Athens —- Before anxiety took too strong a hold of his Georgia baseball team, David Perno decided to sit them down and go through the facts as he knew them.

Fact one: Georgia was not going to get a national seed in the NCAA college baseball tournament. The Bulldogs (35-21-1) had struggled down the stretch, and Perno was resigned to the fact his team would be on the outside looking in when it came to the top eight seeds. Those eight are assured of hosting super regionals if they get through their regionals.

Fact two: Georgia would be playing Georgia Tech. There was no way around it. Tech wasn't going to host. Georgia was. And the committee is a sucker for regional pairings.

Perno was right on one account. Tech is headed to Athens. The Yellow Jackets (39-19) will play Louisville (41-19) at 7 p.m. Friday. Lipscomb (32-28) will play eighth-seeded Georgia at 3 p.m. Friday.

That's right —- Georgia just nudged its way into the national seeds.

"This is a huge boost," Perno said. "I do think we are deserving."

Tech might have thought it also was deserving of playing host to a regional. The Yellow Jackets were in the top 10 in the Ratings Percentage Index. But now they have to make the trip to Athens.

"I kind of felt all along that's where they'd send us," Tech coach Danny Hall said. "To me, they ought to seed our tournament the way they seed the NCAA basketball tournament [rather than make the regionals truly regional]."

Hall's argument is that the talent pool in the South is much deeper than other areas. And the geographic seeding system gives non-Southern teams an unfair advantage because their bracket is not as tough. Therefore it is easier to make it to Omaha for the College World Series.

"We try to keep everyone as close to their region as we can," said Larry Templeton, chair of the selection committee. "We've got some terrific matchups because of that."

Georgia and Georgia Tech have played three times since 2000 in either the regional or the super regional. The one year they didn't meet, 2006, both made it to the CWS.

As for playing again this year, it is not a guarantee. Both teams must first get through the first games.

For Tech that means going against one of the hottest teams in the country. Louisville has won seven of eight games and won the Big East tournament. Sophomore Chris Dominguez leads Louisville with 20 homers. Justin Marks is 9-1 with a 2.21 ERA.

Georgia is not familiar with Lipscomb, but Friday's game may be more about getting Georgia back into a groove than anything else. Georgia lost four of five down the stretch.

"The team is disappointed the way we have played here of late," Georgia first baseman Rich Poythress said. "Hopefully we will get everything going and get the intensity back and hopefully keep winning."

Stephen Dodson (5-3, 3.80 ERA) will get that chance for Georgia on the mound. The senior has pitched well in his past two outings but left with a loss and a no-decision. Georgia will go with Trevor Dodson (7-4, 4.48 ERA) in the second game.

Poythress (wrist) and Matt Cerione (concussion) are expected back in the lineup.

The winner of the Athens regional will play the winner of the N.C. State regional, which features the Wolfpack, South Carolina, Charlotte and James Madison.

A VERY GOOD YEAR

Only seven schools pulled off the major-sports trifecta this year: a football bowl game, an NCAA men's basketball tournament berth and an NCAA baseball regional invitation. Georgia was one of them. Here's a look:

Arkansas

Georgia

Kentucky

Oklahoma

Texas

Texas A&M

UCLA

ATHENS REGIONAL

FRIDAY'S GAMES

> Georgia vs. Lipscomb, 3 p.m.

> Louisville vs. Georgia Tech, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY'S GAMES

> First-round losers, 3 p.m.

> First-round winners, 7 p.m.