Georgia will be host in back-to-back years for the first time in school history, starting Friday afternoon.
After last year’s disappointing loss to Duke in the finals of 2018 Athens Regionals, the Bulldogs (44-15) are banking on last year’s bad experience paying off with better results this weekend.
The Teams
Mercer (35-27)
● Mercer is making its fourth NCAA appearance and first since 2015. The Bears’ lone win NCAA win was a 13-7 victory over Elon at the 2019 Atlanta Regional.
● Mercer has won six of its last eight games against Georgia, dating back to 2011. The Bears swept a home-and-home from the Bulldogs in 2017.
● The Bears won their second Southern Conference Tournament over the weekend, going 6-1 with five conference wins over a three-day period while facing elimination.
● Right fielder Kel Johnson is Mercer’s top offensive player, hitting .297 with 22 homers and 64 RBI.
Florida Atlantic (40-19)
● Florida Atlantic is making its 12th NCAA appearance, and second in a row.
● The Owls won the Conference USA Regional season title.
● Florida Atlantic returns six starters from last year, led by outfielder Eric Rivera (.340-6-46) and infielder Francisco Urbaez (.330-10-41). Blake Sanderson (8-2, 3.93) is the team’s top starting pitcher while Zach Schneider leads the team in saves with 15.
● FAU has yet to play any team from the SEC, but played ACC member Miami and beat the Hurricanes, 6-4.
Florida State (36-21)
Florida State has dropped the opening game in NCAA regionals three straight years.
This is the first time ever that the Seminoles (No. 3) are not a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a regional. The last time FSU was not a No. 1 seed was in the 2006 regional, which happened to be in Athens.
Seminole starters Drew Parrish (7-5, 4.81) and CJ Van Eyk (9-3, 3.74) both went over the 100-strikeout mark during the ACC Tournament.
Florida State is hitting .268 as a team, led by third baseman Drew Mendoza (.309-14-50) and outfielder J.C. Flowers (.282-12-52). Flowers also doubles as the team’s closer and has 11 saves.
Schedule
Friday
Game 1: No. 3 Florida State vs No. 2 Florida Atlantic, noon
Game 2: No. 1 Georgia vs No. 4 Mercer, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
Saturday
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.
Sunday
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs Game 4 loser, noon
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs Game 5 winner, 6 p.m.
Monday
Game: 7 (if necessary), 4 p.m.
Looking ahead
The Athens Regional is paired with the Baton Rouge Regional once winners move on to the Super Regional. Should the No. 4 seed Bulldogs win, they would host no matter who wins Baton Rouge Regional
Baton Rouge Regional
Friday
No. 1 LSU (37-24)
No. 4 Stony Brook (31-21)
No. 3 Southern Miss (38-19)
No. 2 Arizona State (37-17)
How to follow along:
Twitter: @AnthonyDasher1
