Series Preview: Aggies enter a 'do-or-die' weekend at No. 10 Georgia
Who: No. 10 Georgia Bulldogs (40-13, 16-11 in SEC)
Where: Foley Field - Athens, GA
When:
Thursday: 5 p.m. CT (SEC Network+/ESPN+)
Friday: 5 p.m. CT (SEC Network+/ESPN+)
Saturday: 11 a.m. CT (SEC Network)
Pitching matchups
Thursday: LHP Ryan Prager (3-3, 3.82 ERA) vs. LHP Charlie Goldstein (0-2, 6.66 ERA)
Friday: LHP Justin Lamkin (3-7, 3.97 ERA) vs. RHP Brian Curley (4-2, 3.02 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Myles Patton (3-4, 5.16 ERA) vs. RHP Leighton Finley (2-2, 5.30 ERA)
Scouting Georgia
Georgia brings the boom.
Playing inside the hitter-friendly Foley Field, the Bulldogs lead the nation in home runs with 127. For comparison’s sake, Texas A&M only has 84 as a club.
Speaking of Foley Field, Georgia has been close to unbeatable at home this season. They own a 27-3 record in Athens this season. Since it’s easy to list their home losses, here they are: March 15 to Kentucky (10-7), April 11 to Arkansas (13-3) and April 24 to Oklahoma (8-6). Further, this will be the Dawgs’ first home games since an April 29 meeting with Kennesaw State, as they swept Mizzou in Columbia two weeks ago before dropping two of three to Alabama in Tuscaloosa last weekend.
Wes Johnson’s prolific lineup boasts a trio of sluggers with 16 or more round-trippers, and Charlie Condon is playing in the Colorado Rockies organization. Outfielder Robbie Burnett stands at 5-foot-10, but he has launched a team-leading 19 bombs and driven in 63. Slate Alford, who is in his second season in Athens after spending two at Mississippi State, is hitting .336 with an OPS of 1.100 and 16 homers.
The third member of that power trio is Ryland Zaborowski. The graduate student leads UGA in average (.372), OPS (1.322) and slugging (.822) to go along with his 16 homers and 58 RBIs. However, the 6-foot-5 first baseman has not played since April 26 vs. Oklahoma when he suffered an elbow injury while making a throw on a relay to the plate. On Wednesday’s initial injury report, Zaborowski was listed as “questionable,” as his availability for this weekend remains...well...questionable.
As a unit, including the three players listed above, Georgia’s lineup has five qualified hitters with batting averages at .300 or above, and those same five guys are each north of .900 in OPS. Having so many big boppers shouldn’t be surprising for a club that ranks sixth nationally in slugging at .566.
How Johnson has lined up his rotation is very interesting. Left-handed graduate student Charlie Goldstein will start the series opener, and while he has made 13 starts in his 17 appearances this year, his longest outing of the year has been 3.1 innings. In his 24.1 innings this year, he has struck out 29 and walked 21. Georgia’s other two arms, right-handers Brian Curley and Leighton Finley, are their only two qualifying pitchers with 56.2 and 56.0 innings, respectively.
Unlike A&M, the Bulldogs have plenty of depth in their bullpen. Johnson has nine other arms who have made 14 or more appearances, and beyond the three listed above, nine arms have provided 20.0 or more innings this season. Certainly, Johnson has plenty of relief options to turn to should a sticky situation arise.
| Hitting | Avg. | Runs/Game | Slugging % | On-Base % | K/Game |
| Texas A&M | .265 | 7.26 | .478 | .384 | 8.68 |
| No. 10 Georgia | .290 | 8.64 | .566 | .417 | 9.26 |
| Pitching | ERA | WHIP | BB/9 | Opp. Avg. | K/9 | Fielding % |
| Texas A&M | 4.33 | 1.28 | 2.91 | .251 | 9.54 | .971 |
| No. 10 Georgia | 4.82 | 1.37 | 4.72 | .227 | 10.94 | .964 |
Texas A&M storylines to watch
Last weekend stunk. Glad we got that out of the way.
In no way is accumulating just six total hits and two total runs (one of which was earned) across the final 24 innings of a three-game series acceptable. Everyone knows that, but it happened...and it happened against the league’s cellar-dwellers at home.
Such an abysmal weekend vs. Missouri has put Texas A&M in three (plus a couple more next week in Hoover) do-or-die contests to even make the NCAA Tournament.
However, the plug hasn’t been pulled...yet...and there is still a glimmer of hope.
That “hope” is the notion that the 2025 Aggies play better with their backs against the wall. It’s a common phrase that has been uttered from the time Mizzou left Blue Bell Park and into this week. It’s also a notion that has legs when looking at what A&M did after getting no-hit and run-ruled by Tennessee in Knoxville before they carried those good fives into Fayetteville...but that was over a month ago.
If any “hope” is to come to fruition in Athens, it has to start with the offense, which went radio-silent beyond the third inning of Friday’s opener with Mizzou. It would be unfair to single out a player or two who underperformed last week when the entire lineup took turns throwing away at-bats in games that the Aggies couldn't afford to lose.
Now there is truly no margin for error, and playing in a ballpark like Foley Field that oftentimes plays like a launching pad, the Aggies must find their offense again or else they’re just asking to get run out of Athens. While the yard certainly plays smaller than the dimensions listed on the outfield wall, A&M’s approach shouldn’t just rely on the longball, though the power the Ags have displayed at times throughout the year should certainly help them get feeling good again. Getting runners aboard, moving them over and driving them in...consistently...is a must this weekend. However possible, just show life and be unselfish as a collective unit. That’s when this offense is at its best, and it’s a stark contrast to what we’ve seen from the big swings across the previous three weekends.
The offense has been so abysmal that pitching is almost an afterthought here. No matter what Ryan Prager, Justin Lamkin and Myles Patton do, it doesn’t matter if bats don’t produce.
Prager was good enough to win last week. Lamkin showed signs of settling in before the weather shortened his outing. Patton was subpar but has demonstrated the ability to bounce back multiple times this season. The rotation is certainly not the problem.
What has become a problem (again) is the bullpen. Mononucleosis or not, Weston Moss has been well enough to pitch in each of the last three weekends, and at times, he has looked like the reliable right-hander the Aggies need. However, too often, he has fallen on hard times and sunk the Aggies to losses in gut-wrenching ways. With few trusted options down there, Moss will need to once again be the go-to guy because he has proven to be an X-factor in multiple conference wins this year, and the Aggies need all three this week. Further, Michael Earley said Kaiden Wilson should be available this weekend as he fights through shoulder tightness, and he’s another who needs to be at his best vs. the Dawgs.
Still, Moss, Wilson and Caden McCoy — even at their best — likely won’t be enough for A&M to cover three games this week. Brad Rudis was brilliant in relief last Saturday, but Foley Field and the Georgia offense figure to be the type of setting and team that could rough him up. Regardless, he’ll need to step up again if his senior year is to reach the postseason. Help from names like Luke Jackson, Clayton Freshcorn, Gavin Lyons and Aiden Sims wouldn’t hurt either.
To recap, the Aggies must be much better than “good” this weekend vs. Georgia.
It’ll likely take perfection from all phases to get back on the right side of the bubble.
What’s at stake this weekend
It’s no secret that Texas A&M needs three wins in Athens (plus maybe one or two in Hoover) to feel comfortable about its resume with Memorial Day looming just a week and a half away.
As of 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday, A&M’s RPI sat at No. 59. That’s a sizable drop from the mid-30s before the series with Georgia.
The No. 59 club in RPI isn’t going to get into the 2025 NCAA Tournament. That much is simple.
However, the good news is the Aggies will have three chances to make massive jumps this weekend because Georgia currently sits atop the all-important metric.
Yes, getting back into the postseason seems like it will take a miracle as it stands entering the final regular-season series.
The “one game at a time” mantra is crucial this week. The Ags can’t afford to try and eat an elephant in one sitting. It has to be a bite at a time, a game at a time and a win at a time across the next eight days.
Plus, eight-day miracles have happened before... but Hanukkah is celebrated in December, so we’ll need another. #BTHOgeorgia