ATHENS, Ga. — For the third consecutive year and ninth time in school history, the University of Georgia will serve as one of 16 regional hosts for the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament.

The Dogs will the No. 3 overall seed and open against the Long Island (30-20) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Foley Field. Liberty and Boston College are the other two teams in the four-team Athens Regional and they will play on Friday at 2 p.m. in the first game of the day.

Georgia head baseball coach Wes Johnson is the first UGA baseball coach to take his first three teams to the NCAA Tournament, and the Bulldogs (46-12) are expected to be a top eight national seed for the third year in a row. Johnson's combined mark of 132-46 (58-32 SEC) is the most overall victories and SEC wins by a coach in their first three seasons in Georgia baseball history.

The Dogs are a top eight national seed for the third straight season under Johnson and the eighth time in school history.

"Long Island is a really good program," Johnson said. "A couple years ago, they were leading North Carolina late in the game, and North Carolina walked them off with a grand slam if I remember correctly. They're a good quality club. They're not going to be intimidated coming here. Offensively, they can hit, and they really run. I think they've got 139 or 140 stolen bases. Their guys will throw strikes and attack the strike zone.

"Moving through the regional, Boston College had a good year in the ACC. Liberty probably has one of the best number ones in the country. Their Friday night guy would be a number one in our league as well. Their club has players with 18 to 20 home runs, so again, another quality club with a high RPI. It's going to be a good regional."

In the series history versus the field, Georgia is 0-1 against LIU, 8-2 against Liberty and never faced Boston College. During the 2019 regular season, the Sharks beat the Bulldogs 1-0 in Athens. Georgia last faced Liberty in 2013, and the Bulldogs claimed a series in Athens two games to one.

The Bulldogs will be making their 16th appearance in an NCAA Regional. The Bulldogs won their 2024 NCAA Regional to make their first Super Regional since 2008 and then fell a game short of advancing to the College World Series (CWS).

In 2025, Georgia went 1-2 during its regional. Georgia’s last trip to the CWS came in 2008 when it finished as the national runner-up.