Georgia Baseball: Head coach Wes Johnson Discusses Hosting Regional

Christian Goeckel | May 27, 2024

UGA baseball coach Wes Johnson speaks to the media in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. / Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK

In his first season as head coach, Wes Johnson has brought a NCAA Regional to Athens. Now, can he help guide the Dawgs to a Super Regional and beyond?

Georgia Baseball will host its first regional since 2019, as the Bulldogs were announced as the No. 7 seed nationally on Monday. The Dawgs will be the top seed in the Athens Regional (May 31-June 3), and play a bracket that includes Army, UNC-Wilmington, and Georgia Tech.

The Bulldogs didn't have the SEC Tournament they were hoping for and many around the sport thought the deflating performance would keep Georgia on the outside looking in for a regional, but a strong regular season performance was enough for the Bulldogs to play host. Head coach Wes Johnson defended his team's resume while speaking on Monday.

"You know, we beat a Clemson team here that was really good," said Johnson. "I mean, I go all the way back to Northern Kentucky. I kept telling people how good they were. They won their conference tournament, they're gonna give some people some fits. And then, you know, Georgia Tech's in our region, you know, we took two from them. You keep going through the league, I mean, sweeping Alabama, sweeping Vanderbilt, sweeping South Carolina at South Carolina, all three of those teams are in the tournament."

Johnson went on to preview Georgia's upcoming opponents.

"Starting with Army, they can really pitch. It's going to be a different look, not a ton of velo, but don't get me wrong, they just don't have a guy who is going to throw 100 is what I'm trying to say. They can really pitch; they mix their pitches well. They've got a couple guys, especially right there in the middle of the order, hitting over .300 with 14 or 15 homers, and they've got guys who can steal some bases. They're going to do a lot of things. I don't want to get too caught up in matchups after that, but UNC Wilmington we know is extremely offensive, always have been. They've got two really good starters on the mound and obviously have a couple bullpen pieces, so they're really good. Obviously, we know Georgia Tech because we played them. I think Georgia Tech got better as the year went on and quite frankly, I'll have to completely rewatch them on film."

Georgia will start the postseason on Friday, May 31st against Army. First pitch is set for 1:00 pm and the game will be carried by ESPN+. If Georgia wins it's regional, it would host the winner of the N.C. State regional for a Super Regional matchup.