We’ll learn a lot more about the ninth-ranked Georgia baseball team once the Bulldogs kick off SEC play next week at South Carolina.
In the meantime, the Bulldogs continue to wreak havoc on the non-conference portion of their 2019 grid, Friday rolling past Presbyterian, 17-0.
“When you’re scoring a lot of runs, the confidence keeps building from player to player. It’s fun,” right fielder Riley King said. “You see a hit, you’re like, OK, I want to get a hit and the next person gets a hit. It’s a lot of fun.”
For players wishing to pad their stats, this was their afternoon to flourish.
The Bulldogs (12-2), pounded out 12 hits, including a pair of grand slams from King (1-for-5, HR, 5 RBI) and Tucker Maxwell (2 for 2, HR, 6 RBI), combining for 11 of the team’s 16 runs batted in. Third baseman Aaron Schunk added his fourth home run, surpassing his total of three from last spring.
That was way more than enough for starter Emerson Hancock, who continues to post video-game numbers 14 games into the current campaign. Friday, Hancock scattered four hits with two walks in six innings, striking out 8 in marking the third time this year he hasn’t given up a run.
One almost needs a magnifying glass when it comes to examining Hancock’s numbers four games into the year. In 24 innings, the Cairo native has allowed just one earned run on 12 hits, with six walks and 25 strikeouts. Not surprisingly, he’s a perfect 4-0.
“I really don’t try to look at it (his stats) like that,” Hancock said. “I just try to out there and get three outs six or seven times a game. When you’ve got a defense like I’ve got and a catcher (Mason Meadows) behind the plate like I’ve got, those numbers kind of inflate themselves.”
Darryn Pasqua and Christian Ryder closed out the game by combining for three innings of scoreless relief.
Surprisingly, Hancock didn’t get off to his customary fast start, as the Blue Hose (6-7) opened the game by loading the bases with nobody out before failing to score.
A strikeout of Zacceaus Rasberry gave Hancock his first out, before enticing Graham Mitchell to bounce into an inning-ending-double play to get out of the jam.
“It was two pitches and it was second and third. I was like what in the world because I hadn’t even settled in yet, and then I look up and they’ve got the bases loaded, then he gets out of the inning on 12 pitches,” head coach Scott Stricklin said. “He could have gone out there (Friday) for another inning, but he was really good again, filled it up with three different pitches. It was really good to see him go.”
A two-out rally in the second gave Georgia two early runs, the first coming on an RBI single from Randon Jernigan, followed by Maxwell who roped a double down the right-field line to put the Bulldogs up 2-0.
Schunk’s third-inning blast – his fourth of the year - made the score 3-0, matching his career total his first two seasons as a member of the Bulldogs.
Georgia was just getting started.
The Bulldogs put the game away in the fourth, scoring a run when Maxwell was hit with a bases-loaded pitch before King followed two batters later with a grand slam for an 8-0 lead.
Maxwell’s grand slam one inning later in the fifth put the game completely out of reach for Georgia,
NOTES: Georgia and Presbyterian close out their three-game set with a double-header that gets underway Saturday at noon. Cole Wilcox (0-0, 9.00) gets the start in Game 1 with Tony Locey (2-0, 3.00) the call in Game 2. … Leadoff hitter Cam Shepherd has reached base in all 14 games after Friday’s walk.
