Georgia baseball: Cam Shepherd’s Glory! Glory! moment

For eight innings it was another day at the Georgia baseball factory for Cam Shepherd; sparkling defense but disappointment at the plate. Everything changed with Shepherd’s walk off blast in the bottom of the ninth inning.

It has been a magical 2019 season for Georgia baseball, and Cam shepherd has done more than his part for the leather slinging defense that plays behind the best pitching staff in the SEC. A baseball player measures his worth at the plate, however, and while his Georgia baseball team is enjoying a magical season, Cam Shepherd has not enjoyed success hitting the baseball.

With one swing, in Hoover, all of Shepherd’s third strike frustrations, every deep fly short of the fence, and every hard smashed at ’em ball is forgotten. Cam Shepherd had his Glory! Glory! moment today with a walk off drive over the distant Hoover Metropolitan Stadium left field fence. The blast sends Georgia to the third round of the SEC Tournament undefeated.

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Defense matters, but offense makes heroes

It wasn’t Shepherd’s only contribution. He made another of his typical dazzling plays while playing typically flawless defense at shortstop for nine innings.

For a team built on pitching and defense, that’s big, but they don’t sing the fight song when you throw from the hole for the last out. They don’t soak your head during the post-game interview for a diving stab of a line drive to end the game. You get that Glory! Glory! moment at the plate, and Cam Shepherd got his in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 0 – 0 pitchers duel.

A Dawg day morning

To set up Shepherd’s moment, Georgia did what is has done 42 time this season. It pitched and defended with tenacity.

Leaving weekend aces Emerson Hancock and Tony Locey in the  dugout for the SEC Tournament opener, Georgia sent first Tim Elliot, then Justin Glover and Zac Kristofak to the mound. Alternating between making trouble and getting out of trouble for nine innings, the trio gave up only two hits and brought the Dawgs to the ninth inning with the score tied at zero.

Aggie heroics erased with one swing

At the plate, the Dawgs had battled, but were whipped by Texas A&M freshman left hander Chris Weber. Weber threw seven and a third no-hit innings before giving up a hit. He was relieved by another lefty, Joseph Menefee.

Menefre kept the Texas A&M pitching story line alive until there were two out in the ninth inning when Georgia collected its second and third hits of the game, the last Shepherd’s decisive blast.

Big John’s savvy set-up

A footnote to Shepherd’s heroic blast is John Cable’s at bat in the same inning. Before Shepherd came to the plate, the dead pull hitting left-handed hitter popped a single to the opposite side and away from the right field leaning Texas A&M shift.

Perhaps the savvy fifth-year senior saw something in Shepherd’s swing. Maybe he recollected Shepherd’s recent flurry of homeruns. Maybe he was just desperate.

In any event, Cable chose to take the single instead of swinging for the right field fence. The decision brought the .227 hitting shortstop to the plate, and after working the count to 2 – 2, Shepherd tattooed the ball deep to put his stamp on this day forever.

Glory! Glory! Cam Shepherd.