Georgia baseball armed and focused for NCAA Tournament

Georgia fans, however, will stay present throughout, and Johnson will be counting on that home-field advantage to keep his team locked in on themselves — and not the competition.

Johnson noted earlier this season that, sometimes, the “illusion of competition” and the pressure that brings can affect a team’s performance.

“I think that’s the beauty of being at home; it’s a little bit easier to eliminate that illusion,” Johnson said. “We did a scrimmage thing (Sunday), and we did really well at it, and it was over, and I asked them, ‘Why were we so good?’

“We didn’t have the illusion that there was the other team, and we just played the game,” he said. “I think we need to continue to do that and drive those points home, and go from there.”

The winner of the Athens regional will advance to a super regional and face the winner of the Oxford, Mississippi, regional hosted by national No. 10 seed Ole Miss (40-19).

The Bulldogs’ postseason run will be keyed to its pitching as much as anything, and Johnson said he likes where Georgia is.

“I’ll tell you what, I think we’re in a really unique position, I think we’ve borderline got two aces,” Johnson said. “Leighton Finley has been throwing the ball exceptionally well, (and) Brian Curley has been throwing the ball well.”

Finley is 2-2 with a 5.08 ERA in 62 innings this season, while Curley is 4-3 with a 3.21 ERA in 61⅔ innings pitched.

Finley has gone five or more innings in six of his past seven starts and is coming off a start against Texas A&M that saw him allow just three hits and two runs in six innings of work.

Curley has gone five innings or more in the past nine games, not allowing more than five hits in any of them.