University of Georgia Athletics
Opening Day Rout Launches Johnson Era
February 16, 2024 | Baseball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Opening day. They may be the two most optimistic words in all of sports. Anything is possible. Anyone can be a star. All dreams, both reasonable and out of this world, are alive and well.
For the Georgia baseball team, Friday afternoon's opener against UNC Asheville in front of 2,504 fans at Foley Field wasn't a typical first game of the season. It was also the debut of Wes Johnson, Georgia's first-year Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach.
As starts go, an 11-2 win that demonstrated very good hitting and very good pitching and defense — the Bulldogs produced four home runs and allowed just two hits, while striking out 14 — it was hard to top what the Bulldogs did to kick off a new era of Georgia baseball.
"You don't want to let the fans down. You don't want to let down all the people who have been supporting you and doing so much to help our program. We've had a lot of support since I've gotten here," Johnson said. "You can't always guarantee wins and losses, but can we have a good effort? Can we come out with a really strong game plan and execute it? I thought after the third inning, we really settled down and we executed our game plan and had some success."
With the game tied 1-1 with one on and one out in the fourth — Slate Alford had tied the game with a solo shot in the bottom of the third — catcher Fernando Gonzalez, the seemingly eternal Bulldog, stepped into the batter's box. And with one swing, the four-year starter put Georgia in front. His no-doubter of a home run over the wall in left field off of Asheville reliever Brett Johnson drove in Kolby Branch and himself, putting the Bulldogs in front 3-1.
Earlier this week, Johnson acknowledged that Georgia's pitching staff didn't have many guys that had thrown long outings against Division I opposition. But that didn't mean he didn't expect the guys to pitch well. And the Bulldogs certainly did Friday.
In four innings, Charlie Goldstein allowed one hit, a solo homer in the third, tied a career-high with seven strikeouts, and walked two.. He was pulled after the fourth, and Kolten Smith took over.
"I feel like I was commanding the fastball pretty well. I was really at the top of the zone — that's kind of where my game's at — and my changeup really looked good," Goldstein said. "Honestly, it makes it a lot easier to pitch when you have a defense like that. We were making plays the whole game."
Smith struck out two in an easy first inning of work, and by the time he returned to the mound to start the sixth, the lead was 5-1. That's because Charlie Condon led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, and later scored on a pinch-hit home run to right-center by Dylan Goldstein.
Condon, the consensus National Freshman of the Year in 2023, who hit .388 with 25 homers, whom Johnson earlier this week called "the best right-handed hitter in the country," opened his redshirt sophomore season with a simple single to left field. Then came a walk — he'll probably see a lot of those this season — followed by the double to get the fifth rolling.
After Asheville cut the lead to 5-2 with a solo homer off Smith in the sixth, Georgia pushed its lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the inning. Asheville intentionally walked Condon to load the bases with one away, and then Logan Jordan belted a single to left field, scoring Gonzalez and Clayton Chadwick.
In the seventh, the Bulldogs added four more runs, highlighted by a two-run blast from Alford to make it 11-2.
"I'm just glad we got that win, and we had a fun time out here," said Alford, a Mississippi State transfer who hit a pair of home runs in his first game as a (Georgia) Bulldog.
A baseball coach since 1997, starting as an assistant at Sylvan Hills (Ark.) High School, Georgia is Johnson's first collegiate head coaching job. But he's no rookie. After a decade in the high school ranks, including as head coach of Abundant Life High in his hometown of Sherwood, Ark., Johnson began his collegiate career in 2008 as the pitching coach at Central Arkansas.
For most of the past decade, he was a pitching coach in the SEC, with stops at Mississippi State, Arkansas and, most notably, LSU, where last season he was the pitching coach for the College World Series champions and ace starter Paul Skenes, the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft.
Georgia is the eighth college job for Johnson and the 12th overall. and on opening day Friday, he picked up win No. 1. And after the final out, he was mobbed by his players out in right field.
Opening day doesn't define a team or its season. Certainly not in baseball when the games start in the middle of February and continue on into May and beyond. But it can set a tone. And the tone Friday was very good. Whether Georgia reaches all of its goals in Johnson's first season remains to be seen, but with one game in the books, the Bulldogs on their way.
Â
Staff Writer
Opening day. They may be the two most optimistic words in all of sports. Anything is possible. Anyone can be a star. All dreams, both reasonable and out of this world, are alive and well.
For the Georgia baseball team, Friday afternoon's opener against UNC Asheville in front of 2,504 fans at Foley Field wasn't a typical first game of the season. It was also the debut of Wes Johnson, Georgia's first-year Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach.
As starts go, an 11-2 win that demonstrated very good hitting and very good pitching and defense — the Bulldogs produced four home runs and allowed just two hits, while striking out 14 — it was hard to top what the Bulldogs did to kick off a new era of Georgia baseball.
"You don't want to let the fans down. You don't want to let down all the people who have been supporting you and doing so much to help our program. We've had a lot of support since I've gotten here," Johnson said. "You can't always guarantee wins and losses, but can we have a good effort? Can we come out with a really strong game plan and execute it? I thought after the third inning, we really settled down and we executed our game plan and had some success."
With the game tied 1-1 with one on and one out in the fourth — Slate Alford had tied the game with a solo shot in the bottom of the third — catcher Fernando Gonzalez, the seemingly eternal Bulldog, stepped into the batter's box. And with one swing, the four-year starter put Georgia in front. His no-doubter of a home run over the wall in left field off of Asheville reliever Brett Johnson drove in Kolby Branch and himself, putting the Bulldogs in front 3-1.
Earlier this week, Johnson acknowledged that Georgia's pitching staff didn't have many guys that had thrown long outings against Division I opposition. But that didn't mean he didn't expect the guys to pitch well. And the Bulldogs certainly did Friday.
In four innings, Charlie Goldstein allowed one hit, a solo homer in the third, tied a career-high with seven strikeouts, and walked two.. He was pulled after the fourth, and Kolten Smith took over.
"I feel like I was commanding the fastball pretty well. I was really at the top of the zone — that's kind of where my game's at — and my changeup really looked good," Goldstein said. "Honestly, it makes it a lot easier to pitch when you have a defense like that. We were making plays the whole game."
Smith struck out two in an easy first inning of work, and by the time he returned to the mound to start the sixth, the lead was 5-1. That's because Charlie Condon led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, and later scored on a pinch-hit home run to right-center by Dylan Goldstein.
Condon, the consensus National Freshman of the Year in 2023, who hit .388 with 25 homers, whom Johnson earlier this week called "the best right-handed hitter in the country," opened his redshirt sophomore season with a simple single to left field. Then came a walk — he'll probably see a lot of those this season — followed by the double to get the fifth rolling.
After Asheville cut the lead to 5-2 with a solo homer off Smith in the sixth, Georgia pushed its lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the inning. Asheville intentionally walked Condon to load the bases with one away, and then Logan Jordan belted a single to left field, scoring Gonzalez and Clayton Chadwick.
In the seventh, the Bulldogs added four more runs, highlighted by a two-run blast from Alford to make it 11-2.
"I'm just glad we got that win, and we had a fun time out here," said Alford, a Mississippi State transfer who hit a pair of home runs in his first game as a (Georgia) Bulldog.
A baseball coach since 1997, starting as an assistant at Sylvan Hills (Ark.) High School, Georgia is Johnson's first collegiate head coaching job. But he's no rookie. After a decade in the high school ranks, including as head coach of Abundant Life High in his hometown of Sherwood, Ark., Johnson began his collegiate career in 2008 as the pitching coach at Central Arkansas.
For most of the past decade, he was a pitching coach in the SEC, with stops at Mississippi State, Arkansas and, most notably, LSU, where last season he was the pitching coach for the College World Series champions and ace starter Paul Skenes, the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft.
Georgia is the eighth college job for Johnson and the 12th overall. and on opening day Friday, he picked up win No. 1. And after the final out, he was mobbed by his players out in right field.
Opening day doesn't define a team or its season. Certainly not in baseball when the games start in the middle of February and continue on into May and beyond. But it can set a tone. And the tone Friday was very good. Whether Georgia reaches all of its goals in Johnson's first season remains to be seen, but with one game in the books, the Bulldogs on their way.
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Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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