ATHENS, Ga. – Staring in the face of elimination from the Athens Regional, yet fresh off a 13-0 pounding of second-seeded Florida Atlantic earlier today, the Georgia baseball team was drilled by Florida State , 10-1, ending the Bulldogs’ season earlier than most had expected.

For Georgia, it was its second loss to the Seminoles in less than 24 hours—and by a combined score of 22 to 4. The shocking and embarrassing results were eerily similar to how the Bulldogs ended their campaign a year ago.

Hosting a regional last season, Georgia suffered back-to-back losses to Duke after the Bulldogs had opened tournament play with consecutive victories.

This season for Georgia was supposed to be different—even better—than 2018. The Bulldogs entered the year returning 25 lettermen, including seven starting position players. It was said the squad had “unfinished business” to take care after last year’s early departure from the tournament. Head coach Scott Stricklin added, “This team has a chip on their shoulders.”

Led by spectacular pitching and near-flawless fielding, Georgia entered the regional with an impressive 44-15 record and was seeded No. 4 overall in the tournament—the highest in program history. However, just like the year before, a notable regular season was promptly followed by disappointing play as the top seed in the regional—and while playing at home.

So much for taking care of unfinished business.

The primary problem the Bulldogs had against the Seminoles was the same dilemma they routinely encountered during their regular season: They struggled at the plate. However, against Florida State over the weekend, Georgia’s pitching and fielding couldn’t bale the team out like it often had before when the Bulldogs’ bats went silent.

Facing starting pitchers whose season ERA was both nearing 4.00, Georgia batted only .239 in both games against the Seminoles (while scoring just one run in their final 15 innings). Still, should the Bulldogs’ seemingly lowly batting average against Florida State be much of a surprise considering how Georgia hit during the season?

For the year, the Bulldogs batted only .272, marking the first time in 14 seasons that they hit as low but finished with a winning record. Of the team’s top 13 batters (at least 50 at-bats) this season, a staggering nine—all but four—batted less than .270.

On the contrary, if you look at the half-dozen Georgia teams in history to reach the super regionals—1987, 1990, 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2008—they all had one thing in common: From a team batting average of least .300 to as high as .325, all six squads could hit.

During his press conference following tonight’s loss, Stricklin said, “We got a lot of guys back [next year]. We’ll continue to be a great program. The expectation level of our program is very high. It hurts that we didn’t get to the next level with this group, but we’ll bounce back.”

If I could add, I think Georgia has a good program, which can become “great” if it can significantly improve its hitting. Most likely, then and only then will the Bulldogs bounce back by getting to the next level—and finally finishing unfinished business.