UMass-Lowell at Georgia
WHERE: Foley Field
WHEN: Friday, 5 p.m., Saturday, 2 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 3-0; UMass-Lowell 0-4
STARTING PITCHERS: Friday – Emerson Hancock (1-0, 0.00) vs. Nick Rand (0-1, 16.62); Will Proctor (1-0, 3.60) vs. Henry Funaro (0-1, 21.60); Sunday – Tony Locey (1-0, 1.50) vs. TBA
Georgia’s lineup will feature a different look for this weekend’s series against visiting UMass-Lowell, now that starting left fielder Tucker Bradley is out for at least two weeks with a sprained right shoulder.
Bradley suffered the injury last Saturday while attempting to make a diving catch in the season-opening series against Dayton.
“He’s going to be out a couple of weeks for sure, and we’re going to have to let the healing process happen," said head coach Scott Stricklin Thursday. "Right now, it’s officially a sprained shoulder. It’s been evaluated. He’s indefinitely out, he’s sore. He won’t be available for a couple of weeks for sure, but we’ll re-evaluate him to see where we are."
He continued, “It’s certainly a blow to the lineup not having a guy, not only offensively but defensively and leadership-wise. It’s a tough blow, but depth is a good thing and we’ve got a lot of that.”
The ninth-ranked Bulldogs (3-0) do indeed have some options.
According to Stricklin, one is to slide either C.J. Smith or Tucker Maxwell over from center to left. But there’s also a chance you will see redshirt freshmen Chaney Rogers or Connor Tate, or perhaps true freshman Randon Jernigan, who replaced Bradley following his injury and went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.
‘I think if he (Stricklin) puts me in there, I’ll do whatever I can to get the job done. I’m confident,” Jernigan said. “I can’t fill Tucker Bradley’s shoes, but I’ll get the job done.”
Jernigan was a two-sport standout first at Brunswick High, then in his final three years at Glynn Academy. He'd bring an important element to the lineup: speed.
During his senior year, Jernigan batted .453 while stealing 41 bases for the Red Terrors, although Stricklin said the freshman brings a lot more to the table than that.
“I’ve been surprised with the power. The ball jumps off his bat, he’s got lot of bat speed, he’s a great athlete obviously. He’s a gamer, can really play the game, and he’s a guy who’s going to get more at-bats now,” Stricklin said. “He’s going to be a guy coming off the bench if he’s not playing to pinch-run, steal some bases. He’s just a really good athlete, and no question he’s going to play a big part in what we’re doing.”
Thursday, Jernigan was seen working on his bunting with Student Assistant coach Nick King, getting himself prepared just in case his numbers is called.
“My whole philosophy is, I need to get on base any way I can,” Jernigan said. “Once I get on base, the hitters behind me are going to get a lot of meatballs with me on base. If I can get on base, hit by pitch, bunt, hit, walk—I just want to get on base.”
Stricklin said that, although having a platoon will be an option, players will have the opportunity to win the left field job until Bradley returns.
“The next three weeks we’ll platoon guys out there, give guys opportunities, give guys at-bats, and see who might win the job,” Stricklin said. “Who knows? It might be a true platoon, and if they both play well, you can platoon them out there, but you’ll also have the option of having C.J. and Tucker Maxwell being out there at the same time. So lots of options; it’s a good problem to have. We’ll just have to figure it out.”
Redshirt sophomore Riley King will take over Bradley’s No. 2 spot in the batting order behind leadoff hitter Cam Shephard.
“We talked about moving L.J. (Talley) so we could go right-left, right-left,” Stricklin said. “But this weekend, it’s mostly right-handed pitchers from UMass, so we’re not worried about mixing up our left and right-handed hitters in the lineup.”
