UGA ace Emerson Hancock was mad after 1st start. How he used it as ‘fuel to the fire’

Tucker Bradley knew it early.

Around the third or fourth inning in Friday’s 9-0 victory over Santa Clara, the Georgia left fielder saw junior starting pitcher Emerson Hancock give “a little shimmy.”

“We were like, ‘OK, he’s on. It’s go time for him now,’” Bradley said.

Bradley and his teammates couldn’t have been more prophetic, as Hancock fired seven shutout innings against the Broncos in a dominant performance. After a shaky season debut last Friday against Richmond, the right hander showed why he’s being projected as one of the top prospects in this year’s MLB draft.

Hancock’s inaugural start of the season last Friday didn’t go as planned — he allowed six runs on nine hits in four innings. Head coach Scott Stricklin said his ace was so amped up that he never truly settled in.

The Cairo native left last week’s start feeling mad and with a sour taste in his mouth. However, he didn’t let his feelings of frustration get in the way of preparing for his next outing.

“I looked at it as an opportunity to get a little bit better, to work a little bit harder this week,” Hancock said.

Early on Friday, though, Hancock found himself in hot water again. He allowed a double and single to the first two batters, giving Santa Clara runners on first and second with nobody out in the first inning.

Then, the Bulldogs shifted the tide. On a double steal attempt, junior catcher Mason Meadows gunned down lead runner Coleman Brigman at third. Hancock then recorded a pair of strikeouts to escape the first unscathed.

“When you’ve got guys like that behind you who are really good, they’re going to make plays for you,” Hancock said. “As a pitcher, all you really want to do is just attack.”

Indeed, he went to work after the shaky first. After the leadoff runner reached on an error in the second inning, Hancock retired 12 batters in a row.

He kept the Broncos off balance, throwing both his fastball and breaking pitches for strikes to both sides of the plate. At one point, he fell behind 3-1 to five-hole hitter Tony Boetto. Hancock then painted the inside corner with a 95 mph fastball for strike two before recording the punchout with a 96 mph heater over the outside corner.

The chilly weather — just 48 degrees — also played to Hancock’s advantage. The Santa Clara batters had to start their swings early to catch up to his fastball, allowing him to set up his slider effectively.

“They have to start the bat and that’s why that slider was so good just because those guys, it hurts your hands when it’s 96 on your hands,” Stricklin said. “They had to cheat a little bit to try to get to it, and he was throwing that slider at any time for a strike. That’s really tough to hit.”

It’s not as if Hancock dominated a bunch of slouches, either. Santa Clara entered Friday’s game with a perfect 5-0 record, including a win over Stanford on Tuesday. In those five contests, the Broncos had outscored their opponents 43-12.

Much of the damage had been done by the top four in the batting order, who came into Friday hitting a combined .373. But Hancock limited them to a 2-for-12 performance with six strikeouts. Both of those hits came in the first inning.

Only two Bronco batters reached after those initial knocks, both on errors. No opposing batter reached second after the first inning against Hancock, whose seven scoreless frames included eight strikeouts and no walks.

But even that wasn’t enough. He lobbied with Stricklin to go back out for the eighth inning, with the coach responding that seven innings and 86 pitches were plenty for just the second start of the season.

That’s just further proof of the chip that Hancock carries on his shoulders. After a rough performance is his 2020 debut, he used that drive to fuel a dominant performance against Santa Clara on Friday.

“Any time you have a start like (last week) you’re going to be a little mad, it’s going to carry over to that week,” Hancock said. “I used it as an opportunity, some fuel to the fire for this past week. It’s just kind of who I am and I just wanted to continue that.”

This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 8:53 PM.