of a 19-game road trip to open their season. They began the year with a 6-3 win over Delaware State but have lost five straight including getting swept by Navy last weekend in Annapolis.

UMass opens Atlantic 10 conference play March 20 at Davidson and its first home series will be against Richmond March 27.

Georgia has never faced UMass.

The Minutemen are paced by junior outfielder Anthony Videtto (.400-1-6) and freshman outfielder Ryan Coleman (.368-0-9).