ATHENS — Georgia baseball ranks among the best, but it will be looking for a shift in mindset with No. 1 Arkansas coming to Foley Field.
The Bulldogs, ranked as high as No. 6 in the polls, open the three-game set with the Razorbacks at 6:02 p.m. on Friday leading into a 4:02 p.m. game on Saturday and 1:02 p.m. game on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network plus.
“You better be ready to get back in the fire,” said UGA coach Wes Johnson, whose team was swept at No. 2 Texas last weekend, “or this thing will flip on you fast.”
Johnson, whose Bulldogs were also swept in last season’s road-opening SEC series, believes lessons were learned against the Longhorns.
“I think last week was really really good for us, because that was the first true hostile environment we played in,” Johnson said during his Thursday press availability a Foley Field.
“We were able to address some things — we got sped up …. anytime you can find that out sooner than later, for me, that turns into a positive.”
Johnson explained how Georgia (30-5, 8-4 SEC) will slow its mindset down to process better at the plate against a Razorbacks team (30-3, 11-1) that in sweeping Missouri last weekend outscored the Tigers 51-9.
“You have the best team in the country coming in, because they are good in all three phases; pitching, defense and hitting,” Johnson said of an Arkansas team coached by Dave Van Horn, who has led the Razorbacks to seven CWS appearances and won three SEC championships in his 23 years leading the program.
“I think we’ll be able to slow the game down, and hopefully we won’t chase.”
Johnson noted that UGA’s “chase percentage” — swings at pitches outside the strike zone — was slightly over 30 percent against Texas, while the Longhorns was 19 percent.
Johnson attributed part of that to the challenges his team has had against left-handed pitching this season. Georgia is 24-2 against right-handed starters but 6-3 against left-handers.
Johnson, known as “The Wizard” to his players, applied some of his mindful magic this week by printing up “I love hitting left handed pitching” shirts the team wore in Thursday’s practice.
“It’s just a fun shirt to loosen us up a bit,” Johnson said.
“We just have to change our mindset a bit, we have the ability, we’ve shown that.”
Johnson said it worked for him when he was the head coach at Abundant Life High School (Sherwood, Ark., 2004-07), so why not try it again?
The Georgia players seemed amused to find the shirts in their lockers when they came to Thursday’s practice.
More importantly, those players interviewed sounded confident.
“I think it’s built up over the season,” said UGA outfielder Robbie Burnett, whose tied for the team lead with 15 home runs, ranks second on the team with a .339 batting average and is setting the pace with 11 stolen bases.
“I don’t think we’ve done as good as we can against lefties, so we’re going to put an emphasis on that and do better.”
The Razorbacks, like Georgia off to their best start in school history, bring an 11-game SEC win streak into the game.
UGA is aiming to win a home series against a No. 1-ranked team for the first time since 1993 (Mississippi State). Georgia’s most recent SEC series win over a No. 1-ranked team was against Vanderbilt, in Nashville, in 2021.
Foley Field has not hosted a No. 1 team since 2015 (Vanderbilt).
“I think it’s exciting, it will be a good test for us with how last week went,” said Ryan Black, a junior transfer from UT-Arlington. “It will be a great chance for us to respond.”
Johnson, who coached under Arkansas’ Van Horn in 2017 and 2018, noted there will be more tests ahead in a powerful SEC featuring four of the top five ranked teams (D1 Baseball Top 25 poll) and eight of the top 12.
The Bulldogs bring an NCAA-leading 92 home runs into the series with Arkansas, while the Razorbacks lead the SEC with a .335 batting average.
Georgia could get even more of a power boost with rising sophomore star Tre Phelps, who reached base safely in the first 27 games this season, expected to return this weekend from the hamstring injury that led him to miss the past eight games.
SEC teams in D1Baseball Top 25
1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. LSU
5. Tennessee
6. Ole Miss
7. Georgia
11. Auburn
12. Alabama
17. Vanderbilt
19. Oklahoma
