ATHENS — It’s a whole new game for Georgia baseball this season with a new-look Bulldogs team opening play on Friday.

First pitch for Georgia’s home game against UNC Asheville is scheduled for 3:02 p.m. on Friday at historic Foley Field (Stream SEC-Plus) with the series running through Saturday (3:02 p.m.) and Sunday (1:02 p.m.)

“We’re tired of playing each other,” said first-year coach Wes Johnson, who was hired to replace long-time coach Scott Stricklin as the Bulldogs’ head coach after the team’s 29-27 season in 2023. “We’re excited, guys are ready to go.”

Preseason Player of the Year Candidate Charlie Condon is back at the heart of the order for Georgia, but there are 18 transfers and 10 incoming freshmen in the dugout along with the 17 returning letter winners.

Condon, the consensus National Freshman of the Year last season and a projected first-round Major League Baseball pick, made it clear there’s a new attitude in the dugout.

“Coach Johnson is a guy that’s really easy to play for,” said Condon, who won UGA’s triple crown last season by leading the team in batting (.386), home runs (25) and RBI (67).

“He has us riled up and ready to go and we’re going to push the throttle here on Friday.”

Johnson is Condon following up his fantastic freshman season with more amazing play.

“He’s special, as a coach, you hope to get one every 7 to 10 years like this,” Johnson said. “He’s a top first-round kind of guy.

“It’s the old saying, it’s awesome when your best player is also a great guy and people like him and gravitate to him. He raises everybody’s’ game.”

Charlie Goldstein, one of 11 UGA players who has already earned his degree, is scheduled to get the opening day start for the Bulldogs on the mound.

Goldstein, a left-hander, was 3-2 last season with a 5.03 ERA.

Condon is likely to anchor first base with an infield of transfers projected to start around him, from Purdue transfer Paul Toetz at second base, to Baylor transfer and 2023 Freshman All-American Koby Branch at shortstop and Mississippi State transfer Slate Alford at third base.

Catcher Fernando Gonzalez might be the only other familiar face in the lineup, as the projected starters in the outfield at Dillon Carter (Texas Tech), Dylan Goldstein (Florida Atlantic) and Clayton Chadwick (Sam Houston State).

It’s a Georgia team projected to finish sixth in the SEC East Division, per a poll of SEC Coaches.

That same panel of SEC coaches snubbed Condon from the preseason first team at first base, making him a second-team selection despite his status as a consensus preseason All-American.

It’s fair to say Johnson and his Bulldogs have a lot to prove this season.

The program has not won an SEC regular season title since its most recent trip to the World Series in 2008 and has not captured an SEC tourney title since 2004.