ATHENS — It’s still very early in the baseball season, but the No. 23-ranked Georgia Bulldogs find themselves already as the focus of attention in SEC play.
No. 16 Florida (18-7, 3-3 SEC) comes to town for a three-game set against the Bulldogs (19-6, 3-3) that starts Thursday at Foley Field. Georgia-Florida in any sport brings intense competition, and the latest battle will be televised nationally (8 p.m., ESPN2).
TV execs won’t get exactly what they were pining for, however. Certainly, their anticipation was to see Georgia pitcher Jonathan Cannon go against the Gators’ great left-hander Hunter Barco (5-1, 1.41 ERA). Those two have shot out to the front in the race to become the SEC’s pitcher of the year.
However, the Bulldogs have chosen to keep Cannon (5-1, 1.96 ERA) in his normal Friday night spot on six days rest as opposed to moving him up a day, as the Gators are doing with Barco. Instead, Georgia is expected to counter with big right-hander Garrett Brown (0-0, 6.40).
“We knew we underperformed last weekend (against Kentucky), so to get that momentum back going into the Florida (series) was huge."
While that may nudge the advantage over to the Gators’ dugout, Georgia coach Scott Stricklin felt it was more important to keep Cannon in his routine. That has served the 6-foot-6, 213-pound junior well as he comes in having allowed only one walk – and that one was intentional – with 43 strikeouts in 41 ⅓ innings.
Barco has been equally as dominant. The 6-4 sophomore has fanned 52 batters with only five walks in 38 ⅓ innings.
“You can go either way with that,” Stricklin said of holding Cannon until Friday. “We just decided to keep Jonathan on his regular rest and not change his routine. Also, last Friday night he was throwing in Lexington, Ky., with the wind chill in the lower 30s. Those are tough conditions, and we just didn’t feel great about bringing him back a day early.”
While it’s only the third SEC series of 10 this season, the Bulldogs find themselves at somewhat of a critical juncture. Their pitching, expected to be a team strength at the season’s outset, has left a lot to be desired. That was especially evident last weekend in Kentucky, where Georgia lost the last two games by the combined score of 28-13.
That outing helped balloon the Bulldogs’ staff ERA to 4.86, which is 12th in the 14-team SEC. Opponents are batting .252 (12th), and Georgia has allowed 130 hits (13th) and 24 homers (12th).
While the struggles are understandable – considering Georgia is without two of its weekend starters and three frontline pitchers have been lost for the season because of injuries – Stricklin maintains the Bulldogs have the talent on the roster to get the job done and has challenged them to do so.
The players have taken that challenge to heart. Cannon and senior closer Jack Gowen led a pitchers-only meeting to discuss the staff’s shortcomings. The Bulldogs responded with a 7-2 win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday.
“It’s just confidence,” said Gowen, who is 1-0 with two saves and a 1.74 ERA in 10 appearances. “We just needed to get back out here and do what we know we can do and see a positive outcome. It’s good for the staff as a whole and just what we needed headed into a big weekend.”
Florida has had its troubles, too, with a top-heavy pitching staff. Overall, though, the Gators’ arms have been more steady. They come to Athens with a 3.82 ERA, .220 opponents’ average, 100 hits and 18 homers allowed. They also are balanced by a big-bopper lineup that has slugged 45 home runs, including 15 in two weekends of SEC play.
Of course, just winning the series is the ultimate goal, and a sweep could do wonders for either team’s prospects as something is going to have to give between Tennessee or Vanderbilt this weekend. The Georgia-Florida series continues Friday (6 p.m., SEC Network-Plus) and concludes Saturday (2 p.m., SEC Network-Plus). Saturday is UGA Baseball Lettermen’s Day, too.
Georgia will be without No. 2 weekend starter Liam Sullivan until next weekend’s series against South Carolina. Sullivan has been dealing with arm soreness the past three weeks, and Stricklin said they’re just being “overly cautious” with Sullivan. He’ll get his first live work against Georgia hitters Friday.
Meantime, the other Bulldogs pitchers appear to have reset and are ready for this weekend’s challenge.
“We knew we underperformed last weekend (against Kentucky), so to get that momentum back going into the Florida (series) was huge,” Gowen said.
The Florida series began in 1931, and the Gators hold a 189-97-2 advantage. The teams met in Jacksonville in November for a fall exhibition the night before the Georgia-Florida football game, with the Bulldogs winning the exhibition 8-5 (and the football game 34-7). The Gators won the series last year 2-1 in Gainesville, while Georgia swept at Foley Field in 2019.
In 2020, Georgia-Florida was slated to be a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup to open SEC play in Gainesville. But on their way to that game, the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Bulldogs to turn their bus around and the season was later canceled.
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