March Madness Begins for Georgia Baseball
Georgia Baseball is off to one of its hottest starts since 2007. The Bulldogs lead the SEC and are finding their own March madness.
For a month that is more famously known for its madness on the basketball court, the Georgia Baseball team has been lighting it up in recent play.
The Bulldogs are starting off hot with an overall 18-2 record and 3-0 in conference play after sweeping the Gamecocks this weekend.
Currently ranked at No. 8 in the nation, Georgia has strung together a nine-game win streak while winning those games by an average of five runs.
Before entering the weekend, South Carolina ranked as the No.22 team with only three losses on the season.
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The Gamecocks had chances to win in two of the three games but fell just short both times.
They will look to get back in the win column as they head to Furman for a one-game series.
The impressive nine-game stretch would not have been possible for the Dawgs without the effort for a few key players in the red and black.
Tucker Maxwell, has smacked his way to a .333 batting average.
The centerfielder leads the team in RBIs at 25 and has gone yard five times this season which he also leads the Dawgs in as well.
Thanks to that impressive stat line Maxwell received the SEC and National player of the week.
In the series against South Carolina, Maxwell had five hits, five RBI, and went yicketty once off the Gamecocks pitching rotation.
The list of stud players does not end there for Georgia though as pitchers Tony Locey and Cole Wilcox have been a deadly potent for opposing teams.
Locey currently leads the teams in strikeouts with 43, a 2.17 ERA, and a 3-0 record in five starts. He is establishing his early role as the Bulldog’s number one starting pitcher.
In his start against South Carolina, Locey sat down 11 Gamecock batters on strikes, only gave up three hits, and one earned run in the victory.
The pitching rotation only gets better as the game keeps going with reliever Cole Wilcox.
Hey @DSeifertD1PBR - I finally got a good #HeatSheet Alert for you: here's @BaseballUGA freshman righty Cole Wilcox blowing away Jacob Olson on a 100 mph heater. Sat mostly 98-99 with a couple 88 mph sliders in a 1-2-3 5th, also fanned Luke Berryhill on 99. pic.twitter.com/aHmdlKlIxz
— Aaron Fitt (@aaronfitt) March 16, 2019
In his most recent outing this past weekend Wilcox was clocked on the radar at 100 mph while also striking out three batters in two innings.
An eye-opening start to the season for a player who is just a freshman. In his six outings, Wilcox has reeled in 18 strikeouts and has played a vital role in the rotation.
Just like any freshman would at the college level, Wilcox does have some areas that he needs to work on. One of those areas is the command of his pitches, but in due time Wilcox will become a top pitcher for the Dawgs in the upcoming seasons.
On the upcoming schedule the Dawgs have a one-game home series with Georgia State, and then they will welcome the LSU Tigers into Athens for a three-game conference series.
If you are Georgia, you couldn’t have pictured a much better start for the season, and as of right now the ball club down in Athens looks to be a serious contender.