Despite Georgia’s hot start to the 2019 baseball campaign, a lot of folks still had their reservations about the Bulldogs heading into this weekend’s opening SEC series at South Carolina.
The reason?
Non-conference series against the likes of Dayton, UMass-Lowell, and Presbyterian left some wondering if Georgia’s early success might be a result of the competition it played, despite the fact the Bulldogs returned much of the same team that finished 39-21 to earn a national seed, before falling to Duke in the championship of the Athens Regional.
After beating the Gamecocks 4-2 Sunday to sweep the three-game series, those questions will start to subside. At least they should.
Tucker Maxwell certainly believes so. “I think we showed we’re in it as a team,” Maxwell said. “One through nine, we have to win as a team.”
Sunday’s victory was a classic example.
Georgia (18-2) trailed in Sunday’s game 1-0, having been blanked on just one hit before Mason Meadows led off the ninth with a double down the line in left.
After an RBI single by John Cable to tie the game, the Bulldogs added another base runner before Maxwell stepped to the plate and blasted a three-run homer to put the Bulldogs on top for good.
“I was just trying to get a pitch I could hit to the right side of the field, just whatever I could do to get that run in from third without hitting into a double play,” said Maxwell, who almost didn’t get the chance to play the hero in Sunday’s two-run win.
According to Stricklin, a sore hamstring almost took Maxwell out of the game on two or three different occasions. But each time Stricklin asked the junior if he was OK, Maxwell assured his coach he was fine.
“I kept asking, are you OK, are you sure you’re Ok?” Stricklin said. “He gave me a half-hearted response, saying he was good to go, but basically he had to tell me yes. But he’s a football guy. He gutted it out and stayed in there.”
Maxwell’s mettle must be catchy.
For the second time in as many days, Georgia bounced back from a deficit to win. On Saturday, the Bulldogs bounced back from a 5-1 deficit to beat the Gamecocks 8-6, one day after the gem by Emerson Hancock, who continues to post video game numbers as the team’s Friday ace.
When asked what stood out to him after the weekend sweep, Stricklin said the answer is simple.
“The veteran presence. You’ve got a lot of older guys who don’t get rattled, and our guys, from the fifth inning on, it was let’s go, let’s go. There was never any panic and guys just got their jobs done,” Stricklin said. “It’s a veteran group and that’s what you get when you’ve got older guys, they don’t panic when it’s really easy to do. People in the stands, people watching at home, they might be getting nervous. But the hitters aren’t, and that’s a really good quality to have.”
It doesn’t hurt to have the pitching Georgia's been getting, either.
Two days after Hancock threw a seven-inning four-hitter with 12 strikeouts, Tony Locey almost did him one better, scattering three hits in seven innings with a career-best 11 strikeouts before giving way to Zac Kristofak (3-0) who got credit for the win after allowing two runs in two innings.
Many wondered what would happen after the Bulldogs lost the likes of Keegan McGovern, Michael Curry, and Adam Sasser. But so far, Georgia hasn’t missed a step, getting production up and down the order--including from the likes of Maxwell, who has batted ninth in all 20 games so far.
So, what does the future hold for this year’s Bulldog squad?
There’s certainly a lot to be excited about. After a Tuesday home game against Georgia State, perennial power LSU comes to town for another three-game set.
Saturday’s contest is already a sell-out, and after this weekend’s sweep of South Carolina, don’t be shocked if the others are, too.
“The juniors are leading the way,” Stricklin said. “The guys who have been here, have been through it. It’s fun to watch; these guys have grown up a lot.”
The results speak for themselves.
