Athens Regional News and Notes

NCAA Athens Regional

WHERE: Foley Field

WHEN: Friday, 1 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 39-15, Army 31-21

STARTING PITCHERS: TBA vs TBA

TV/RADIO: ESPN+ (Kevin Fitzgerald and Bobby Maranda); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Jeff Dantzler and David Johnston)

It will have been 10 days between games when Georgia (39-15) takes on Army (31-21), but Bulldog coach Wes Johnson isn’t fretting.

“We needed a little bit of a break. We had some guys with some bumps and bruises,” Johnson said after Thursday’s workout at Foley Field. “Teams are different on that. There are times when you’ve got a younger team that maybe needs to continue to get at-bats and see live hitters. Those are teams where an early exit from a conference tournament might not be the best thing.

"But we’re older, so when you pull back, I think this team needed a little breather, and it’s been good for us.”

The Bulldogs even took it a step farther than that.

Georgia did not hold any intrasquads in preparation for this weekend’s action. Instead, the Bulldogs held simulated games which placed players in pressure situations that could arise this weekend.

“I didn’t want to throw live to hitters. I don’t want to go into my thoughts behind that, but we’ve done a lot of work where it was sim games where guys would stand in, working different counts, working different things that guys needed to work on,” Johnson said. “Again, if this team were young, you’d probably be a little more concerned about the time off. But you go around the field, we’re pretty old. These guys have been in the postseason before, so they know how to get their body and mind right."

Johnson did not say whether or not left-hander Charlie Goldstein would necessarily be available to pitch this weekend.

But he’s on the official 27-man roster that Johnson and other coaches must turn into the NCAA.

Goldstein (4-1, 3.72) has not pitched for the Bulldogs in almost a month after coming out from what Johnson described as “triceps cramps".

Johnson knows the Bulldogs are blessed playing at Foley Field up to the College World Series, should they be fortunate enough to advance.

“One of the things I like about postseason baseball is when you’re at home, things are just different,” Johnson said. “I’ve been fortunate enough in all my time in the SEC, I haven’t played in a regional on the road. I did when I was at Dallas Baptist. But when you’re at home, there’s just a comfort level that guys get. They love our ballpark, they love hitting here, our fans have been awesome, so this is truly a home-field advantage.”

Georgia is 29-5 in games played at Foley Field this year.

Johnson expects Georgia’s fans to be ready to go.

“It’s going to be rocking,” Johnson said.

Although he had no idea Georgia would be the No. 7 seed, Johnson said he did not let that uncertainty play into how his Bulldogs approached their SEC Tournament game against LSU.

The Tigers rolled past the Bulldogs 9-1 in first-round action.

“We didn’t know we were a top 8 at that point, but we knew we were in. We knew we had some guys dinged up, so we weren’t going to quote-un-quote, push in all our chips to win a game. We were trying to win, don’t get me wrong, so don’t misunderstand me by any means,” Johnson said. “But we weren’t going to bring guys back on short rest, and we didn’t feel we had to.

"That point in time, if it cost us something, being healthy was way more important than winning a couple of games.”

Johnson shot back when reminded that Georgia enters play on a three-game losing streak.

“We remember different here,” he said. “We remember it as we won seven of our last 10 league games. We’ve built off that.”

Johnson has never been one to look ahead. That certainly applies to the Athens Regional.

When asked his thoughts on playing in-state rival Georgia Tech, Johnson said the Yellow Jackets are not currently on his mind.

“One thing you learn really fast in this game, you do that (look ahead), you get beat,” said Johnson.

“The rivalry is there. I’d be naïve to see I don’t know that,” he said. “But our focus is on Army, and what we’ve got to do to beat them.”

... Before this year, Georgia’s last NCAA Regional appearance came in 2022 at UNC where the Bulldogs went 1-2. The Bulldogs have won four out of six NCAA Regionals in Athens, posting a 19-8 mark. Georgia went 4-1 in 2001, 3-1 in 2004, 4-1 in 2006, 4-1 in 2008, 2-2 in 2018 and 2-2 in 2019. Georgia is a perfect 4-for-4 in advancing out of Super Regionals, making the CWS out of Athens in 2001 (2-1), 2006 (2-1), and 2008 (2-1) and from Atlanta in 2004 (2-0).

... The Bulldog offense is headlined by the 2024 SEC Player of the Year in redshirt-sophomore All-America Charlie Condon. The potential top draft pick in 2024, he leads the NCAA with a .443 batting average, a school record 35 home runs (2nd in SEC history and most in the BBCOR era), 219 total bases, and a 1.043 slugging percentage. He has a .558 OB% (third nationally) with 50 walks (23 intentional) and 75 RBI. He had a stretch where he homered in a school-record eight straight games, one shy of the NCAA record. Condon has smashed a school record 60 career home runs in only 110 games.

... Senior Corey Collins is enjoying a fine year at .360-18-52. He leads the country with a .584 on-base percentage and is ninth nationally with an SEC-leading and school-record 25 HBP. Freshman Tre Phelps checks in at .357-9-33. The Bulldogs rank third nationally with a school record 140 home runs. Also, this year’s squad has hit a school record 11 grand slams. Georgia is third nationally with a .599 slugging percentage and fifth in on-base percentage at .435. The Bulldogs are batting .306 with a 5.65 team ERA and a .974 fielding percentage.

... Georgia’s top starting pitchers of late have been sophomore right-hander Leighton Finley (5-1, 4.18 ERA, 69 strikeouts, 24 walks 64.2 innings pitched) and sophomore right-hander Kolten Smith (9-2, 4.40 ERA, 94 strikeouts, 13 walks, 61.1 innings pitched) while graduate lefty Charlie Goldstein (4-1, 3.72 ERA, 43 strikeouts, 13 walks, 36.1 innings pitched) has pitched just 7.2 innings since beating then No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville on March 29. His last action came against No. 13 Vanderbilt on May 4 but left after 2.2 scoreless innings due to a tricep cramp. The top relievers have been graduate Christian Mracna (3-2, 5.61 ERA, 1 save) and graduate Brian Zeldin (3-3, 5.59 ERA, 6 saves).

(All games on ESPN+)

Friday

Game 1: No. 1 Georgia (39-15) vs No. 4 Army (31-21), 1 p.m.

Game 2: No. 2 UNC-Wilmington (39-19) vs No. 3 Georgia Tech (31-23)

Saturday

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2, noon

Game 4: Winner Game 1, vs Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.

Sunday

Game 5: Loser Game 4 vs Winner Game 3, noon

Games 6: Winner Game 4, vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m.

Monday

Game 7: (if necessary) Same teams as Game 6, TBA