It’s been an up-and-down first four games for starting pitcher and projected top-five MLB draft pick Emerson Hancock. But in Georgia baseball’s 5-0 victory against UMass on Friday, he created the momentum and carried the Bulldogs with 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings of work.

Hancock threw 102 pitches while allowing just three hits, zero walks and zero earned runs, lowering his season ERA from 5.4 to 3.75.

After giving up four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings on Feb. 28 against Georgia Tech, Hancock was in complete control of his fastball and regularly fooled UMass batters with his changeup. His strong performance was needed as the Bulldogs struggled to put together a single run until the bottom of the eighth inning.

“He bailed us out a little bit tonight,” senior Patrick Sullivan said. “He definitely makes it easier [on us], but you don’t want to make him have to do all that. We definitely need to give him more offensively next time he goes out there.”

Hancock was rarely placed into pressure situations on the mound. When he was, like in the first and third innings, he remained comfortable enough to get out of it in a number of ways.

With runners on first and third base in the first inning after a UMass single and an error by Cam Shepherd, Hancock forced the Minutemen’s Michael Rounds to ground out for the final out of the inning. Hancock then ended the top of the third by catching Steve Luttazi on a throwback to second after allowing runners on first and second base.

Hancock said that he didn’t have the command that he wanted in the early innings of the game, but he found the desired command for his fastball in the third inning and utilized it between the fourth and seventh innings by not allowing a hit.

“I kept throwing [my fastball] because I wanted to get a better command for it,” Hancock said. “I felt like the more I kept throwing and throwing [that], eventually I could get a good feel for it. Just have trust [in] that pitch in big situations, and it was pretty good.”

The Minutemen continuously struggled to catch up to Hancock’s fastball all night, and head coach Scott Stricklin believes it has everything to do with his command of the pitch.

“He has a reputation [to throw] some sliders and changeups when he’s behind in the count,” Stricklin said. “I think with his scouting report, they may have been looking for some offspeed [pitches], and he was able to get the fastball by them.”

To Stricklin, Friday’s outing was the best Hancock has looked all season, and if it weren’t for some defensive mistakes by the Bulldogs throughout the game, Hancock would’ve had the opportunity to go the distance.

Even though he received a no-decision, Friday’s 12-strikeout performance from Hancock ties his career high and is his sixth career game reaching the double-digit mark.

Printed with permission from The Red & Black independent student media organization based in Athens, Georgia; redandblack.com/sports