Georgia baseball riding competitive fire from viral midweek win into home opener

Curley got set, turned his head and wagged his tongue at the runner on second base, taunting him with a goofy face. He then whipped his head back toward the plate and proceeded to throw strike three, freezing the hitter with a curveball.

Curley flung his glove and gestured on the mound as his teammates ran out to him, celebrating the emotional comeback.

“Some of the guys, they get on the mound, they get in that flow state, and who knows what you’re going to do up there,” fellow Georgia pitcher Paul Farley said. “He’s going to go out there and do what he wants to do, and he’s going to throw 100 (mph).”

UGA coach Wes Johnson showed some fire Tuesday night, notching his first ejection of the season. He was tossed for expressing frustration with several controversial calls early in the game.

Johnson echoed that he wasn’t trying to get thrown out to spark the team. but was willing to make his voice heard as the Bulldogs trailed on the road.

Johnson appreciated and laughed about Curley’s competitiveness, but made sure to rein his pitcher in when emotions cooled Wednesday morning.

“That’s new to me, too,” Johnson said. “I’m just like, ‘Brian, come on, man. There’s a line in the sand. Let’s not cross it.’”

Emotions have subsided since returning to Athens, but outfielder Devin Obee said the energy was still palpable at practice Wednesday.

Obee, a Duke transfer, wants to see that energy carry into UGA’s first home series this weekend.

“We’re definitely chippy right now, but we’ve got some things to work on,” Obee said. “We’re just going to kind of hone in on the competitiveness and kind of focus it on different things that we’re going to work on today.

“Sometimes we get a little amped up, but as Coach said, it’s better to be amped up than not to be amped up and just let things go.”

Obee mentioned the significance of veteran presences such as himself and Kentucky transfer Nolan McCarthy, who can remind guys to harness the emotion toward preparation.

The Bulldogs will have to stoke that fire for an extra day. Game One of the four-game weekend was moved from Thursday to Friday because “extreme weather conditions,” according to a school release.

Georgia will play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Friday. The Bulldogs will play once Saturday and Sunday, closing a 10-day stretch with nine games.

It has been a tougher stretch than usual for the Bulldogs, who opened their season on the road for the first time since 2013. Johnson said he is using the loaded schedule to get to know his roster early, experimenting with different matchups and depth pieces.

“We scheduled that by design,” Johnson said. “I added some games and flipped some games there on the schedule to load up on the front end to make sure I could see what we had on the mound.

“Hopefully this weekend, you’ll see everybody on our roster in that game from a position-player standpoint.”