NCAA Athens Regional field set for Georgia

Fresh off an SEC regular season and conference tournament title, Georgia’s baseball team turns its attention to NCAA Tournament play.

The Bulldogs now know who their first foes will be.

Georgia will host its third straight Athens Regional beginning Friday at Foley Field against Long Island (29-20). Liberty (41-19) will take on Boston College (36-21) in the other game.

First pitch for the Bulldogs (46-12) is 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.

The Bulldogs are the No. 3 seed, behind UCLA and Georgia Tech. If Georgia wins its regional, the Bulldogs will host a Super Regional for a trip to the College World Series.

But first things first, beating Long Island on Wednesday night.

“Long Island is a really good program. I think it was a couple of years ago, maybe two years ago, they took North Carolina to the limit,” skipper Wes Johnson said. “They were leading that game until late. I think North Carolina actually walked them off with a grand slam to win that game, if I remember correctly. It’s a good quality club. They’re not going to be intimidated coming in here. Offensively, they can hit a little bit, and they can really run.”

The Bulldogs play with a 46-12 record under Johnson, in his third year as head coach. He’s the first UGA baseball coach to take his first three teams to the NCAA Tournament. His 132-46 record and his 58-32 SEC mark are the most overall victories and SEC wins by a coach in their first three seasons in Georgia baseball history.

Third baseman Tre Phelps said it was important for the Bulldogs to come out and play well in the SEC Tournament ahead of regional play.

“A hundred percent. It’s like going to the SEC tournament, coming out and throwing all of your guys and having everybody be healthy,” Phelps said. “It was like we weren’t skipping a beat, just like we’re playing another weekend series. So, definitely a hundred percent. We were blessed to be in the position we were in last weekend. And that definitely set us up to just keep the wheels rolling.”

Johnson admits, however, that you can thank the double-bye for that, as it allowed him to play his regulars without fear of overextending anyone ahead of regional play.

“We were in a fortunate position because everybody was healthy, right? If anybody had the slightest ding or hiccup, they didn’t play, or we would have gotten them out of there,” Johnson said. “So, we took that approach, and luckily we stayed healthy enough to make a run into that and play our guys and continue to get them works and see pitches and face hitters.”