Georgia keeps its ‘foot on the gas pedal’ heading into College World Series
After his team won two of the wildest college baseball games of the year back-to-back, Georgia coach Wes Johnson doesn’t get much of a break.
Right after Georgia defeated Mississippi State in the super regionals and before the Bulldogs head to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series, the transfer portal opened.
Johnson said he held about seven Zoom calls with recruits Monday and was on the phone the rest of the time, all while preparing for Georgia’s opening matchup against Texas on Saturday.
“I drink a lot of Spark and Red Bull,” Johnson said of how he manages it all, adding that a vacation isn’t on his radar until Fourth of July weekend.
If he has his way, the Bulldogs will be playing until late June in the CWS finals.
“But right now, you better have your foot on the gas pedal,” Johnson said.
There’s no letup for Georgia, which, in Johnson’s view, faced the toughest super regional in the tournament. Mississippi State and Georgia combined for 21 home runs, the most in a super regional in the past 15 years, per ESPN.
Georgia made it back to Omaha for the first time since 2008 and won the SEC Tournament for the first time in program history, but Johnson and the Bulldogs aren’t done. They fly out Wednesday.
His message to the team Tuesday was simple.
“We’re gonna enjoy some things, but just like when we’re on the road, guys, this isn’t a vacation, this is a business trip,” said Johnson, who served as pitching coach for the national champion LSU Tigers in 2023. “There’s gonna be cool Ferris wheels and really neat, cool T-shirt shops, and all kinds of people and a little bigger stadium.
“But at the same time … I don’t want you sitting on the couch 20 years from now, looking at your kids and telling them, yeah, we were in Omaha, and, man, if we could stay focused, we might have made a run at this. Doesn’t mean that you’re going to not lose, win or whatever, but we’re going to go in there and be focused. I don’t want these young men living with regret 20 years from now.”
The hectic super regional was another test for the Bulldogs (51-12), who have lost only one series all season. They aced it. It showed Georgia’s resiliency, according to reliever Justin Byrd.
Byrd pitched scoreless ninth and 10th innings to seal Georgia’s win in Game 2.
“I think this whole season, I mean, we’ve been put through some tough, tough things, and we’ve had some really hard games, and I think this weekend it solidified that we cannot give up, and we can fight through the tough things and just keep pushing through, and I think that’s going to help us, going to Omaha,” Byrd said.
Shortstop Kolby Branch said he felt like the test in the super regional made Georgia a better team, and he learned more about this Bulldogs squad heading into the CWS.
“I feel like we’re resilient,” Branch said. “We’ve got a lot of toughness. We talk about toughness all the time, and it’s different for everybody and every team, but it’s just (we’re) capable of great endurance. And so, just doing that over and over and over, and finally getting that timely hit, both games. Both games could have gone either way, and sometimes you need somebody with courage to step up and do it.”