During one of his first team meetings, first-year head coach Wes Johnson told his Georgia baseball team that whatever success it accomplished this spring would be totally up to the Bulldogs to achieve.
This wasn’t just coach speak.
While many first-year head coaches will often attempt to fire up the troops with a rah-rah message of hope, Johnson’s message to his team was one of belief. Believe in yourself and the rest will take care of itself.
In baseball, belief is half the battle. Some will tell you it’s more. After Sunday’s dramatic 8-6 win over Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs are advancing to the Super Regional for the first time since 2008. That's a lof of belief.
For those counting, this was the first time the Bulldogs have swept a regional 3-0.
The Bulldogs will host North Carolina State, which ironically is the same program Georgia defeated in the Super Regional to advance to the College World Series in 2008.
Sixteen years is a long time between appearances. But in just one season, the Bulldogs placed themselves in a position to make another memorable postseason run. Speaking of 2008, Georgia made it all the way to the finals of the College World Series before falling to Fresno State, two games to one.
It’s been quite the ride with no shortage of storylines.
Charlie Condon was already one of the best players in the SEC when the season started, but has morphed into the potential top pick in next month’s MLB Draft.
The former walk-on will win every major college baseball award there is to own after a season that saw him hit .445 with 36 home runs and 77 RBI, with a mind-blowing slugging percentage of 1.036. Condon also owns one of the most amazing stats you’ll find: only 39 strikeouts, which is just three more than his 36 home runs.
Condon is not the only story.
Corey Collins’ first three seasons at Georgia saw him hit a combined .266 with 25 homers and 94 RBI. Under the tutelage of first-year hitting coach Will Coggin, Collins is batting .361 with 19 home runs and 55 RBI, mostly out of the leadoff spot where his .576 on-base percentage is one of the top 10 marks in the country.
You can go on and on. Johnson hit the transfer portal hard to fill out his roster of position players. Slate Alford (.302-16-67), Dylan Goldstein (.285-12-42), Kolby Branch (.262-17-57), Paul Toetz (.346-4-22), and Clayton Chadwick (.266-4-26) have played big roles.
Add in the veteran leadership and clutch hitting of catcher Fernando Gonzalez (.284-9-51) and freshman Tre Phelps (.355-10-34), who looks like the Bulldogs’ next big star, Georgia’s main cast of offensive characters have put up prodigious numbers, including a school-record 143 home runs.
Georgia’s pitching staff has had its ups and downs. But Johnson has cultivated the group, and despite some recent uncertainties due to injuries, continues to keep the Bulldogs in games and give the offense opportunities to be the difference makers.
Thus far, the formula has worked just fine.
It also bodes well for next weekend against North Carolina State in the best-of-three series for a trip to the College World Series.
Assuming the cramps that forced Kolten Smith from the game against UNC-Wilmington are gone and Leighton Finley’s nerves are kept in check, Georgia’s pitching is good enough to give the team a legitimate shot at getting back to Omaha.
After what we saw Sunday night, there’s no reason not to believe the Bulldogs won’t.
