A berth in the College World Series at stake for Georgia
WHAT: Athens Super Regional
WHEN: Saturday noon; Sunday noon; Monday (if necessary) TBD
WHERE: Foley Field
RECORDS: Georgia 42-15; North Carolina State 36-20
TV: ESPNU
AT STAKE: A trip to the College World Series
Charlie Condon was not even in school the last time Georgia qualified for the College World Series, but thanks to another Bulldog great, he’s been told what a great experience a trip to Omaha is.
“I’ve talked to Gordon (Beckham) some about that, but I definitely wasn’t in touch with that in 2008 (laughing). I was in kindergarten,” Condon said Friday. “But it’s been awesome to hear Gordon tell those stories. The differences and similarities between that year and this year are definitely pretty cool.”
The similarities are uncanny.
Georgia’s 2008 squad – led by Beckham – defeated North Carolina State in Athens to advance to the College World Series. If the Bulldogs want to do so again, Georgia (42-15) will have to vanquish the Wolfpack (36-20) once again.
“That’s the ultimate goal to get there,” first baseman Corey Collins chimed in. “Now that we can see it – and not to get too far ahead – it’s a little motivation that we really can do this no matter what people think.”
Skipper Wes Johnson will tell you it’s all been a matter of believing.
During one of Johnson’s first team meetings, his message to his players was not to let anyone set limits on how good they could be or the goal they hoped to reach.
That message has been received.
After being picked to finish sixth in the SEC East, Georgia is one of five conference teams with a chance to advance to the College World Series should it defeat the North Carolina State in this week’s best-of-three Super Regional that gets underway Saturday at noon (ESPNU).
“I just talk to our team about that a lot. You look at any team in professional baseball, I was fortunate enough to coach two divisional titles, those teams in their belief and confidence is at a level that is really, really high. It gives you a chance to go out and carry that into winning. That's what I meant by that,” Johnson said. “Yes, we've developed some guys this year. There's no doubt about that. We can look at that objectively. They had to learn how to believe in themselves. They had to learn, how once they did that, to take the confidence to the field. And then look at their teammates and know that about each other."
Condon said once players realized that Johnson meant every word he was saying, the team’s confidence took off.
“We worked really hard through the offseason and into the spring. It was really getting everybody to buy into what this program is and what it looked like before,” Condon said. “We really believed that for a very long time and that’s why we’re here – the persistence of this group, and the willingness to never quit and get better. This has kind of been the vision for a while.”
For veterans like Collins, it means even more.
Collins was part of the 2022 Georgia team that was eliminated in the Chapel Hill Regional before sweeping through last weekend’s Athens Regional to earn this weekend’s opportunity against the Wolfpack.
“It means the world. We fell in love with this place the first day we stepped on it. We wanted to bring this back here for as long as we’ve been here,” Collins said. “To us, it means everything; it means the world. Seeing this guy (Condon) grow and come up like he has, I really couldn’t have drawn it up any better. It’s just awesome to be back in Athens. We love it.”
Johnson was asked what a trip to the World Series would mean to the program.
"Yeah, you know, the first thing we want to talk about is tomorrow, but yes, I'd be naive not to say that yeah, if we got there and we win that second game — for these guys, especially this group. You look at Charlie Condon, you look at Corey Collins, Fernando Gonzalez. I mean, I could go through all the guys that have been here a while. It would mean the world to them, right?” Johnson said. “And, you know, for us, it just shows that you can come in. I heard the term so many times when I got here about rebuild, rebuild, rebuild. You just know that you don't have to rebuild — that you can go out and if you do your due diligence and run your models and everything else you can find a team that can win in your ballpark."