Daily Dawg Thread: February 13, 2026

Jump To Top of Page

BSB: Dawgs Take Season Opener

Georgia-WSU Series To Conclude Saturday With Doubleheader

Due to the high probability of inclement weather on Sunday, Georgia’s series with Wright State here will conclude with a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game will be at 1 p.m., and the final game of the series will be 45 minutes after Saturday’s first game is complete. The stands will be cleared between games of the doubleheader.

The season opener for the sixth-ranked Bulldogs against the Raiders remains on schedule for Friday at 3 p.m.

Fans with tickets for Saturday’s originally scheduled single game will be admitted only to game one of the doubleheader. Fans holding tickets for the originally scheduled Sunday contest will now be able to use that ticket for the final game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

All Georgia baseball games will be available on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network, featuring Jeff Dantzler and David Johnston, and the WSU series will be streamed on SECN+.

The 2026 Georgia baseball season opens here Friday at 3 p.m. as the sixth-ranked Bulldogs play host to Wright State in a three-game series at Foley Field.

Due to inclement weather, the series will now conclude on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The stands will be cleared between games on Saturday, with the final game of the series starting 45 minutes after the first game of the day. Fans with tickets for Saturday’s originally scheduled single game will be admitted only to game one of the doubleheader. Fans holding tickets for the originally scheduled Sunday contest will now be able to use that ticket for the final game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Reviewing The Bulldog Roster Construction

Georgia begins its third season under the leadership of Ike Cousins head baseball coach Wes Johnson. Recently, D1Baseball writer Mark Etheridge suggested Johnson could be considered baseball’s “Portal King.” In his first season at Georgia, the Bulldog roster featured 18 returnees, 10 freshmen and 17 additions from the portal. In 2025, Georgia’s roster consisted of 14 returnees, six freshmen, and 21 transfers. The teams finished with identical 43-17 records, advanced to the NCAA postseason as national top-eight seeds, and hosted a regional. The 2024 squad advanced to a Super Regional but lost to N.C. State in three games.

This season, Georgia’s roster comprises 15 returnees, five freshmen, one junior-college player, and 20 portal transfers. The Bulldogs are preseason ranked as high as No. 6 (Baseball America). This class features an array of experienced starting pitchers and more hitters who can move the baseball. We’ll see if the power matches Georgia’s past two squads, while this one could feature more speed.

Last season, the Bulldogs had a school-record eight players with double-digit home runs, finishing with 144, the second most in school history. In 2024, when Georgia set a school mark with 151 home runs, the Bulldogs had six players with 10+ home runs, including an NCAA-best 37 by Golden Spikes Award winner Charlie Condon.

Baseball is the oldest varsity sport on campus, dating to 1886. Georgia enters the 2026 season with an all-time record of 2,502-1,889-24. Johnson is 2-0 in season openers. The Bulldogs are 2-2 all-time against Wright State, falling 8-5 here in 2009 and winning a 2-1 series in 2016 at Foley Field.

Bulldog Hitters To Watch

Junior third baseman Tre Phelps (.318-10-44) opens the 2026 season on a career-best 14-game hitting streak while senior Gold Glove-candidate Kolby Branch (.303-13-41) returns for his third year as the mainstay at shortstop. In 2025, he posted a .981 fielding percentage with just four errors and earned Academic All-District and Academic All-SEC honors. Junior C/OF Daniel Jackson (.240-14-36) is back after a strong summer where he earned All-Cape Cod League honors.

Newcomers to watch include 2nd team preseason All-America OF/LHP Kenny Ishikawa (.312-8-32; 5-7, 4.35 ERA at Seattle last year), 2nd team preseason All-America 1B/RHP Bryce Calloway (.390-18-63, 2-2, 4.26 ERA, 11 SV) at New Orleans, 3rd team All-America 1B/OF Jordy Oriach (.388-16-63 at New Mexico), C/OF Jack Arcamone (.355-13-62 at Richmond), INF Rylan Lujo (.361-9-56, 17 SB at Dayton), Cole Koniarsky (.363-7-47 at UNLV) and INF/OF Michael O’Shaughnessy (.369-17-70 at Davidson). Also, Georgia has a pair of freshmen outfielders in Cole Johnson and Ty Peeples, and both were selected in the top 20 rounds of the 2025 MLB Draft.

Georgia Pitching Plans For Opening Weekend

Georgia’s rotation will feature 6-4, 225-pound junior RHP Joey Volchko (3-4, 6.01 ERA at Stanford) on Opening Day. The 5-11, 193-pound sophomore LHP Kenny Ishikawa (5-7, 4.35 ERA at Seattle) will start the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, followed by 6-3, 230-pound junior Dylan Vigue (1-4, 4.25 ERA at Michigan) in the final game of the series. With heavy rain forecast for Sunday, the teams opted to schedule a Saturday doubleheader to complete the series. After having snow on two of the past three weekends, Georgia will likely employ the aforementioned trio, along with an array of pitchers, as the staff gradually increases its workload early in the season.

Volchko earned 2nd Team preseason All-America honors from Baseball America, and their teams are voted on by MLB scouting departments. Ishikawa was a 2nd Team preseason All-America selection as a utility player by the staff of D1Baseball. He looks to become the first Bulldog to serve as a starting pitcher and hit for himself regularly since eventual Major Leaguer Jared Walsh in 2015. That year, Walsh went 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA and hit .306-3-22. His final Bulldog start as a P/DH in 2015 came in a combined 6-0 one-hitter over Ga. Tech in front of 18,792 at Turner Field. Walsh fired the first five innings and allowed one hit, one walk and struck out six, plus went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. In 2019, Georgia featured Aaron Schunk, who was a starting third baseman/closer and won the John Olerud Award as the nation’s top two-way talent. That year, Schunk batted .339-15-58 and was 1-2 with a 2.49 ERA and 12 saves. Vigue made 31 appearances, including 19 starts, during his UM career. Pitchers have flourished under the tutelage of Coach Johnson, including nine getting drafted in 2025.

About Wright State

The Raiders, led by head coach Alex Sogard since 2021, have won seven straight regular season Horizon League titles and made four trips to an NCAA Regional in the last five years. In 2025, No. 4 seed Wright State eliminated No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt in the NCAA Nashville Regional. Vanderbilt became the first No. 1 overall seed to fail to reach their regional final since the tournament switched to its current format in 1999. Louisville went on to win the regional as WSU finished 40-21. The Raiders returners include first team All-Conference J.P. Peltier who hit .303 with 20 home runs and 24 stolen bases plus Horizon League Freshman of the Year Hunter Warren, who hit .328 with an .831 OPS. Also, all-league first team selection junior RHP Cam Allen (7-3, 4.95 ERA), and he will start the opener for WSU.

Foley Field In 2026

Foley Field Gates Open 1 hour before first pitch
Tickets – Limited Available; Also Available on SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.com/georgia-bulldogs-baseball-tickets
UGA STUDENTS: Free Admission, and please enter at the 3^rd Base Gate
Promotions Saturday: Game One of DH-Anthem Buddies; Saturday Postgame of Game 2 of DH: Kids Run The Bases

Radio/TV (SECN+)

Friday @ 3 p.m. ET

Radio/TV: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston)

https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4962

SECN+: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/76d7a6da-17aa-4181-82e5-65c635e39a80

Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=650765

Saturday Game One of Doubleheader @ 1 p.m. ET

Radio/TV: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston)

https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4963&type=Live

SECN+:https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/1f076ba5-5626-47d5-a596-06bfff9f44aa

Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=650763

Saturday Game Two of Doubleheader @ approximately 4:45 p.m. ET