Link to Article on The Red & Black
By Olivia Sayer
Georgia teammates huddle before game one of the NCAA Athens Super Regional between NC State and Georgia at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Georgia lost 18-1. (Photo/Mady Mertens; MadyMertensPhotography)
39 days before the start of Georgia baseball’s season, first-year head coach Wes Johnson delivered a message.
“You have to watch yourself have success,” Johnson said in a team meeting. “And if we do, everything is right there, and we can just go get it.”
Now, just one win away from advancing to the College World Series, Johnson’s message stays the same.
“It’s another game tomorrow,” Johnson said. “And you better be locked in from pitch one on both sides of the baseball. You better be focused-up. If we do that, it’s going to put us in position to have success.”
The Bulldogs surpassed expectations in Johnson’s first year as their head coach. Prior to the season, a vote by league coaches had Georgia finishing 11th out of 14 SEC teams. Four months later, the Bulldogs are a national seed and hosting their first Super Regional in 16 years.
No matter the outcome of Monday’s game three, that statement will still hold true. However, advancing to Omaha would be the cherry on top of a surprisingly successful season. Although, Georgia’s success is not shocking to anyone within its locker room.
“Do you really think about Omaha,” Johnson asked his team in February. “Do you think this team is good enough to do that? Because I got news for you — and I’m not just up here because I’m the coach, and I’m trying to get everyone fired up — objectively, this team is good enough.”
The belief Johnson instilled within the Bulldogs carried them to 43 wins, which is the most by Georgia since the 2019 season. Despite dropping game one of the Super Regional by 17 runs, the Bulldogs still believed.
“We’ve had four of five of these games this year,” Johnson said after game one. “I think the resilience we’ve showed at that next game is what you build off of.”
Georgia bounced back with an 11-2 win in game two of the Super Regional. The Bulldogs once again displayed their resiliency and got back to the approach that led them to a 33-6 record at Foley Field.
“I made the comment that there were a couple of guys trying to hit 10-run homers,” Johnson said, referring to his comments after Georgia lost the series-opener. “That’s not possible. And so today the message was, ‘just get back to your approach.’”
Georgia’s approach of not expanding the zone or chasing pitches paid dividends for the Bulldogs in the regular season. After straying from that in game one, Georgia slowed the game down in the box and on the mound throughout game two.
“Emotions can take you the wrong way a lot of times,” Johnson said. “If we can keep our emotions in check — and every day you go to play this game you understand that it’s just that game that day — then when these games come around, guys don’t get sped up.”
Facing a ‘winner take all’ game, Georgia will stay within that mindset and draw back on the belief Johnson instilled within the team in February.
“It was really about getting everyone to buy into what this program is,” Charlie Condon said prior to the Super Regional. “But I think we’ve believed it for a really long time, and that’s why we’re here.”