Georgia has been dominant so far in the NCAA Tournament. A perfect 5-0 record has the Bulldogs humming as they head to the College World Series for the first time in 18 years, but their tournament run so far hasn’t come without some controversy in the eyes of their opponents.
One of the biggest talking point from Georgia’s rivals after they beat Mississippi State in the Super Regional was that UGA was benefitting from Foley Field being a small ballpark. That factually is not correct, but Mississippi State and other rival fans ran with that excuse anyways.
Georgia head coach Wes Johnson was asked about Foley Field being the reason they hit so many home runs and win so many games, and he was ready to defend his team against that ridiculous excuse.
“We get a lot of questions about the ballpark,” Johnson said via 247Sports.com. “I'll give you some pure facts that came off of a laser grade that we just shot when we redid our field. It's 350 feet down the left field line. I'm pretty sure we're not in Denver where it's elevation. It's 375 in our gaps. Yes, there's our right field for about 40 feet short -- 40 feet down the line, meaning short, yeah, it's 306 to 330 in that little pocket. But other than that, our ballpark, we're not the smallest ballpark in the Southeastern Conference, by the way.“
Blaming Foley Field was always the lamest excuse for Georgia’s success
Blaming Foley Field as the reason Georgia best Mississippi State (and had the great year that they did) was always the lamest thing someone could do.
For starters, Georgia’s opponent played on the same field as them every single game. So even if Foley Field is easier to hit home runs in it would be just as easy for their opponent as well.
On top of that, Mississippi State and Georgia actually hit the same number of home runs during their two Super Regiomal games. In fact, Mississippi State hit one more home run than Georgia during game one when this excuse was all over social media.
But the final nail in the coffin for this excuse is the fact that Foley Field and Mississippi State’s field dimensions are actually pretty similar. Foley Field is also nearly identical to the average MLB stadium as well.
So was Foley Field the reason Georgia won the SEC and advanced to the College World Series? Or are they just better than ever team they’ve faced so far this season?
How will the College World Series impact Georgia’s hot bats?
So far this season Georgia has hit 174 home runs. That is a whopping 67 more home runs than the next closest team at the College World Series.
One might assume this would be a huge advantage for Georgia heading into the CWS, but the exact opposite might be true.
Charles Schwab Field at the College World Series is known for giving up very few home runs each year. Just last year at the 2025 CWS teams combined for just 15 long balls in the 14 games played.
That’s much less than the five home runs Georgia is averaging per game so far in the NCAA Tournament.
The reason for the drastic decrease in home runs is because of a strong wind that typically blows straight in from the outfield in this stadium. If that happens throughout the next week Georgia could be in serious trouble because they play for the long ball, so they may have to get creative and manufacture some runs in other ways.
But if Georgia can stay hot and still hit a lot of home runs in Omaha then it could be a long College World Series for everyone else.
First pitch for Georgia’s first game at the College World Series is scheduled for Saturday, June 13 at 8:00 pm EST against the Texas Longhorns.
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