ATHENS – Georgia has been down this road before. The Bulldogs have played the role of chum being dumped into an opposing team’s shark-infested waters.
Ask Vanderbilt how that turned out.
This time, it’s Arkansas playing the role of the sharks as the No. 1-ranked Razorbacks host Georgia for a three-game set that begins Friday night in Fayetteville. And just so the Bulldogs can emphasize their role as underdog, they’re going to throw freshman Liam Sullivan out there for his first career start Friday.
“Really no one outside of our team is giving us much of a shot,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. “But you look at the SEC numbers, and we’re very similar in a lot of ways. We believe we can go in there and win, and that’s the only way you can think.”
Self-belief worked well last time. On April 8, the Bulldogs went on the road to face then-No. 1 Vanderbilt in Nashville having lost three games in a row and as losers of their first three SEC series of the season. All they did was hit six home runs on the way to defeating All-American pitcher Kumar Rocker and winning Game 1 14-2. Georgia would outscore the Commodores 25-8 over the weekend to win the series, the first of three consecutive SEC series victories for the Bulldogs.
With only three SEC series remaining in the season, the Bulldogs (27-16, 10-11 SEC) desperately need a repeat that scenario. Georgia is running out of games to earn a third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, and its matters weren’t helped by losing two of three to SEC West cellar-dweller Auburn last weekend.
After facing the top-ranked Razorbacks weekend, the Bulldogs get Florida on the road next weekend and then finish against Ole Miss at Foley Field. The Gators and the Rebels both have held the No. 1 ranking in college baseball this season.
As for Sullivan, the way that happened is Ryan Webb, Georgia’s regular Friday-night starter, experienced back issues in his last start the previous weekend. Stricklin is going to move him to Sunday to give his back as a much time as possible to recover. They’re keeping Jonathan Cannon in his regular Saturday spot and moving nine-game starter Luke Wagner, who has been ineffective of late, into the bullpen.
It’s just the latest move in a season that has required a lot of them as injury, illness and adversity have traveled with the Bulldogs every step of the way.
“We know how good they are, that they are ranked No. 1 in the country,” junior center fielder Ben Anderson said. “For us, we have to keep the same mindset like when we went to Vanderbilt. They are a good hitting team with a talented pitching staff. We have to show up and compete and try to win a series.”
Said Stricklin: “We’re going to challenge our kids. We have enough older guys that know what’s at stake. It’s very similar to where we were about a month ago going up to Nashville. It’s us against the world. We’ll have to play very good baseball to win a series.”
NCAA Tennis back in Athens
As Georgia baseball toils on the road, things will be cranked up with their next-door neighbors back on the UGA campus. Both the No. 3-ranked women’s tennis team and the No. 11 men’s netters will be hosting teams in the NCAA Athens Regional at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Jeff Wallace’s two-time national champion Lady Dogs (17-1, 13-0 SEC) are one of the favorites to win a national title this year, along with No. 1 North Carolina (26-0) and No. 2 Texas (25-1). But first they’ll have to get past the first two rounds against Austin Peay (1 p.m. Friday) and the winner of Wake Forest-Furman on Saturday.
“It’s been a pretty special year for us,” Wallace said. “The first goal we have is to win the SEC championship, and it was great to be able to go that. Now we want to keep the momentum going. We’ve got three great seniors on this team, and this will be their last matches on these courts and that’s pretty special for them.”
The six-time national champion men’s team rallied to win seven of their past eight matches this season and enter its regional confident and motivated to get to Orlando for the championship rounds. First, Georgia (14-6, 8-4 SEC) will have to get by East Tennessee State on Saturday, then it will face the winner of Texas Tech-Virginia Tech.
All the win-or-go-home matches should make for a noisy, competitive-charged NCAA environment so familiar to Georgia fans and the famed Henry Feild Stadium courts.
“I’m ecstatic for this,” said junior Trent Bryde, Georgia’s highest-ranked player in both singles and doubles. “In 2017, (Georgia) was hosting the NCAAs and the guys made a semifinals run. I wasn’t on the team at the time, but I was figuring out where I was going to school and, after seeing that atmosphere, I was like, ‘this is the school I want to go to.’ Now I get to experience it firsthand.”
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