Georgia baseball 'not trying to ride rollercoaster,' Bulldogs face Florida in decisive game

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ATHENS — Georgia baseball is ready for "just another game" after Florida rallied for a 7-4 win in extra innings and snapped UGA's nine-game win streak.

The No. 8-ranked Bulldogs and Gators will clash at 2 o'clock Saturday in a game that could determine whether or not Georgia will host a Super Regional.

Georgia, at 39-13 overall and 17-12 in the SEC with a No. 3 RPI, has clinched hosting a regional and is in contention for a Top 8 national seed which would ensure hosting a best-of-three Super Regional.

RELATED: Georgia baseball upended by Florida in extra innings

Friday's loss was a setback, but Coach Wes Johnson knows how to keep his team's mind right. Or, more specifically, not allow the Bulldogs to go wrong,

Fact is, Georgia played pretty good baseball at Foley Field, but the Gators (27-26, 12-17) were just a bit better.

UGA lead-off man Corey Collins was 3-for-5 hitting with two home runs and 3 RBI, while starter Leighton Finley tossed 6 innings of 3-hit, 1-run baseball before being lifted with UGA up 3-1.

It looked like Georgia's day when Clayton Chadwick made a leaping catch at the wall in right center, stealing a would-be home run from Tyler Shelnut in the second inning.

The Bulldogs' defense wasn't done: Dylan Goldstein made a diving catch in short right field to preserve a 3-2 lead as the game moved to the bottom of the seventh inning.

Florida rallied off reliever Brian Zeldin, striking for 2 runs to tie the game at 4-4 in the eight before taking control on Luke Heyman's 3-run homer off Zeldin in the top of the 10th inning.

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Georgia pitching faltered. For all of Johnson's brilliant metrics and tremendous teaching techniques, the Bulldogs simply might not have enough talent on the mound.

Florida pitching was superior on Friday, and Johnson didn't mind saying so when putting the loss into perspective.

"You tip your hat to their guy, and it's like I told our guys afterwards, this is good — things that are hard are always good," Johnson said. "You've got to enjoy things that are hard, facing pitchers like today was hard, and we've got to learn from it."

Collins exemplified Georgia's steady nature after the game.

"We're not trying to ride the rollercoaster, we're just trying to stay even and take care of what we can take care of," Collins said.

"Not trying to press, not clicking the panic button, The balls didn't fall today when they needed to, but I mean, who knows? Tomorrow they can."

Georgia will have to go through Jac Caglianone, as the top two-way player in the nation is expected to be on the mound for the Gators.

"Tomorrow is just another game, first pitch is at 2 o'clock," Johnson said.

"We need to get in the box against Caglianone and not chase, stay within ourselves and our approach against him and get off good swings. If we do, everything else will start to take care of itself."

Georgia was projected as the No. 7 national seed heading into the series with Florida, but the Bulldogs will need to win on Saturday to hold that spot.