Georgia baseball will be holding a good hand when it opens play at the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala., on Wednesday.

It’s just a matter of how Coach Wes Johnson wants to play his cards.

Johnson said the Bulldogs “have a lot of motivation,” but he made it clear winning won’t come at the expense of working UGA’s best pitchers too long or exhausting starting position players.

“If we’re fortunate enough to keep winning and keep playing,” Johnson said, “you’re not gonna see those (pitchers) more than three or four innings.”

Fact is, regardless of how Georgia fares in the SEC tournament, it’s sure to play host to an NCAA Baseball Tournament regional next week at Foley Field.

Georgia is also a virtual lock to host a best-of-three Super Regional the following week - presuming it wins its regional -- as it’s projected to be one of the top eight seeds in the nation.

First things first, the Bulldogs (42-14) are the No. 5 seed in the single-elimination SEC tourney at the Hoover Met and are scheduled to open play at approximately 5:30 p.m. (TV: SEC Network) in the third game on Wednesday against No. 12-seed Oklahoma (34-19).

The Sooners beat Kentucky, 5-1, in opening round play on Tuesday.

The Georgia-Oklahoma game was originally scheduled at 2 p.m. as the second game on Wednesday, but the start is delayed after inclement weather pushed back the Tuesday game between No. 11-seed Mississippi State and No. 14-seed Texas A&M to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

That has led to an accordion effect; No. 9-seed Alabama will play No. 8-seed Tennessee in the second game of the day on Wednesday before the Bulldogs take the field against a Sooners team they took two of three from April 24-26 at Foley Field.

The winner of the Georgia-OU game would face No. 4 seed Vanderbilt (39-16) on Thursday.

Georgia’s No. 5 SEC seed in the league tourney is somewhat deceptive -- the Bulldogs are No. 1 in the RPI, which is a computer ranking weighing results with schedule strength, and the NCAA tournament committee takes note of that when seeding teams.

The RPI ranking is why Georgia has earned the right to approach the SEC tournament in a conservative manner when it comes to how it utilizes its personnel.

Johnson, whose SEC assistant coaching stints have included stops at Mississippi State (2016) Arkansas (2017-18) and LSU (2023), knows the toll a deep run in the SEC tournament can take.

“…. you have to look at, there is a very strong track record of teams that have won the (SEC) tournament, coming back and not doing very well in their regional,” Johnson said. “And part of the reason is, yes, your pitching does take a little bit of a hit.

“But really, at the end of the day, it’s your position players They’ve been on their feet so long …”

It’s understandable why Johnson wants to maintain the momentum the Bulldogs have built. It’s a program that leads the nation with 132 home runs and ranks tied for second in fielding percentage (.983).

That said, Johnson said he wouldn’t mind seeing several pitchers on Georgia’s staff get some work because the Bulldogs have a deeper staff.

And, yes, Johnson said he would like to see slugger Ryland Zaborowski “getting a ton of at-bats” as he works his way back from the elbow injury that sidelined him from April 26 until his return last Saturday against Texas A&M.

Zaborowski struck out in his first at-bat back, but he ended up with two hits in the game, including a double

“I’ve only been hitting off the machine coming back, and I was confident, I was like ‘Wes, I’m ready,’ “ Zaborowski said on Saturday.

“Mentally it was tough at first, but staying with my process, staying with my stretching routine, staying with my breath work, just being able to do the things I could do helped my recovery.”

Georgia veteran Kolby Branch is glad to have Zaborowski back in the lineup, and ready to play more baseball with him at the Hoover Met -- for however long the Bulldogs stick around.

“We put ourselves in a good spot in the regular season, having a good record, (so) it’s not like we have to pitch our Friday night guy to win each game and then play for each game like our lives are on the line,” Branch said.

“But we’re still playing with heart, and a lot of fight, and we’re still competing and believing in each other. You’re never going in to lose a game.”

Georgia, which has never won the SEC Baseball Tournament, has dropped its opening game in the event the past three seasons.