Georgia baseball puts No. 2 ranking, SEC lead at stake at Tennessee

ATHENS — The No. 2-ranked Georgia baseball team will put its perch atop the SEC on the line as it returns to action at Tennessee at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The SEC Network will televise the game between the Bulldogs (28-6, 9-3 SEC) and the Vols (24-10, 4-8). The teams will play again at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday on SEC Network Plus.

UGA has won six of its last seven games. The Bulldogs are coming off a 12-2 drubbing of Georgia Tech.

Georgia plans to stick with its regular SEC rotation against Tennessee, consisting of sophomore Emerson Hancock (6-1, 1.02 ERA), sophomore C.J. Smith (3-1, 2.51 ERA) and junior Tony Locey (5-,0, 2.18 ERA).

Hancock, a 6-4, 215-pound native of Cairo, Ga., was recently named one of 40 players on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List. Hancock has made eight starts, throwing 53 innings with 57 strikeouts and only 15 walks.

Tennessee started the season 15-0 and has the fourth-lowest team ERA among SEC pitching staffs at 2.96. Georgia pitchers have a cumulative 2.83 ERA this season.

The Vols are coming off an 11-2 victory over Lipscomb in which they hit a program-record tying seven home runs.

The Bulldogs are 10-5 against the Vols under Coach Scott Stricklin and have won four of the past five series against Tennessee. That includes a 5-1 mark in Knoxville.

Georgia catcher Mason Meadows, who returned from facial fractures on Tuesday night, is expected to start behind the plate.

Georgia baseball’s Scott Stricklin previews UT