As Georgia’s baseball team gets ready to wrap up fall practice with Friday night’s exhibition game in Jacksonville against Florida, UGASports met with head coach Scott Stricklin to get the latest on the Bulldogs.

First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at 121 Financial Ballpark, adjacent to TIAA Bank Stadium, site of Saturday’s football game between the top-ranked Bulldogs and Gators. Here’s the latest:

Georgia’s 2022 roster will feature 29 returning lettermen, 14 newcomers, and four players who were redshirted last year.

“To me it’s just amazing with the depth we have. When you scrimmage, and you split teams up, you go three and four deep, one each side, with the next two or three guys battling for that ninth position in the lineup,” Stricklin said. “Now, we’re 7, 8, even 9 deep on each team, so it’s an incredible amount of depth. We might be the oldest team in college baseball, which is a good thing, and just a lot of talent, a lot of experience, and a lot of depth.”

Georgia’s incoming freshman class has been ranked as high as 15th national.

Stricklin said sophomore infielder Parks Harber has made the biggest jump of all his returning players.

The reason? He’s healthy.

Harber underwent wrist surgery over the summer, and after a slow start with his recovery, has bounced back to make a huge impression on Stricklin and his coaching staff.

“That’s just because he’s healthy. He played last year with a wrist that he hurt in high school, and probably should have had surgery in high school and didn’t,” Stricklin said. “He had to have it surgically repaired over the summer, and we were a little bit worried about him early in August, as far as how it was coming along. But we got to September, and he made a real big jump, and probably has made the biggest jump over everybody.”

One of the strongest players on the team, Harber batted .248 with three homers and 19 RBI as a true freshman.

“We knew he was going to be good, but now the ball is jumping off his bat. He’s just healthy, his wrist feels good,” Stricklin said. “He’s still not 100 percent. It’s not as strong as it needs to be, but he has probably made the biggest jump.”

An infielder by trade, Harber is expected to see most of his action at first base. He can also play third.

“That’s probably our biggest decision, who ends up playing first, because Chaney (Rogers) is so good defensively,” Stricklin said. “We’ve got Josh McAllister at third, so what that does is give us a guy who is good enough to play third playing first, with Chaney Rogers moving to the outfield, which is something he’s always done.”

Positional depth is not the only advantage Stricklin believes his team will have.

There’s plenty on the mound, too.

Stricklin already has Jonathan Cannon penciled in as his Friday night starter, but after that, there’s no shortage of potential candidates.

One name to watch is sophomore Jaden Woods, who Stricklin said has improved his breaking pitch from what it was a year ago.

“We felt he needed to do that to make that next jump,” Stricklin said. “We’ve seen that. He’s thrown it better, he’s throwing it more consistently.”

Sophomore Liam Sullivan is also expected to be in the mix. Freshman Coleman Willis and junior college transfer Dylan Ross will also receive consideration, along with Mississippi State transfer Davis Rokose.

“The young guys—Coleman Willis has got a big arm, he’s up to 96, and he can really pitch. But what we’ve seen with a lot of freshmen, is there is a learning curve. But we’re really excited about Coleman, and we’re really excited about Dylan Ross, guys with big arms,” Stricklin said. “It’s just the jump from high school and junior college to college hitting is something you have to adjust to. But I think both those guys are going to be really, really good.”

Will Childers and Garrett Brown have two of the biggest arms in the Bulldog arsenal.

Neither were available after Tommy John surgery over a year ago, but both pitchers are nearly back and ready to play key roles on the mound.

“They’re probably at 90 percent. They’re throwing bullpens. They haven’t thrown to hitters yet, but they’re close, and they’re throwing bullpens in the low- to mid-90s playing catch,” Stricklin said. “It’s just exciting to see our pitching staff. It’s talented, with a lot of experience, and those two guys haven’t pitched yet.”

As a true freshman in 2020, Childers appeared in five games, going 1-0 with an 0.79 ERA in 11.1 innings with six walks and 13 strikeouts. Brown went 1-2 with a 4.96 ERA in 16.1 innings last season before going down.

Georgia and Florida will play 10 innings Friday, with a different pitcher scheduled to be used every inning.

“You put on your uniform and turn on the scoreboard, and you want to win. When it’s your arch rival in front of a lot of fans, it’s exciting and I’m sure Florida feels the same way,” Stricklin said. “It’s just a great way to end the fall, it’s a great way to get some of your young kids’ feet wet and see an atmosphere of what it’s going to be like in a weekend series in the SEC.”

On Saturday, the team will head over to TIAA Bank Field to watch the football game before boarding the bus back to Athens.

“We get to go to the football game and see that. The kids are pumped about it, and on the way home, we get to get on the bus and watch the Braves in the World Series,” Stricklin said. “That bus ride will be pretty lively.”