University of Georgia Athletics
Not So Young Anymore
April 12, 2017 | Baseball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
It was their first game against Georgia Tech for a lot of Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday night at Foley Field. It was about all they could hope for: a 5-1 win that featured some good offense (nine Bulldog hits), great pitching (only four Tech hits) and some tremendous defensive plays.
Six of the Bulldogs' 10 starters Tuesday were freshmen, including the first three batters in Georgia's lineup and the starting pitcher, Zac Kristofak. Also on the field at the start were three sophomores and a junior.
More puppies than full-grown Bulldogs, perhaps, this clearly is a very young team, with only one senior and one graduate transfer on the roster, along with 26 freshmen and sophomores. But it's not so young anymore.
The hot hitting shortstop, Cam Shepherd, has started the first 34 games of his career, and against Tech he produced his 13th multi-hit game. He's hitting a robust .377 in SEC play, .329 overall, and batting in the No. 3 spot he is a run scoring (17) and run producing (15) key to coach Scott Stricklin's lineup.
Against Tech, Shepherd walked and scored in the first inning, belted a line-drive home run to left in the third and singled in the fifth.
"Cam's a really good baseball player so nothing really surprises me," Stricklin said. "You know someone's good at something when they make something difficult look easy, and he makes it look pretty easy -- he makes hitting look pretty easy, and it's the furthest thing from it."
It's his first time at this level, but hitting is nothing new for Shepherd. He hit .500 as a senior at Peachtree Ridge High School in Duluth, Ga., last spring. The adjustment to collegiate pitching and defense has featured some challenges, he said.
"It's just more off-speed," he said of collegiate pitching. "You can see velo [velocity] in high school, but the off-speed has gotten a lot better since we've gotten here. Getting to see that is helpful."
Shepherd has had some struggles defensively — an error, his team-high 12th of the season, allowed Tech's only run to score -- and as a squad Georgia now has committed 59. That area is beginning to improve, as well, Stricklin said.
"We're a really good defensive team that hasn't played very well defensively, which is mind blowing," he said. "It drives you nuts, but I know that we can be a good defensive team -- we just have to become more consistent."
Shepherd's a standout player whose numbers stand out, for sure, but he's far from the only freshman getting better and contributing. Three times in the first 1 2/3 innings, meaning in three of the first five outs the Bulldogs recorded, right-fielder Tucker Bradley made good-to-holy-smokes plays on the ball.
Bradley's first initially looked like a lazy fly ball to right to end the top of the first, until it kept tailing away from him and he would up making a full stretch, diving grab for the out. In the second there was a play on a deep drive to the warning track for the first out, and then another superb diving catch on a dying fly ball for out No. 2.
In the bottom of the eighth Georgia got some valuable insurance when freshman second baseman Will Proctor, making his 25th start of the season, belted a one-out double to left, scoring Keegan McGovern from second and pushing the UGA lead to 5-1. It was Proctor's sixth double of the season out of 21 hits; with three home runs, nine of his 21 hits have gone for extra bases.
Experience is helping him get better at the plate (he credited it for helping him to wait on the curve ball that he ripped for the double), in the field and between the ears. One area more than the others, he said.
"In the head, definitely," Proctor said, adding, "Obviously I'm still going to make some dumb mistakes, but as a group, collectively, we're making less mistakes, whether it's at the plate or in the field."
Freshman leadoff hitter Tucker Maxwell has started 30 games and had a double and a run scored against the Yellow Jackets. Batting second is freshman third baseman Aaron Schunk, who has 33 starts, a .306 average and 17 RBIs, second most on the team. Then there's Shepherd batting third and Proctor in the No. 7 slot, with Bradley as the No. 9 hitter.
Starting on the mound for Georgia was freshman Zac Kristofak, who pitched three innings, allowing two hits, a walk and he struck out three. He's now pitched 13 straight scoreless innings, with 14 strikeouts in that stretch.
"He was Zac Kristofak tonight, striking out every other dude with that wipeout slider," Proctor said. "It was pretty fun to watch."
As is the development of this young squad, that is starting to show that it's not quite as young as it was in February.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
