ATHENS – If Georgia baseball has demonstrated nothing else this season, it is that it’s up for a challenge. The Bulldogs are facing some new ones as they head down to Gainesville, Fla., to take on the No. 7-ranked Florida Gators in their new $65 million stadium.
Georgia will arrive having lost No. 1 SEC starter Ryan Webb for the season. The senior left-hander suffered an elbow injury toward the end of his last start, Sunday against No. 1-ranked Arkansas. The Bulldogs lost that game 5-3.
The seriousness of Webb’s injury is not immediately known. He has undergone a battery of exams in the past few days. But coach Scott Stricklin confirmed that Webb won’t be available the rest of the season, and Webb did not accompany the team on the bus trip to Florida.
“We don’t know all the details; we hope to know soon,” Stricklin said of Webb’s elbow. “It’s little bit inconclusive. But we do know he’s out for the year.”
Initially the Bulldogs’ Friday-night starter, Webb was battling a back ailment the past couple of weekends that had Georgia moving him around in the rotation. Having pitched Friday, Saturday and Sunday games, Webb finishes the season with a 3-4 record and 3.32 ERA.
Add it to a laundry list of pitching setbacks the Bulldogs have navigated this season. Georgia (28-18, 11-13 SEC) lost projected starters Garrett Brown and Will Childers to arm injuries during fall practices. Senior left-hander C.J. Smith was the next to go down to injury just three starts into the season.
Amid all that came sophomore Jonathan Cannon’s preseason bouts with mononucleosis and COVID-19 and Webb’s late-winter COVID encounter that delayed each playing at the outset of the season and then on pitch counts.
“When you look at our depth chart from where we started back in the fall, four out of our top five guys are out,” Stricklin said. “But I’m really proud of how our pitching staff has rallied to just piece it together and get it done and put us in position to play in the postseason.”
Indeed, Georgia must forge on now in the midst of a seven-game road swing. The next stop takes them to the Gators’ gleaming, new 7,000-seat facility named Florida Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field. The first of three games against the Gators (33-15, 15-9) is set for 6:32 p.m. Friday (SEC Network-Plus streaming). They’ll also play at 6:32 p.m. Saturday (streaming) and at 12:02 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network TV).
Freshman Liam Sullivan (1-1, 3.96) will get the ball in the first one. The big lefty responded impressively to a similar challenge in Fayetteville when he got his first career start Friday night before 7,645 at full-capacity Baum-Walker Stadium. All the Marist grad did was throw one immaculate inning (9 pitches, 3 strikeouts in the fifth) and give up three hits and one earned run while striking out 11.
“Well, he should feel pretty good,” Stricklin said of Sullivan’s confidence going into his second weekend as a starter. “His last 10 innings in the league against very good teams have gone very well.”
Where it gets real interesting is what Georgia will do after Sullivan’s start. Cannon has been the Bulldogs’ No. 2 starter, but Stricklin indicated during his regular radio appearance Thursday morning that he’s open to using Cannon in a relief role this weekend. Meanwhile, he’s going to give the Saturday start to freshman Jaden Woods.
Woods, a 6-foot-2, 193-pound freshman, has been strong in a set-up and relief role out of the Bulldogs’ bullpen. He has 40 strikeouts in 45 innings and in recent weeks has cut down on walks and hits allowed. He’ll head to Gainesville with a 3-0 record and 4.00 ERA, and Georgia is 10-4 in the games in which he has appeared.
As for Sunday, that’s officially a TBD (to be determined). If Cannon doesn’t pitch in the first two games, he’ll get the start, and maybe even if he throws a limited number of pitches Friday. Otherwise, the Bulldogs could turn to freshman Luke Wagner.
“Ryan talked to the team, and it motivated us to play for him and each other,” said junior outfielder Connor Tate, who leads the Bulldogs with a .348 batting average and 10 home runs. “We’re going to really try to play for all the injured guys. I have confidence in our pitching staff.”
It’s an important series. Georgia is wholly “on the bubble” when it comes to postseason play with seven games left in the regular season. Florida will be the third SEC opponent the Bulldogs have faced that either is or was ranked No. 1 in the nation at some point in the season.
Georgia narrowly missed taking two of three from Razorbacks, and it won two at Vanderbilt in early April.
“We went toe-to-toe with the other No. 1 teams we’ve played,” Stricklin said. “Nobody thinks we can win this series either. So, let’s go down there with that chip on our shoulder and play with that mentality. ‘Let’s go down there and surprise everybody but ourselves,’ because we believe we can win.”
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