No. 15 Clemson at No. 19 Georgia
WHEN: Tuesday, 7:02 p.m.
WHERE: Foley Field
RECORDS: Georgia 25-11, Clemson 26-10
TV.RADIO: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Todd Walker); Radio: Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Jeff Dantzler, David Johnston)
Sophomore Tucker Bradley can’t tell you all the components that make up the NCAA’s weekly baseball RPI rankings, but he knows it’s a big deal.
Much like basketball, when the NCAA baseball selection committee goes about the process of determining which teams qualify for regional play, a team’s RPI is the first criteria used.
Fortunately for Georgia (25-11), the Bulldogs enter Tuesday night’s game against Clemson (7:02, SEC Network) in high company.
Scott Stricklin’s squad currently boasts the nation’s No. 7 RPI according to the latest numbers released by the NCAA and is one of four SEC schools ranked in the top 10 (Florida No. 1, Arkansas No. 3, Ole Miss No. 6).
“That’s the main point of emphasis for us, to keep that up there because when that committee sits down and looks at who’s going to be in the tournament, that’s the first thing they look at,” Bradley said. “We know it’s a big deal.”
Stricklin made sure that they do.
“We want the guys to understand what it means,” he said. “Our RPI is No. 7 right now and it’s going to remain very high as long as we take care of business.”
Beating teams like Clemson certainly help.
Georgia defeated the Tigers 6-3 last Tuesday at SRP Park in North Augusta, S.C., which is also the kind of non-conference win the selection committee looks favorably upon when making its postseason selections.
Postseason is something that’s definitely on the Bulldogs’ minds.
It’s been seven years since Georgia’s baseball team last advanced to postseason play, and even longer than that (2008) since the Bulldogs last hosted a regional, a fact that’s not lost on players like junior Michael Curry.
“Of course, we want to make the postseason but now, if we can play the way we know we can play, we want to host,” Curry said. “That just goes back to what Coach says about having a higher standard.
"That’s been our focus and I think that’s really good.”
Naturally, there’s still plenty of work to do.
The SEC schedule can be unforgiving, and Georgia will be on the road for three of its remaining five conference series (Ole Miss, Missouri and Florida) while hosting Tennessee and Arkansas.
However, the Bulldogs are a confident group, despite dropping their last two conference series to Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
“I think the belief kind of settled in Texas A&M weekend,” Stricklin said of the series won by Georgia two games to one.
“For me, I felt this was a postseason team from the beginning,” Stricklin said. “When I talked to Coach (pitching coach Sean) Kenny about the season, I asked him, 'you’re the new guy, what do you think?'
"He said, 'the only question I have is if we win 35 or 40.'
“That’s when I started thinking, OK, I thought we’d be good but, to me, it was good to hear from a guy who hadn’t seen it, to come in and see it. But for our team, I think it really started to click after we won that series because Texas A&M is playing as good as anybody in the country. To win that series gave our guys some confidence and kind of cemented the thing that we’ve been telling them, that we are a good team and can be one of the top teams in the country.”
