ATHENS — University of Georgia pitching coach Sean Kenny has agreed to a three-year contract extension, according to an announcement Thursday by head coach Scott Stricklin.
Since joining the Bulldogs in June of 2017, Kenny has made a dramatic impact with the program, helping Georgia to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances as national seeds, top 25 rankings and establishing school records by the pitching staff.
“Coach Kenny is a big key to the success of our baseball program, and I’m thrilled that we were able to extend his contract through 2024,” said Stricklin. “I am also grateful that (J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics) Josh Brooks recognizes how important Sean is to the future of our program and helped get this done quickly.”
The 2021 team spent 11 weeks in the nation’s top 25 rankings and reached as high as No. 5 before a slew of injuries eventually took its toll on the club. The Bulldogs lost four of their top five pitchers during the year with freshmen accounting for 52 percent of the starts and 44 percent of the innings pitched. Georgia’s veteran starters, Ryan Webb and Jonathan Cannon, who were named preseason All-Americans, were limited to a combined 123 innings due to illness and injury. Still, the staff held opponents to a .226 batting average and tallied 570 strikeouts, and both of those marks ranked second best in school history. Pitcher Jaden Woods was named a Freshman All-American by Perfect Game/Rawlings along with Freshman All-SEC by the league coaches.
Georgia was poised to have a memorable season in 2020 when the campaign ended after 18 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bulldogs finished the year ranked as high as No. 2 nationally with a 14-4 record. The pitching staff had a 2.52 ERA and held opponents to a .206 batting average. The team featured a pair of power arms in junior Emerson Hancock, who went sixth overall in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft to Seattle, and Cole Wilcox, who received a record signing bonus from San Diego as a third-round selection. The duo combined to sign for $9 million. The top newcomers were Cannon and Will Childers, and they earned Freshman All-America honors.
The Bulldogs posted one of their best regular seasons in school history in 2019, going 42-14 including a school record 21-9 in the SEC. Then, Georgia advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and played host to another NCAA Regional as a top eight National Seed. This was the first time in school history that Georgia served as an NCAA host site as a National Seed in back-to-back seasons. Also, it was only the third time for the program to make back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances.
Georgia finished the 2019 season with a 46-17 record, and the win total was the fourth most in school history. The pitching staff set school records for strikeouts in a season (601) and lowest opponent's batting average (.200). Also, the squad’s 3.24 ERA was the second best in school history, trailing only the 1958 team mark of 2.97. Additionally, the team tallied 19 saves and allowed just 235 runs, both marks that ranked second best in school history. Junior third baseman/closer Aaron Schunk, a second-round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, was named the 2019 John Olerud Award recipient as the nation's top two-way player by the College Baseball Foundation. Schunk and Hancock were consensus All-America selections to highlight the Bulldog individual honors. A total of eight Bulldogs were selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft. Pitcher Tony Locey, a third-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals, went 11-2 to become Georgia's first 11-game winner since 1990. Also of note, Hancock and Wilcox garnered USA Collegiate National Team summer invitations.
In his first year with the Bulldogs in 2018, Kenny’s influence with the pitching staff helped Georgia post its finest season in a decade. Georgia went 39-21 overall, 18-12 in the SEC, earned a No. 8 National Seed for the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Athens Regional Final. Georgia's team ERA of 3.97 was 1.05 runs lower compared to the 2017 squad, and the staff established a school record by holding opponents to a .236 batting average while tallying 532 strikeouts. The team leader in wins, junior Kevin Smith (8-1, 3.69 ERA), signed as a seventh-round draft pick of the New York Mets. Schunk garnered Third Team All-America honors from the NCBWA as a utility player and was a finalist for the John Olerud Award.
