Georgia vs VCU Regional Preview: What You Need to Know

As the Georgia Baseball team gets prepared to take on VCU in the NCAA Regional's, former Bulldog and current Tampa Bay Ray pitcher, Cole Wilcox breaks it down.

The VCU Rams’ play style would make your Granddaddy smile. 

They throw strikes, put the ball in play, and grind their way to winning baseball games. The Rams got scorching hot at the right time, they are 28-4 in their last 32 games, and are currently on a 15 winning streak. They used that late season surge to blow through the Atlantic 10 tournament, winning their first conference title since 2015. They will look to carry that momentum with them to Chapel Hill when they take on the Georgia Bulldogs tonight at 7 pm (ESPN+). There will be many matchups throughout the game that will swing the final score one way or the other, let’s check out some of those.

Cannon vs the Rams

It is now confirmed that UGA ace Jonathon Cannon will get the ball tonight. Georgia can rest easy knowing that this Ram’s lineup has not seen anything like Cannon yet this year. His combination of velocity and pitch repertoire is not something you can necessarily practice for, and that is not to say VCU has not faced some really good pitching, it is just a compliment to the 3rd team All America pitcher Cannon.

You can’t start talking about the Rams’ lineup without first mentioning power-hitting first baseman Tyler Locklear. Locklear will come into the weekend slashing .403/.540/.801 with 19 homers, 23 doubles and, probably most impressively, 22 strikeouts. He has been one of the best hitters in the country since day 1 and has been consistently improving his draft stock to 1st round status. He is absolutely the guy that Coach Scott Stricklin and the coaching staff circled multiple times in the scouting report meeting as being the guy they WILL NOT let beat them. If there is a situation where Locklear comes up with a chance to drive in some runs, do not expect the UGA staff to be very aggressive in pitching to him.

Other than Locklear, VCU’s lineup does not possess a ton of power. What they do really well is put the ball in play as they have only struck out 438 times as a team (for reference, Georgia has struck out 527 times). Hitters like Will Carlone (.315), Connor Hujsak (.288), and Logan Amiss (.275) don’t have crazy power numbers but have hit a combined 46 doubles and will look to supplement and protect Locklear against Cannon. Cannon will need to win the matchups against these guys in order to minimize the damage that Locklear can do.

Cannon will need to give the Dawgs some length in tonight’s game to give them the best chance at advancing. On paper, Cannon vs the VCU Rams’ lineup is the perfect matchup to do just that. Cannon throws a ton of strikes (10 walks in 74 innings) and the Rams rarely strike out, this combo leads to a lot of balls being put in play. If Cannon can keep the Rams aggressive and get some early outs, he will have a chance to go deep in the game. One thing to watch though, Cannon admitted to me in an interview not long ago that one of his weaknesses is throwing too many strikes. As a pitcher, when we get ahead in the count, we don’t want to give the hitter a good pitch to hit. When Cannon gets hitters to 2 strikes tonight, he needs to put them away.

How the Dawgs score runs

Word on the street is the UGA lineup will see lefty starter Tyler Davis. Davis (3.25) is a big-time competitor with a fastball that will be 87-90 up to 92, a changeup around 80, and a slider sitting at 80-82. He, like the entire VCU staff, does not walk anyone. He has walked 18 guys in 55 innings, while the entire team has walked 170 in 515 innings. With the limited number of free passes given, they will make the Dawgs swing it to beat them. UGA is currently slashing .256/.361/.423 against lefties, so they haven’t really lit it up against the southpaws this season.

After Davis, the Rams’ three most relied-on arms out of the bullpen are Noah Wilson (2.41), Jack Masloff (2.86), and Jaden Griffin (4.58). They have a plethora of other guys they are not scared to use in different situations but the common theme you will see is the strike-throwing. The balls are going to be in the zone and UGA has to use that to their advantage. Knowing the VCU arms take pride in not walking many batters, the UGA hitters need to be especially aggressive in hitters counts like 2-0 or 2-1. When hitters know the ball will be in the zone, they tend to get more comfortable. Look for the Dawgs to come out swinging early and looking to do damage from the first pitch.

Verdict

You will notice from the first pitch tonight that other than Locklear, Georgia will be the much more talented team. What is so great about post-season baseball though is talent can only take you so far. VCU is riding so much momentum coming into this matchup and they know how to win. They play a style of baseball that will give coaches headaches because they will not beat themselves. They are going to force the Dawgs to play a clean game and will put pressure on them in all facets of the game. Georgia will have their hands full tonight, but will come in with a lot of confidence with their ace on the mound. Tune in tonight at 7 on ESPN+.