A quick look at Georgia baseball’s NCAA Tournament regional opponents

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Know your opponent: Regional edition

Georgia baseball is making its return to the NCAA Tournament, and it’s doing so as a nationally seeded team.

The Diamond Dogs were handed the No. 8 overall seed Monday, meaning that in addition to hosting a regional this weekend in Foley Field, it will also host a super regional should they advance. To do that, they’ll have to get past Duke, Troy and Campbell in the four-team, double-elimination Athens Regional field. (Here’s the full bracket for your perusal.)

But what do we know about the three teams that will square off with Georgia this weekend in the Classic City? If you’re a casual college baseball fan, probably not much. So to fix that, I thought we’d do a quick rundown of the teams competing in the Athens Regional.

No. 2 Duke

• Record: 40-15
• Recent form: The Blue Devils rattled off a seven-game winning streak at the beginning of May but ended the regular season with three losses in their final four games. They defeated Wake Forest 6-2 in 13 innings to open the ACC Tournament before being knocked out by eventual runners-up Louisville 9-2.
• Regional opener: vs. Troy, 2 p.m. ET Friday
• Key player: Junior outfielder Griffin Conine leads Duke in many major offensive statistical categories, including home runs (14), slugging (.585), RBI (49), total bases (114) and walks (37).

No. 3 Troy

• Record: 41-19
• Recent form: The Trojans finished the regular season on a roll, winning six straight, including a win over Auburn, before losing their regular-season finale. In the Sun Belt Tournament, they defeated Texas State (twice) and Louisiana-Lafayette but lost in the championship game to Coastal Carolina, the No. 15 national seed.
• Regional opener: vs. Duke, 2 p.m. ET Friday
• Key player: Senior outfielder Joey Denison is one of the best hitters in college baseball. His 74 RBI was the third most in D-I college baseball this season and broke the Troy single-season record. He was also at or near the top of the Sun Belt in most major offensive statistical categories.

No. 4 Campbell

• Record: 35-24
• Recent form: The Camels — yes, the Camels— stumbled to the end of the regular season with a 6-4 record over their final 10 games. But they turned on the jets in the Big South Tournament, going 4-1 on their way to winning the conference championship.
• Regional opener: vs. Georgia, 7 p.m. ET Friday
• Key player: Redshirt freshman right-hander Logan Bender is the ace in the bullpen for Campbell. Working as a reliever, Bender has the lowest ERA on the team (2.38), second lowest in the Big South. (All-Big South starter Allan Winans is another Camels pitcher to keep an eye on.)

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Bears thank ACCPD for recovering items stolen from Roquan Smith

Athens-Clarke County Police worked swiftly to recover items stolen from former UGA linebacker Roquan Smith a few weeks ago, and Smith’s new team, the Chicago Bears, showed their thanks with a handwritten note to Officer Marcus McQuien and the rest of the ACCPD.

“Thank you all for helping Roquan recover his stolen items,” the letter from Bears director of security John Tarpey reads. “They would have been irreplaceable. We have you covered in Chicago. You all are the best.”

Odds & ends

• Transfer rules slightly more relaxed for walk-ons such as UGA’s Stetson Bennett
• National seed validation for Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin
• Sounds like in-state UGA target Warren Burrell is expanding top 7

Dawgs on Twitter

Lookin’ at the No.8 National Seed 👀#GoDawgs | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/eWs1rRQppJ

— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) May 28, 2018

“Now, we need to make sure we do everything we can to be ready for Friday night.” – @CoachStrick10 #GoDawgs | #FillFoley pic.twitter.com/2HPmwWaiBG

— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) May 29, 2018

THE BRACKET.#RoadToOmahahttps://t.co/0cOYRh9my0 pic.twitter.com/aUciCCPXyQ

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) May 28, 2018

Good dog

More like cowdog amirite.

Look how much we have in common with cows. They love dogs, just like us! 🐶💚🐮 pic.twitter.com/TdYum27TG1

— The Humane League (@TheHumaneLeague) May 28, 2018

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