Used to be college baseball teams would not find it as difficult as the pros when it came to roster limits and having to be down to a certain number of players by Opening Day.

That’s no longer the case.

Even after the NCAA approved rosters being expanded to 40 for 2022 due to impacts of Covid-19, Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin enters the season needing to make some decisions as far as this year’s squad is concerned.

Due to players taking advantage of the NCAA’s Covid waiver and others returning after not going high enough in the major league draft, Georgia’s squad currently sits at 46.

“That’s something I never wanted to have was too big of a roster,” Stricklin said. “It’s really easy in college baseball to do it, because there are so many good players around.”

The 40-man roster is actually up from 35, which was the case before Covid-19.

“We really felt like two or three years ago, that looking ahead we were going to be 36, 37, 38 guys on this roster, with some competition getting down to 35,” Stricklin said. “Then Covid hits, the roster gets expanded to 40, but now we’ve got all these guys back who really aren’t supposed to be here.”

Don’t get Stricklin wrong. He’s thrilled knowing that if not for Covid, pitchers like Jonathan Cannon, Dylan Ross, and freshman Coleman Willis may already be playing pro ball. Having extra bodies has also increased the competition level for this year’s team, which was picked to finish third in the SEC East behind Vanderbilt and Florida.

“It’s certainly added to the competition,” Stricklin said. “We’ve had great competition, it’s given us depth at every position, but we’re going to have to make some tough decisions here next week.”

Bottom line, six players will have to come off the roster.

“We can redshirt those players and still be active; they just can’t be physically with the team. We can still work with them, but they can’t be with the team,” Stricklin said. “It’s just got to be early before practice, so that’s the challenge that we need to make sure we do a good job with, because they’re good kids and good players, guys that can help our program in the future. And we need to make sure we develop them.”

Players dealing with injuries are also candidates to find themselves moved off the team for now.

“They can go in the weight room and work with Coach Gearhart. A couple of guys need to put on some weigh, a couple of guys need to get healthy,” Stricklin said. “If you got guys who are injured, they can go on that, but it’s not something I foresaw. But after last year, and the draft happened the way it did and guys decided to come back, we’ve got a big roster.”

Stricklin said conversations take place before players arrive on campus.

“On the front end, there’s conversations that are had that are very up front and honest. There’s conversations about the roster, about certain situations,” Stricklin said. “You don’t make promises. What you promise is, we’re going to work really hard with you, and you’re going to get every opportunity to be a part of his program. Other than that, sometimes you just have to make tough decisions.”

Georgia announced Friday that beer sales will be available to all fans starting with next Friday’s season-opener against Albany.

Guidelines include:

…Alcoholic beverages are only available to fans aged 21 and above.

… Each transaction requires a valid government-issued ID.

…Identification check is required at all points of sale.

… Enforced limit of two beverages per transaction, per person.

… Sales begin once gates open. Gates open 1-hour before announced start time at each home baseball and softball game.

… Sales end at designated times as determined by the SEC game management policy on alcohol sales. Those times are the end of the top of the 7th inning for baseball and the end of the top of the 5th for softball.

… Fans are not permitted to leave the premises with alcoholic beverages.

… All beverages will be served in cups.

… Aramark, the official concessions partner of UGAAA, will manage all operations associated with the sale of alcohol at events.

… Aramark employees will undergo extensive training through an in-house training program. All employees must be certified in an accredited alcohol service program (TEAM or TIPS).

… Each event will have an alcohol compliance supervisor (Aramark standard) on site.