Georgia keeping preparation the same for super regional against Mississippi State

In 84-degree weather, with the sun beating down on Foley Field, shortstop Kolby Branch got chills.

“I go to bed at night thinking about how I can win a national championship, how we can win a national championship,” Branch said Friday, ahead of Georgia hosting Mississippi State for Game 1 of super regionals at 11 a.m. Saturday. “It’s only right that we get another SEC team coming here and duke it out. We’re excited. We love doing hard things, love doing difficult things, and this is another one of them.”

The Bulldogs are back in supers for the second time in three years, aiming to head back to the College World Series for the first time since 2008 (they won it all in Omaha in 1990). After losing in supers in 2024 and an early exit in regionals last season, this year’s Georgia squad has won 17 of its past 18, won its first SEC regular season title since 2008, its first SEC Tournament in program history and blew through the Athens Regional.

This is one of two super regionals featuring two teams that are Top 16 national seeds (No. 6 Texas and No. 11 Oregon are matched up in Austin).

They might be just two wins away from the College World Series, but as badly as they want to reach that goal, the Bulldogs aren’t putting any pressure on themselves.

“Don’t make it bigger than what it is,” catcher Daniel Jackson said of the approach against Mississippi State. “Obviously, biggest game of the season, but you know, just treating it as another game. Preparation stays the same, focus at practice, be where your feet are at, have a good day at practice, and then it leads to a good weekend.”

No. 3 national seed Georgia (49-12) has beaten No. 14 national seed Mississippi State (43-17) four times this season by an average of two runs, sweeping a series in the regular season and winning in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.

Georgia did trail in those games, behind 1-0 until the seventh inning in its win April 3 and 3-0 until the third inning in its win April 4.

“We don’t ever talk about pressure,” Georgia coach Wes Johnson said. “I mean, that’s pressure, failure, those are words I don’t, I don’t know if they really even exist the way we do things. … You just can’t panic, you know?”

“There’s going to be swings in these games; they’re a quality club. Most of the games, we were down at some point, came back and won, and so you just have to go play your game, not panic. But yeah, the minute you start adding pressure or thinking failure, things of those natures, yeah, I think guys start to panic.”

Mississippi State pitching has a 4.26 ERA, good for No. 21 in Division I, and has recently gotten Ryan McPherson back from a forearm strain. There aren’t many secrets between these two teams at this point, but this year Georgia has never faced McPherson, who, in the Starkville Regional final May 31, gave up two runs on five hits in five innings, and struck out seven with no walks issued in Mississippi State’s 19-5 win.

As many times as these teams have played, this will be the first time Georgia will have home-field advantage, having played the opposing Bulldogs in Starkville and Hoover.