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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily New

Everything was falling into place for LaGrange High graduate Logan Moody.

Moody is a red-shirt senior pitcher for the Georgia Bulldogs, and in his three appearances this season, he’d yet to allow a run.

What was shaping up to be an exceptional season for Moody was cut short, though.

Georgia was on its way to Gainesville for a Southeastern Conference Series with the Florida Gators when the players found out that the season was being put on hold as colleges and conferences figured out how best to deal with the growing coronavirus threat.

“We’d just finished playing Georgia Southern on a Wednesday, and on Thursday we were heading down to Gainesville to play Florida, and we stopped in Brunswick for lunch,” Moody said. “During lunch, we learned that we’d be postponed for two weeks. We got back on the bus, and about three hours later we found out the World Series was canceled, and all the postseason was canceled. That was another shock.

“I think it was about an hour later, we learned more news. We kind of figured out from about lunch time to that Thursday night that everything was going to be canceled.”

It was a tough break for all of the players, including Moody, who’d helped the Bulldogs amass a 14-4 record heading into the start of SEC play.

In his three mound appearances this season, Moody pitched eight scoreless innings while giving up three hits with seven strikeouts.

It’s possible NCAA Division I student-athletes in the spring sports won’t have to give up a year of eligibility, which means that if Moody chooses to, he may be abe to return for the 2021 season.

“It’s definitely something I don’t want to make a decision on abruptly,” Moody said. “It’s a big decision, but you can’t beat playing another year in Athens.”

Moody, who began his collegiate career as an outfielder, decided to make the transition to pitcher following his sophomore season.

Moody began working on his pitching skills in earnest during the summer of 2017, and he took a red-shirt season in 2018.

During a successful 2019 season Moody was a key member of the pitching staff, and he went 1-0 with a 4.07 earned run average while making 11 mound appearances with three starts.

Moody was a key part of a memorable game against Clemson.

Moody threw four scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in a 3-2 victory over Clemson in a game that lasted 20 innings.

Georgia finished with a 46-17 record last season, and it advanced to the final game of the NCAA Athens Regional before losing to Florida State.

“I was really glad I switched (to pitching),” Moody said. “I still love hitting, and I like to hit, but pitching was a great decision as a whole. I talked to the coaches in the fall of my junior year about pitching and I made the switch. It was definitely a lot of fun last year being able to pitch, and then hosting a regional, and being able to throw in the regional was awesome. I’m definitely glad I made the switch and went to the mound.”

Whether he was playing the outfield, pitching, or watching from the sidelines during his red-shirt season, Moody is grateful for the time he has had at Georgia.

“I love Athens,” he said. “I love playing there, and I love all the people that are a part of the program, the coaches, the trainers, the managers. They’re like family. I’d recommend it to anybody that had the opportunity. I definitely loved my time there, and we’ll see what happens in the future with it.”

Making things even more enjoyable for Moody, he was able to play alongside his brother Drew Moody during his first two seasons at Georgia.

Drew Moody was a pitcher for the Bulldogs from 2014 to 2017, and he and Logan were teammates for two seasons beginning in 2016.

“He was actually in Athens for a fifth year, so we were there for three years together, and two years on the team together,” Logan Moody said. “It was a lot of fun.”

If the season had continued, Moody and his teammates would have been coming off an SEC series against defending national-champion Vanderbilt.

Instead, Moody is back home in LaGrange, and he’s doing his best to stay fit and be ready to play again.

“I’ve still been throwing, and trying to stay ready for whatever,” Moody said. “I don’t know what’s going to resume anytime soon, but I’m just staying ready.”