Over the weekend, Georgia baseball’s new head coach Wes Johnson led his team to a sweep of UNC Asheville. In SEC competition, Georgia’s women’s and men’s basketball teams lost. Kirby Smart might find Hines Ward a suitable replacement for Bryan McClendon in his staff.
Not only did Georgia baseball kick up its 2024 season this past weekend, but a new era was ushered in. Having missed NCAA regionals in two of his final three years in Athens, Scott Stricklin was fired following last season’s 29-27 record.
Wes Johnson, the pitching coach at LSU, took Stricklin’s job. The Bulldogs defeated UNC Asheville 11-2 at home on Friday to kick off Johnson’s term as head coach. Starting pitcher Charlie Goldstein earned the victory after pitching four innings of one-run ball, with infielder Slate Alford leading the way with three RBI.                                          Georgia outscored the other Bulldogs 38-7 to sweep the three-game series. Over the course of the series, Alford hit three home runs, and Dylan Goldstein hit two and finished with an OPS of 2.011 in eight at-bats.                                 The Georgia men’s team lost 88-82 in a frantic game against No. 24 Florida on Saturday. Bulldogs captain Noah Thomasson led the way with 26 points, but Georgia lost the second half 48-36 despite leading 46-40 at the break. The squad led by Mike White is 4-8 in conference play and 14-11 overall. The Bulldogs, who rank eleventh in the SEC, will play LSU on Tuesday night in Baton Rouge. On Sunday, the Georgia women faced No. 1 South Carolina in Columbia, which presented an even more difficult job. The undefeated Gamecocks used a balanced scoring attack to pull away for a 70-56 victory, their 26th of the season, despite the Georgia women’s 35-28 lead at the half.
The Bulldogs are now 2-10 in conference play and 11-5 overall after the setback. The Georgia women’s last-place team plays Ole Miss on Thursday. The legendary Pittsburgh Steelers player and Georgia alumnus began teaching in 2017 as an offensive intern under Mike Tomlin. After that, he worked for the New York Jets for two seasons one in 2021 as the wide receivers coach at Florida Atlantic under former Owls head coach Willie Taggart, and another in 2023 as the head coach of the XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas.