ATHENS — Georgia’s reemergence on the national baseball scene in 2018 is becoming one of the better stories, not just in the Southeastern Conference, but nationwide.
The Bulldogs improved from a 25-32 mark in 2017 -- 11-19 in SEC play and no SEC tournament or NCAA tournament appearances -- to 37-19 in 2018, a third place finish in the SEC at 18-12, and a No. 8 national seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. They made the SEC tournament for the first time in three seasons last week and the berth in the NCAA tournament is their first since 2011.
And several players from the northeast Georgia area have been instrumental in the Bulldogs rise.
Junior Michael Curry, a former Gainesville High standout, and sophomore Tucker Maxwell, a former Dawson County standout, have been starters since their arrivals in Athens. Sophomore southpaw pitcher Justin Glover (Buford High) has shown recent flashes of cracking into a more productive role out of the bullpen.
Fifth-year Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said finding home-grown talent was essential to rebuilding the Bulldogs into title contenders. On Thursday, as the Bulldogs prepared to host the Athens Regional at Foley Field beginning on Friday, Stricklin acknowledged that the trio is helping to validate his master strategy.
“Our goal is to recruit the best talent from all over Georgia but I think the talent in northeast Georgia has certainly taken a big step forward in the last 10 years,” Stricklin said. “The baseball in that area continues to get better and better and we’ll continue to recruit that area hard. We’re looking at some players in that area now.”
Jefferson, just 25 minutes from Foley Field, captured its first-ever state title last week and North Hall in 2017 claimed its first-ever title. Buford has advanced to the finals three of the past four seasons, winning the 2015 Class 4A crown, while Gainesville has been a perennial contender, advancing to a pair of Final Fours over the past four seasons, including losing in the 2015 Class 5A championship series. The Red Elephants won five titles from 1996 to 2002.
Maxwell, who cracked the starting lineup as a freshman after leading the Tigers into the second round of the Georgia High School Association playoffs in 2016, said part of the message Stricklin was selling was rebuilding the Bulldogs program from the inside. Maxwell has started 87 of his 106 games played in his first two seasons. He is hitting .219 in 2018 after a .177 clip as a freshman.
“Coach told us he wanted to bring in the best talent in the state and I think (the northeast Georgia) area has a lot of talent,” Maxwell said. “We got to play against really good talent (in high school) and that makes everyone better. I think we’ll see more players keep coming out from that area.”
Glover, who was a big cog on the mound in the Wolves’ run to the finals in 2015 and 2016, said northeast Georgia is starting to get the respect he thinks it deserves. Glover has just five appearances in 2018 but in his last two outings against Vanderbilt and Florida he went 2 1/3 innings allowing no runs and just two baserunners. He was 1-2 with a save and a 3.94 ERA in 13 appearances in 2017 as a freshman.
“I feel like (the area) deserves a lot more respect than it does get,” he said. “It seems like if you’re not from the Atlanta metro area you don’t get the respect you deserve. But I feel like teams like Buford, North Hall, Gainesville, Jefferson, they all can play with anyone.”
Does Glover expect Georgia to begin mining the area more in the coming future?
“I do,” he said. “I think the area is a huge recruiting base. Michael and Tucker are two huge pieces of the offense and with the success they have had it shows that guys from (the northeast Georgia) area can play. Hopefully we’ll see more guys head this way.”
Curry was the leader of the Red Elephants group in 2015 that fell to current Bulldogs’ teammate Adam Sasser and Greenbrier in the Class 5A finals. He also felt like the Bulldogs’ future success would include even more northeast Georgia talent.
“There’s a lot of talent in that area. I think we’ll see more and more players heading this way in the future,” Curry said. “The (Georgia) program is back where it needs to be. It’s an exciting time right now.”
