ATHENS — Fourth-ranked Georgia faces No. 17 Georgia Tech starting Friday at 5 p.m. at a sold-out Foley Field. The three-game set will continue in Atlanta Saturday and conclude Sunday at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville.
The Bulldogs enter the Tech series with an 8-1 mark while the Yellow Jackets are 7-1. Georgia began the year 7-0, the best start in the Scott Stricklin era, before dropping the final contest of a four-game set with Santa Clara last Sunday. Georgia cruised past Kennesaw State 15-1 here Tuesday.
The last time these teams met in a weekend series was the 2004 NCAA Super Regional in Atlanta, and the Bulldogs won 7-5 and 5-3 to clinch a trip to the College World Series. During the 1997 regular season, the teams played four times and two of them were on a weekend (March 1/2) Tech won 9-0 in Athens while Georgia won 4-1 in Atlanta. Later that year on a Tuesday, Georgia lost 6-3 in Atlanta on April 15 and then on Tuesday, April 29, Georgia won 5-4. This will be the first three-game weekend set during the regular season in 61 years as the squads faced each other March 6, 8-9 in 1959 with Tech going 2-1.
This year, the three-game series with Tech will be played on consecutive days with one game each on campus and the final one at Coolray Field, the Triple-A home of the Gwinnett Stripers in the Atlanta Braves organization. Proceeds of Sunday’s game benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) as this is the 18th annual Farmview Market Spring Baseball Classic For Kids. The CHOA benefit had been played at Turner Field and SunTrust Park, annually drawing some of the nation’s largest crowds for a collegiate baseball game, before being moved to Coolray Field this year. Georgia is 11-6 in the neutral-site games.
Dating back to 1898, Georgia holds a 211-163-2 edge in the all-time series. Tech won the series last year 2-1. They won the first meeting 11-2 in Atlanta in a rain-shortened contest that was called after seven innings. It snapped Georgia’s six-game winning streak in the series after sweeping them in 2017 and 2018. Georgia evened the series with a 12-2 win in Athens and then Tech claimed the rubber game of the series with an 8-6 decision at SunTrust Park. Stricklin played for Tech coach Danny Hall at Kent State in the early 1990s and later served on his staff as a volunteer coach (1998-99) and assistant coach (2002-04). During his Georgia tenure, Coach Stricklin is 11-6 against Tech.
Both teams will employ the same rotation they have used the first two weekends of the season. Friday's starter for Georgia will be junior RHP Emerson Hancock (1-0, 4.91) followed by sophomore RHP Cole Wilcox (1-0, 3.27) and junior LHP C.J. Smith (0-0, 3.12). Tech will counter with redshirt senior RHP Jonathan Hughes (2-0, 3.38), sophomore RHP Cort Roedig (1-1, 4.66) and freshman RHP Zach Maxwell (1-0, 1.00). Georgia’s team ERA is 2.79 with 33 walks and 103 strikeouts while Tech checks in with a 2.38 ERA, 29 walks and 84 strikeouts.
Georgia’s top hitter in the early going has been redshirt junior OF/LHP Tucker Bradley (.485-4-13; 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV). He ranks among the SEC leaders with a team-best .485 average, a .909 slugging percentage and a .585 on-base percentage. Also, he has made two relief appearances for a total of 3.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Also of note, sophomore OF Ben Anderson (.423-0-7) is among the SEC leaders with 16 runs scored. The Bulldogs are batting .284 with 13 home runs and 18 stolen bases this year. Tech is batting .299 with 10 home runs and three stolen bases.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE/PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday in Athens, 5 p.m. -- Emerson Hancock vs. Jonathan Hughes
Saturday in Atlanta, 2 p.m. -- Cole Wilcox vs. Cort Roedig
Sunday at Coolray Field, Lawerenceville, 2 p.m. -- C.J. Smith vs. Zach Maxwell
