ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia and North Carolina State will have the college baseball spotlight all to themselves Monday night in their finale to the Athens Super Regional.
With the best-of-three series tied 1-1 and a spot in the College World Series at stake in the 7 p.m. matchup at Foley Field, which will be televised by ESPN, both the Bulldogs and the Wolfpack should be highly motivated.
If any extra push is needed, though, there is that matter of conference bragging rights.
With seven of eight spots already locked up for the College World Series that starts Friday in Omaha, Nebraska, the Southeastern Conference, which has Georgia among its membership, already has four teams in the final phase of the NCAA tournament: overall No. 1 seed Tennessee, No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Texas A&M and Florida, which was not among the top 16 national seeds this year after a national runner-up finish to fellow SEC program LSU last year in Omaha.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, which is N.C. State’s league, locked up this year’s first three CWS berths on Saturday as No. 4 North Carolina, No. 8 Florida State and No. 12 Virginia completed sweeps. However, the ACC’s effort to add to that number was denied on Sunday, when No. 6 Clemson was eliminated as Florida swept on the Tigers’ turf, and No. 7 Georgia bounced back to beat the 10th-seeded Wolfpack and force a third game in Athens.