All preseason, head coach Scott Stricklin has been saying watch out for redshirt sophomore Riley King.
After sitting out as a true freshman in 2017, King only played in eight games last spring, getting six at-bats before an elbow injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2018 campaign.
It turns out Stricklin’s praise wasn’t hyperbole as King helped Georgia welcome the 2019 season Friday. He finished 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI to lead the Bulldogs past Dayton, 5-1.
“I was saying when he came up for his first at-bat, please, I hope he gets a hit, after I’ve been bragging about him for a long time,” Stricklin said. “He’s a humble kid, never gets a big head no matter how much success he has. You watch the way he plays and how he runs out to right field. He’s in a dead sprint. He plays really hard, plays the game right, and it’s his time. He’s battled some injuries—knee, elbow—the last two years, but now he’s fully healthy, and you’re seeing what he can do.”
King, who over the summer led the Macon Bacon of the Coastal Plains League in hitting with a batting average of .306, carried his newfound confidence into fall camp and preseason before ultimately earning the starting job in right field.
“The key to confidence is the team and coaches. I remember Coach (Stricklin) said, trust me, a year, year and a half, you’re going to be out there. You’re going to be playing well. So having that confidence come from Coach was huge,” said King, who launched his two-run homer in the fifth.
“I remember when (pitcher) Adam Goodman came to me, this was my redshirt year. We had a talk, and he was like, your time’s coming. So, as I was running around the bases today, those were the thoughts that were going through my head, all the confidence that my teammates and coaches have brought to me.”
King wasn’t the only Bulldog who stood out in Friday’s opener before a Foley Field crowd of 2,056. Starting pitcher Emerson Hancock (1-0) was pretty good, too. The sophomore right-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up his first hit, ultimately going 6.2 innings, walking one and striking out two.
“He just filled up the strike zone and they had some good at-bats against him,” Stricklin said. “But I thought Emerson was really good.The first time through, it was mostly fastballs. Then he started throwing the breaking ball and the changeup better, kept them off balance, and of course, the defense behind him was outstanding.”
Hancock agreed.
“I just wanted to come out and build on things that I’ve worked on and really trust the defense,” he said. “I knew we were going to score some runs. The defense played outstanding.”
The Bulldogs certainly did.
Georgia played a perfect game in the field, not committing an error and getting a wonderful play from Tucker Bradley, who early on robbed the Flyers of a hit when he tracked down a ball with a sliding catch on the warning track in left-center field.
King, who drew raves from Stricklin for his work in the fall and preseason, showed what the fuss was all about when he singled during his first two trips to the plate, his second hit driving in Georgia’s first run of the year in the third.
Two batters later, first baseman Patrick Sullivan got into the act with a bloop double to left driving home King and Mason Meadows.
King wasn’t done.
His two-run homer in the fifth extended the lead for Georgia, which proved more than enough support for Hancock. He retired the first 13 batters he faced and did not give up a hit until first baseman Alex Brickman blooped a single to right.
Hancock went on to load the bases, before sophomore Ryan Webb came on and escaped the jam by getting Marcus Pujols on a groundout to first ending the inning.
“You’re aware of it, but it doesn’t change anything you do,” Hancock said. “You’ve still got to go out and throw strikes and let your defense play. You don’t really try to change a whole lot.”
Webb finished out the game for the Bulldogs, allowing a ninth-inning home run to Brickman before closing out the Flyers for the save.
Georgia and Dayton wrap up their weekend series with a doubleheader Saturday, starting at noon.
