Georgia freshman pitcher Cole Wilcox, center, returns to the dugout during a home baseball game against Dayton in February.With high-90s heat and a discombobulating slider thrown as hard as other pitchers’ fastballs, Cole Wilcox flashed remarkable potential in his freshman baseball season at the University of Georgia.
Battling past growing pains in early nonconference play, the 6-foot-5, 232-pound Wilcox found his mojo against Southeastern Conference competition. The Heritage High School graduate built on strong relief appearances to become a featured starter.
The first three SEC outs he recorded were strikeouts against South Carolina in a shutdown outing from the bullpen. Wilcox finished his first start against a league foe with two strikeouts, firing up the crowd in Athens, in a seven-inning complete-game victory over Florida on May 5.
Postseason heroics also were in store for the young bulldog on the mound. He did not allow an earned run in 6 1/3 innings to top fifth-ranked Arkansas in the SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
Georgia freshman Cole Wilcox from Heritage High School in Ringgold pitches during an exhibition game last fall.“Once I gained my confidence and realized it’s still just baseball, I started to make the pitches I knew I could,” said Wilcox, who went 3-1 with a 2.29 earned run average while striking out 48 batters and holding opponents to a .184 batting average in 43 2/3 innings against SEC opponents. His overall ERA was 4.07.