Brian Curley is a name for all college baseball fans to circle this season.
If you don’t know his name yet, it’s only a matter of time before you will. The junior VCU transfer has already made a name for himself, going viral on social media not once, but twice within the first five games of the season.
His most recent attention came from the Bulldogs’ Tuesday night showdown against in-state rival Kennesaw State.
The right-handed pitcher was the man on the mound in the final inning of an already tense game. Georgia led by two runs with two outs and an 0-2 count when Curley squared up his feet for the potential game-winning pitch. Curley then looked over his shoulder, locked eyes with the runner on second base, stuck his tongue out and threw a perfect pitch across the plate before launching his glove in the air and waving for his teammates to join him on the field.
“I didn’t see that coming,” redshirt freshman Paul Farley said of Curley’s surprise.
And that sums up just who Curley is – an unpredictable competitor.
“But Curley is a funny man,” Farley said. “That’s just his personality on the mound. He’s just going to go out there, and he’s gonna do whatever he wants to do, and he’s gonna throw 100 [mph].”
Head coach Wes Johnson, who was previously ejected from the game for arguing a pitch-clock violation, said that Curley’s gesture was also new to him. As a coach, Johnson wasn’t as fond of the moment as most social media pages were.
“I tell our players, ‘Emotions can take you too far over to the wrong side,’” Johnson said. “And you lose focus, and then the first time you get punched back in the mouth, the emotions drain you out. So, the balance is, ‘Can we keep our energy and focus equal to our emotions?’”
Curley’s first two starts with Georgia, however, have shown that he is not only fun and games, but also just the type of pitcher that Georgia was looking to add to the bullpen.
Curley earned Preseason First Team All-American honors, boasting a 2.87 ERA and going 6-0 with three saves in 19 appearances for VCU last season. He also recorded 78 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings. The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him in the 16th round of the 2024 MLB draft before he decided to continue his player development and finish his college baseball career.
In Curley’s first appearance in red and black, he also went viral – but this time for throwing a 100-mph pitch, with a pause in his delivery, against UNCW. Throwing a triple-digit pitch in the opening weekend of college baseball is definitely a stand-out moment, and the Bulldogs are sure to continue utilizing Curley and his talent.
Whether it’s his entertaining personality or his powerful arm, Georgia fans can expect to see a lot more out of this guy this season.
