Historically, Georgia pitcher Cole Wilcox hasn’t always been able to predict how he’ll perform based off how he warms up before any particular game.

Saturday was an exception as Wilcox and Justin Glover combined on a three-hitter to shut out Georgia Tech at Russ Chandler Stadium, 12-0.

“Usually if I warm up good, I don’t usually do as good in the game. But yeah, I felt good. I felt relaxed today,” Wilcox said. “I feel like I’ve been making pitches the past couple of weeks, the results haven’t been that great.”

They were this time.

Wilcox was dominant, allowing just the three hits with zero walks and 11 strikeouts, improving his record to 2-0. Glover followed by retiring all six batters he faced allowing the Bulldogs to clinch the three-game series between the arch rivals.

Wilcox actually scuffled to start, stranding two runners in scoring position before retiring 14 straight batters. He would strand two more in the seventh before the Bulldogs iced the game with eight runs in the top of the ninth, four coming on a grand slam by Cam Shepherd.

“One thing I’ve learned over the past year is if you just stay relaxed you can get outs,” Wilcox said. “Just figuring out that process has probably been the biggest part of my maturity since I’ve been here.”

Head coach Scott Stricklin was duly impressed.

“He was throwing all three of his pitches for strikes, inside and out, fastball 95-96,” Stricklin said. “He was really, really tough.”

Wilcox was confident about his chances.

“I felt really good,” Wilcox said. “When you’ve got the defense like you’ve got behind me, I’ve just got to throw a lot of strikes, down in the zone and rely on my guys to get some outs.”

The Bulldogs provided plenty of offense well, grinding out 10 hits with every member of the starting nine accounting for least one.

Among them was left fielder Tucker Bradley, who homered for the second time in as many games against the Yellow Jackets, giving him a team-best six on the year.

Along with Shepherd and his grand slam, Ben Anderson, Garrett Blaylock, Cole Tate, Patrick Sullivan, Shane Marshall, Chaney Rogers and Buddy Floyd also drove in runs for Georgia which iced the game with eight runs in the ninth.

“With our pitching and defense, we’re trying to score one run at a time,” Stricklin said. “Obviously, we had the big inning late, but before that we were just trying to score one at a time, we get the safety squeeze (in the second by Marshall) to get us a run, but that’s how we’re trying to do it, score one at a time and depend on our pitching and defense.”

Junior C.J. Smith gets the start in Sunday’s finale. The game is listed as sellout.

“We saved the bullpen for sure. Tomorrow we’ve got Jonathan Cannon, Will Childers, Michael Polk and also Tucker Bradley is available,” Stricklin said. “The bullpen is in really good shape tomorrow, but we need a good start out of C.J.”

The No. 4 Bulldogs (10-1) and No. 22 Yellow Jackets (7-3) wrap up their weekend series at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Sunday at 2.

Boxscore

- After allowing a 1-out single in the first, Cole Wilcox retired 14 straight including eight strikeouts until Tech had a leadoff baserunner in the sixth. He tied his career high with seven innings pitched and a career-high 11 strikeouts for the win.

- Outfielder Tucker Bradley smashed his SEC-leading sixth home run of the year to put Georgia in front 2-0 in the third.

- Georgia’s first run came on a squeeze bunt RBI-single by catcher Shane Marshall.

- Senior Cam Shepherd connected for his second career grand slam to highlight an eight-run outburst in the ninth for the final.

The Bulldogs will go for a sweep Sunday at 2 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville in the 18th annual Farmview Spring Classic For Kids.

C.J. Smith will be on the mound for the Bulldogs.