Last Thursday, brothers Kolby Branch and Kyle Branch played against each other for the first time in their lives – as Division I athletes in the SEC.
“The eighth inning, I was sitting there, I almost started tearing up,” Georgia infielder Kolby Branch said. “I was like, ‘Man, that’s my brother out there. He’s sitting there doing the same thing I’m doing.'”
Kolby, the junior shortstop for Georgia, and Kyle, the freshman second baseman for Oklahoma, faced off in Athens, Georgia, for a three-game series. Tenth-ranked Georgia entered the series with a four-game losing streak. No. 14 Oklahoma had just swept Missouri.
Kolby showed out against his younger brother in Game 3 with two home runs and a double to lead the Bulldogs to a 2-1 series win.
“It was a picture-perfect weekend,” Kolby said after the series.
Kyle totaled five hits throughout the series, one of which was a slow ground ball for which he used his speed to beat the throw from Kolby to first.
One of the elements Kolby admires about Kyle’s playing style is his scrappiness, specifically on the basepaths.
“He gets on first, and I’m on my toes the entire time trying to make sure he doesn’t get a bag on me,” Kolby said.
Throughout the series, a posse of about 20 friends and family could be heard cheering on Kyle and Kolby. Decked out in Kolby and Kyle gear, many of the family members wore custom jerseys to illustrate their unique situation as fans: One half was a Georgia jersey and the other half was Oklahoma.
The friends and family members also wore customized pins. Some had Kolby’s and Kyle’s names on them. Others had a side-by-side photo of them as kids.
Their grandpa, Harvey Zimpel, wore a pin with the nickname his family calls him: Grandpa John Deere. Why the nickname? “Cause I got a lot of tractors,” he said.
His half-and-half jersey was not buttoned.
“You notice I don’t have my shirt buttoned because the buttons pop,” he said of his pride for his grandsons. “My chest will expand with pride so much it will pop the buttons.”
The brothers are two years apart. Growing up, they both played in an age group above their own to challenge themselves and played together in high school as a shortstop and second baseman duo. So these games were the first they truly played against each other.
“I mean, besides the duels that you have when you’re 5 to 10 years old,” Kolby said, “you know you’re fighting and arguing, constantly at odds.”
Two brothers from Lucas, Texas, made it to the big leagues of college baseball. Watching this 14-year journey of Kolby and Kyle, their grandpa said, has felt like an “overnight trip” for him.
“They were in tee ball, running the wrong direction, running from home plate directly to second base,” he said. “And now they’re running the bases with home runs.”
