It’s been 10 years since Georgia baseball hosted an NCAA regional, and not many thought the Bulldogs would break that streak this season. But this young Georgia team took off during SEC play and earned a national seed for the NCAA Tournament.
This weekend’s regional will include Duke, Troy and Big South Tournament winner Campbell.
We will give a brief breakdown of each team and then predict a winner.
- Georgia 37-19 (18-12)
The Bulldogs were a very balanced team in 2018 hitting .281 and averaging 6.2 runs per game, while posting an ERA of 3.78 in 504.1 innings pitched with 498 strikeouts. Keegan McGovern is the leader on offense for Georgia hitting .325 with 63 runs scored, 15 home runs and 44 RBI. Michael Curry and Adam Sasser bring some thump to the lineup as well. Chase Adkins is the senior leader for this young pitching staff, but junior Kevin Smith has posted the best numbers with a 3.17 ERA in 59.2 innings pitched with 76 strikeouts. I saw freshman Emerson Hancock pitch earlier this season and he was very impressive. The question will be how well this young Georgia team handles the pressure.
- Duke 40-15 (18-11)
The Blue Devils had a very solid season in the ACC, but went 1-1 in the tournament and just missed out on hosting a regional. Jimmy Herron is the play-maker in this lineup hitting .296 with 54 runs scored and 21 stolen bases. Griffin Conine had a slow start to the season but is hitting .277 with 15 home runs and 49 RBI. They lead an offense that hit .270 as a team and scored 6.4 runs per game. The starting pitching for Duke has been up-and-down. Mitch Stallings struggled in his last few starts, but struck out 87 batters in 77 innings pitched this year. The Blue Devils have relied heavily on Ethan DeCaster and Jack Labosky out of the bullpen with 0.60 and 0.84 ERAs respectively. The pitching staff as a whole had a 3.80 ERA with 509 strikeouts in 497.2 innings pitched through the regular season.
- Troy 41-19 (19-11)
It was a very strong year for Troy as they won over 40 games and reached the Sun Belt championship game where they lost to Coastal Carolina – who is hosting a regional this weekend. This team was very good on offense hitting .296 as a team and averaging over 7 runs a game. Outfielder Joey Denison leads the team with a .387 average and 74 RBI. Leadoff hitter Matt Sanders hit .379, scored 85 runs and stole 26 bases. While no one had more than 6 home runs, six players hit at least five long balls this year. Andrew Crane is the ace of the staff with a 2.82 ERA in 95.2 innings pitched with 83 strikeouts. CJ Carter is an effective weapon with a 3.72 ERA in 67.2 innings pitched with 88 strikeouts. He was used as both a starter and a reliver this year. The pitching staff had a 3.73 ERA with 495 strikeouts in 528.2 innings pitched this year.
- Campbell 35-24 (21-6)
Campbell had a very strong year with a couple of wins over tournament teams in NC State and Ohio State. Despite losing a game, Campbell was able to bounce back and win the Big South Tournament. Leadoff hitter Matthew Barefoot leads the team with a .357 average, 54 runs scored and 31 stolen bases. Second baseman Christian Jones brings the pop with 18 home runs and 65 RBI this year. Allan Winans leads the pitching staff with a 2.61 ERA in 76 innings pitched and 89 strikeouts. Logan Bender is the one to watch out of the bullpen with a 2.38 ERA in 45.1 innings pitched with 61 strikeouts. They hit .254 as a team and scored 5.8 runs per game, while posting a 4.39 ERA as a pitching staff in 525 innings pitched with 531 strikeouts.
Prediction:
This regional is honestly one of the hardest to predict as there isn’t one standout team among them. I think there are several good teams in this regional, but I probably won’t be picking any of these teams to reach Omaha. I’m not sure if Georgia is ready for the bright lights yet, but Duke has done enough this year to show me they can win a regional. I think Troy has a very good chance of making some noise and stealing the show in this regional.
At the end of the day, I’m going with the home team because I don’t have enough faith in any of the other teams to win three or four games.
Winner: Georgia
