With preseason camp complete, Wes Johnson and his Georgia baseball staff have spent the days leading up to Friday’s season-opener in Wilmington, North Carolina, putting the final touches on what looks to be a promising year for the Bulldogs.

That includes setting his starting rotation for the weekend.

To nobody’s surprise, junior Kolten Smith (9-3, 5.56 ERA with 105 strikeouts in 69.2 innings) will start Friday’s opener against Quinnipiac (noon) at Brooks Field on the campus of UNC-Wilmington.

He’ll be followed in Saturday’s Game 1 against Quinnipiac by Charlie Goldstein, who will pitch the first inning before being replaced by Leighton Finley (6-1, 4.14 in 2024).

Goldstein (4-1, 3.72) is coming off Internal Brace surgery to repair the elbow he injured late last season.

“You’ve just got to try and continue building him up,” Johnson said. “You’ll see him open for somebody else next week. It won’t be like he and Finley are paired. It will be just when we need to open him that day based on the timeline and things that I’ve got written down.”

In Saturday’s afternoon game against host UNCW, Brian Zeldin (3-3, 5.56) will make his first start as a Bulldog and his first start since 2022 while still with Penn.

Ohio State transfer Zach Brown (4-0, 4.22) will start Sunday’s finale against UNCW.

They won’t be the only ones seeing starts the first week or so of the season.

With 10 games over the next 12 days, Johnson said he plans on using the many options at his disposal.

“I mean, we could conceivably have, you know, 10 guys who could actually start, not saying that's their best role, but from where we've stretched them out to, uh, through the preseason,” Johnson said. “What that does, is give guys like a DJ Radke or a Collin Caldwell, guys who know they’re just going to be one-inning guys, know that they’re going to pitch, either in a matchup or towards the back end of a game. It gives them more comfort and kind of gives them some clarity on how they get their work in as well.”

Ole Miss transfer JT Quinn, Alabama transfer Alton Davis II, returnees Zach Harris and Matthew Hoskins, VCU transfer Brian Curley, and Southern Cal transfer Eric Hammond are other experienced arms Johnson could start in the early part of the season.

Having so many options definitely beats last year when Finley and Goldstein were the only pitchers on the roster who had gone more than five innings in a college game.

"I think what it's done for us now is giving us a little more options to match up, and take some pressure off of guys, right?" Johnson said. "I've told all of our staff, I don't need Kolten Smith to go seven innings on Friday. I don't need after (Goldstein) comes out of the game for Leighton Finley to go seven. Brian Zeldin, you're not going seven. Zach Brown, you're not going seven or five. If they get there, great. But I told them to go out there with that closer mentality of I'm taking the ball and the first pitch of the game matters.

…It’s not just options on the mound that have Johnson excited. He also has options in his lineup, including the top four or five.

“You obviously like a guy like Nolan McCarthy, you see him up there. I think Christian Adams, Tre Phelps, Slate Alford, and Robbie Burnett, maybe even Henry Hunter,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be pretty thick right through there. Devin Obee could be there against certain pitchers.”

…Johnson said to look for the Bulldogs to run more and be more aggressive on the basepaths than last year.

“Man, I'll tell you what, Robbie Burnett's an elite, elite base runner … elite. Devin Obee is right there with him,” Johnson said. “When Bryce Clavon is in the game, he’s another elite, elite base runner. Those guys really have good top-end speed. They’re really fast.”

McCarthy only stole eight bases last year with Kentucky, but he’s another player Johnson will not be afraid to have pick his spots.

“We’ve got some guys now I feel really, really comfortable all the way through our lineup of letting them steal,” said Johnson, whose team stole just 22 bases last year. “You don’t have to be the fastest guy in the world. You’ve just got to understand the game, understand your reads and understand your lead. We’ve got some guys who can do that now.”

…Speaking of freshmen, Johnson said he hopes to give his five youngsters – Bryce Clavon, Erik Parker, Cade Brown, Nate Taylor, and Asher Sabom their first taste of collegiate action over the first two weeks.

“Yeah, that’s going to be a little more game-to-game. But you can look up and see a couple of them get a start here or there,” Johnson said. “Like I said, we’ve got 10 games in 12 days, so you could look up and see one of them get a start. One of them could get a start this weekend. There are a couple of matchups that could play favorably for them at certain points. We’ll just have to see.”