With Opening Day now less than three weeks away, expectations remain high for Georgia’s baseball team.
On Monday, Baseball America released its annual preseason poll, ranking the Bulldogs No. 11 in what will be another season of stacked competition in the always-tough SEC.
Georgia (43-17) – which fell one game shy of a trip to Omaha last year – is the sixth-highest-ranked SEC team.
Texas A&M, LSU, defending national champion Tennessee, and Arkansas ranked 1-4. Florida is next at No. 7, followed by Georgia at No. 11. In total, 10 SEC schools make up the Baseball America Top 25, along with Texas (No. 14), Vanderbilt (No. 15), Mississippi State (No. 18) and Kentucky (No. 20).
Baseball America’s poll comes on the heels of D1Baseball giving Georgia a preseason ranking of No. 8, and Perfect Game ranking the Bulldogs No. 4.
Despite the loss of Charlie Condon and Corey Collins, the Bulldogs return plenty of firepower, led by returnees Tre Phelps (.353-12-40), Kolby Branch (.267-17-58) and Slate Alford (.300-17-69). Georgia also welcomes a bevy of newcomers ranked 8th best transfer class nationally by Baseball America, including outfielders Devin Obee (.309-16-50) from Duke, Nolan McCarthy (.288-8-41) from Kentucky, and Robbie Burnett (.332-17-45) from UNC-Asheville. Others include Christian Adams (.343-8-31) from Florida Atlantic, Charlie Jones (.344-13-54) from Air Force, Ryland Zaborowski (305-20-52) from two years again at Miami-Ohio, and Ryan Black (.336, 57 RBI) two years ago at Texas Arlington.
The Bulldogs are believed to have also significantly updated their pitching staff. The Bulldogs return weekend starters Leighton Finely (6-1, 4.14) and Kolten Smith (9-3, 5.56), but also added a bevy of quality arms, including former Alabama left-handed closer Alton Davis and Virginia Commonwealth standout Brian Curley.
Georgia opens its season with a four-game set at UNC-Wilmington against Quinnipiac and the host Seahawks. Then, on Feb. 20, it will return home for its Foley Field debut against the University of Illinois-Chicago.
