While the biggest question for Georgia this spring remains how its pitchers will perform, Scott Stricklin has gone on record with his belief that this year’s lineup may be his deepest in 10 years as the Bulldogs’ head baseball coach.

On paper, he could be correct.

Connor Tate (.345-13-58) and Parks Harber (.307-13-53) give the Bulldogs one of the better 1-2 punches in the SEC. But they’re expected to get a lot of help.

Junior Corey Collins blasted 11 home runs last year, with redshirt freshman Charlie Condon another big power threat, consistently registering the top exit velocities on the team in excess of 115 mph.

Add in sophomore Cole Wagner – also capable of double-digit homers – and Ben Anderson (nine home runs a season ago – runs are not expected to be a problem for the Bulldogs, who open their season a week from Friday against Jacksonville State.

The Bulldogs also have transfer Will David – a career .300 hitter at Samford – along with infielders Sebastian Murillo (Long Beach State) and Mason LaPlante (Yale). Freshman Justin Thomas has big-bat potential, while redshirt sophomore Dwight Allen II has shown improvement going back to the fall.

Catcher Fernando Gonzalez is also becoming a bigger offensive threat.

So, how does Stricklin plan on getting all those bats in?

Ben Anderson will lead off, followed by Tate in the two-hole. After that ...

“That’s the thing when you look at it, you’ve got Harber, you’ve got Condon and you’ve got Cole Wagner; you’ve got to get those bats in the lineup,” Stricklin said. “If Collins is catching, then you can move Harber over to first, Condon out to right, and DH Wagner and catch Collins, and you’re a little bit better defensively when you’ve got Will David, Mason LaPlante, and Sebastian Murillo playing second, third and short. But (Harber) is going to play a lot of third for us to get those bats in the lineup.”

The fact the above-mentioned players all have some versatility will help Stricklin when it comes to making out his lineup.

David – who is the team’s third catcher – can also play second, while Murillo plays short, second, and third, with LaPlante the ability to play second, short, and center field.

Harber can also play first base, while Collins has added right field to his position resume.

“There’s going to be some rotation. Obviously, when Corey catches that’s going to open up some things. He can also play the outfield,” Stricklin said. “He played outfield in Cape Cod all summer, so you’ll see him some in right field. Cole Wagner can play first, DH, and play outfield, so you may see those guys switch off a little bit between DH and right.”

Stricklin confirmed that junior left-hander Jaden Woods (1-1, 4.80) will start next week’s opener against Jacksonville State, followed by Liam Sullivan (4-3, 4.62) on Saturday.

Auditions are continuing for the Sunday starter role, but it appears veteran Nolan Crisp (1-4, 5.12) could have the leg up.

“Right now, Nolan Crisp is kind of our leading candidate, but Charlie Goldstein has been very sneaky. He’s up to 92, he’s got a three-pitch mix,” Stricklin said. “But I’d say we’re going to go Woods, Sullivan and as of today, TBA, but Nolan has put himself that position because he’s earned it.”

There are other candidates.

Georgia signed a solid quintet of freshmen pitchers, and Leighton Finley, Blake Gillespie, Matthew Hoskins, Kolten Smith, and Jarvis Evans could also figure into the mix.

Keep an eye on sophomore Coleman Willis. Willis suffered through some freshman angsts but was considered a high-draft pick before choosing to come to Georgia and has as much arm talent as any pitcher on the team.

Sophomore Chandler Marsh could be ready to assume the role of closer.

After serving as the setup man for Jack Gowen, Stricklin said the 6-foot-4, 228-pound right-hander has the makeup and arsenal to potentially take over the role.

“Chandler Marsh (4-1, 3.74); 44 strikeouts in 33.2 innings) is a guy who has the stuff and he has experience from last year playing late in games,” Stricklin said. “He has the stuff and lefties hit like .130 off of him last year, that’s a pretty good guy to have back there.”

He’ll have some help.

Transfers Kyle Greenler (Elon), Zach DeVito (Tulane), Dalton Rhadans (Wofford) and Pace Mercer (ABAC) also have closing experience having served in those capacities at their former schools.

“(Greenler) is also tough on lefties because he’s got a really good split finger, he can throw a slider at any time. He’s 90-92, so his fastball is good enough,” Stricklin said. “Dalton Rhadans, I wouldn’t be surprised if he throws 35 games for us; he’s throwing sidearm, he’s throwing frisbees, and he’s really, really hard to hit, he throws a ton of strikes and he’s really uncomfortable.”

DeVito, meanwhile, continues to regain his arm strength after being slowed due to injury but is expected to be back on the mound next week.

Freshman Matthew Hoskins also has back-end potential.

“He’s 94-96 with a plus slider, he’s really strong and physical, and he’s going to get some at-bats as well.

He could end up being a closer; he could end up being a starter because his stuff is so good,” Stricklin said. “We might end up having to start him, but he’s really talented and out of all the guys we have, he probably profiles best as a closer, but he’s started all his life.”

Stricklin said the new 10-run rule after seven innings for conference games was a unanimous decision for the league’s 14 head coaches.

“It came up, and I don’t know how it even came up in our meetings, but it was on agenda, and it was 14-0. It went through with very little discussion,” said Stricklin.

“I don’t know the exact number of games I’ve coached in my career, somewhere around 1,100 but I believe there was only one game that changed with a 10-run lead after the seventh inning.

I can only think of one,” he said. “It really didn’t have a lot of discussions. We talk about the pace of play, we talk about arm injuries, we talk about four- and five-hour games. So, it just came up, hey, how about we do this, we went around and voted and it was 14-0. So, it was a non-issue among the coaches. We voted on it and moved on.”