ATHENS – Georgia baseball’s long-awaited postseason run begins on Friday at Foley Field.

The No. 7 national seed Bulldogs (39-15) start their march towards the program’s first super regional since 2008 with Army at 1 p.m.

UGA will open the Athens Regional against the No. 4-seeded Black Knights (31-21), televised on ESPN+. No. 2 seed UNC Wimington and No. 3 seed Georgia Tech will finish Day One of the regional with a 7 p.m. matchup.

Georgia has been preparing for the regional since May 21 when it suffered an early-morning first-round elimination in the SEC tournament.

The Bulldogs spent no time licking their wounds. UGA had finished the regular season 17-13 in the SEC, a record strong enough to secure a regional in Athens.

So, Georgia went home to rest and prepare its newly-vaunted pitching staff for a run at the College World Series.

The Bulldogs had 10 days of rest between the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament. That much time off could worry some coaches, but UGA coach Wes Johnson did not seem concerned with the extended break.

“If this team was young, you’d probably be a little more concerned about the time off, but you go around the field, we’re pretty old,” Johnson said. “We’ve got some guys with postseason experience, so they know how to get their mind and body ready.”

One area where Georgia is fairly young is the starting pitching staff. UGA’s three starters over the last three SEC series are all true sophomores.

Johnson, always harping on the importance of belief and confidence, has reminded his team to stay calm in Game One, leaning on the home-field advantage.

“One of the things that can speed guys up is you forget that the fans that are here in your home ballpark, they’re cheering for you,” Johnson said. “I keep telling our guys, ‘Hey, they’re rooting for you to do good, not bad. So, feed off that energy.’”

Sophomore left-hander Leighton Finley will take the mound first for the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-5, 235-pounder has been UGA’s top pitcher ever since ace Charlie Goldstein started dealing with injuries in late March.

Finley is Georgia’s only starter to pitch every single weekend this season. The Richmond Hill native enters Friday with a 4.18 ERA, having surrendered just five earned runs in his last four starts.

Those starts include: then-No. 1-ranked Texas A&M, then-No. 13-ranked Vanderbilt, then-No. 13-ranked South Carolina and Florida.

Army will counter with senior right-hander Matthew Ronnebaum. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder enters the tournament with a 3.91 season ERA.

Ronnebaum has not pitched since May 20 when the Black Knights topped Navy 3-0 to win their sixth consecutive Patriot League championship.

Georgia is facing Army for the first time in program history.