Here's how Georgia baseball turned into a top-25 team

Scott Stricklin knows he shouldn’t look ahead on the schedule, but sometimes his mind wanders when he’s alone in the car driving to Foley Field each day.

Georgia's baseball head coach entered his fifth season without posting a .500 campaign. Even so, Stricklin had the expectation of at least surpassing that milestone ahead of a Feb. 16 season opener against Georgia Southern. The Bulldogs returned most of its young roster and many major contributors had gained a year of experience.

Nearly two months later, Georgia ran out to the mound to bump chests after a 4-0 home win over its in-state rival, but that’s become routine as it has topped Georgia Tech in seven-of-eight previous matchups. What’s different, however, is that it gives the Bulldogs their 22nd win at the start of April.

“This is where I thought we could be,” Stricklin said. “If you play well, pitch well and play defense — well hey, you can be really good.”

Georgia (22-7, 7-2 SEC) exudes confidence regardless of its opponent’s stature – something that it lacked a season ago when consistent wins couldn’t be strung together with a 25-32 record, despite a strong run at the end of the season. Nearly a year after the late-season surge, Georgia is ranked 17th nationally and tied atop the SEC East.

The Bulldogs can’t get too excited as they’ve yet to face the highly-regarded teams in the conference: Florida, Vanderbilt and LSU. That test starts Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee, against the Commodores (17-12, 5-4). But Georgia is in the midst of a midseason run it hasn’t seen since it made the College World Series in 2008.

Stricklin's previous best at Georgia was recording 27 wins in a season. He’s on pace to cruise past that mark with 26 games remaining.

“We come in the field and think we can win,” said sophomore designated hitter Michael Curry. “I don’t really know how to explain it. I guess that just good things take time. It’s finally here. We’re having fun, that’s the bottom line.”

Georgia’s offensive success has been documented with an average of 7.3 runs per game and five batters hitting over .300 – Curry holds the team lead at .358. But the Bulldogs have gotten to this point due to its pitching success.

Entering the season, Stricklin opted to hire Sean Kenny, formerly at Michigan, as his new pitching coach and it has paid off. Georgia came off of a 5.02 season ERA in 2017 and its bullpen had shown to be a liability on a number of occasions.

Now, Georgia has a 3.40 ERA and its bullpen is a strength. Former starters Tony Locey and Kevin Smith have become key relievers.

“They really trust him and he’s a good pitch caller,” Stricklin said. “No matter what the score is or what the situation is, he makes them pitch. He always expects them to pitch and throw the off-speed for strikes. They do a good job of keeping hitters off balance and the staff has done an outstanding job.”

Against the Yellow Jackets, the restructured bullpen proved to be fruitful once again as Locey threw two shutout innings to start the midweek contest. Smith followed with 4 1/3 innings and a career-high nine strikeouts. Aaron Schunk – also a .301 hitter at third base – closed it out for the team’s fourth shutout in the last six games and a 7-1 record in its home stand.

Smith was Georgia’s starter to open the 2018 season. After struggling in his first few starts, a move was made during the Bulldogs’ five-game road trip to play three different teams from Charleston, South Carolina. Stricklin was trying to salvage the last victory and he called his junior pitcher into his office, and Smith wasn’t happy to hear the news.

But 24 hours later, Smith embraced it and took on the relieving role. Also on the road trip, Schunk was introduced to his ninth-inning role.

“That was the turning point of our season, as the bullpen got transformed in that Citadel game, and Kevin Smith has been a huge part for us through this stretch,” Stricklin said.

Added Smith: “We have more confidence and the offense helps us out a lot as well. When you know that the offense can put up four or five runs an inning, it makes things a lot easier on you.”

Consequently, Georgia’s turnaround has led to an attendance mark that it hasn’t seen in quite a while. Foley Field, which normally features a subdued crowd for midweek games, held 3,730 against the Yellow Jackets in a sellout crowd. It was the largest turnout since 4,128 spectators were hosted on April 5, 2016, against Clemson.

The support is back for the Bulldogs, and they hope it continues.

“That’s one thing that’s not understood – we look for that,” Curry said. “We talk about that in the locker room and we want to fill this place. There’s nothing better than that.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Here's how Georgia baseball turned into a top-25 team."