Athens regional breakdown

It wasn’t an abysmal start to the season for Duke’s baseball team — but things could have gone better.

The Blue Devils were 12-9 overall and 2-4 in the ACC after the first two weekends of league play. Those were winning two of three against California and being swept as the first team to travel to Sunken Diamond and play at Stanford in an ACC series.

Duke turned around its season with some key series wins on the road, so maybe it’s a good thing the Blue Devils will have to win on the road to advance in the NCAA tournament.

“No doubt,” coach Chris Pollard said on the subject Monday afternoon, after the bracket was revealed. “To play some of the places that we had to play over the course this year. … Just a couple of weekends ago we were in a tremendous, regional-type feel atmosphere in Clemson, South Carolina.

“We’ve been in some great environments, it won’t be too big of a stage for our guys, I can assure you that.”

That stage will be Athens, Ga., where Duke is the No. 2 seed in a regional hosted by Georgia. Duke plays Oklahoma State on Friday night, after the Bulldogs play Binghamton in the opening game.

Here are quick breakdowns of the other teams in the Athens regional:

Record: 42-15 (18-12 in SEC)

Coach: Wes Johnson (second season at Georgia)

Offensive number to know: 133 — home runs this season, the most in the country.

Defensive number to know: 11.1 — strikeouts per nine innings, seventh-best in the country.

Key batters to know: Outfielder Devin Obee (.222/.387/.465; 10 HRs, 33 RBI; 10 of 12 in stolen base attempts), outfielder Robbie Burnett (.318/.492/.732; 20 HRs, 66 RBI; 17 of 21 in stolen base attempts; 41 walks, 21 HBPs, 48 strikeouts), DH Ryland Zaborowski (.375/.497/.801; 16 HRs, 60 RBI; 26 extra-base hits and 25 singles), third baseman Slate Alford (.325/.432/.628; 17 HRs, 60 RBI; 67 runs).

Key pitchers to know: Right-handed starter Brian Curley (4-3, 3.21 ERA, .158 b/avg, 78 strikeouts, 26 walks in 61 2/3 innings), right-handed starter Leighton Finley (2-2, 5.08 ERA, 76 strikeouts, 25 walks, 12 HRs allowed in 62 innings), right-handed reliever JT Quinn (1-1, 2.25 ERA, .174 b/avg, 43 strikeouts, 15 walks in 32 innings), right-handed reliever Matthew Hoskins (1-2, 2 saves, 4.94 ERA, 39 strikeouts, 22 walks in 27 1/3 innings).

History against Duke: Georgia leads 4-3; Duke won the last two meetings, which were in 2018 in a regional hosted by Georgia. Those wins meant Duke’s first super regional berth in program history.

Common opponents this season: UNC Wilmington (Georgia split two games; Duke won its only matchup); Queens (both Georgia and Duke won a run-rule game); Georgia Tech (Georgia won 5-2 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Duke lost two of three to the Yellow Jackets); Clemson (Georgia lost 3-0 at Clemson, Duke won two of three games at Clemson earlier this month).

This season against ACC: 1-1 with the games mentioned above, beating Georgia Tech and losing at Clemson.

Nuggets: There are some health/availability situations to at least be aware of — Burnett has not played since May 15 because of a reported strain, and Zaborowski has only played in two games since April 26 because of an elbow injury. … Johnson sounded optimistic both will be in Georgia’s lineup this weekend. … Georgia is 29-4 at home, Foley Field, this season. Each of the four losses came in an SEC series in which the Bulldogs won two of three games, against Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Record: 28-23 (15-12 in Big 12)

Coach: Josh Holliday (13th season at Oklahoma State)

Offensive number to know: .254 — team batting average, 273rd in the country (of 300 Division I teams).

Defensive number to know: 2.64 — strikeout-to-walk ratio, 22nd in the country.

Key batters to know: Outfielder Nolan Schubart (.285/.420/.602; 17 HRs, 54 RBI; 44 walks), first baseman Colin Brueggemann (.301/.377/.582; 14 HRs, 52 RBI; 70 strikeouts and 22 walks), second baseman Brayden Smith (.312/.396/.568; 11 HRs, 38 RBI; 8-for-9 stolen-base attempts).

Key pitchers to know: Right-handed starter Sean Youngerman (3-1, 4 saves, 2.08 ERA, .193 b/avg, 59 strikeouts and 8 walks in 52 innings), left-handed starter Harrison Bodendorf (10-1, 2.77 ERA, .198 b/avg, 100 strikeouts and 27 walks in 87 2/3 innings), right-handed reliever Matthew Brown (0-0, 1 save, 3.13 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 23 innings), right-handed starter Mario Pesca (7-2, 3.43 ERA, 56 strikeouts and 16 walks in 63 innings).

History against Duke: Oklahoma State leads 1-0, winning the only matchup 2-1 in Durham in 2003.

Common opponents this season: Cincinnati (both Duke and Oklahoma State lost two of three to the Bearcats); Clemson (Oklahoma State lost the season opener to Clemson, Duke won two of three at Clemson).

This season against ACC: 1-1, opening the season with a 6-5 loss to Clemson and a 12-3 victory against Louisville in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas.

Nuggets: This is Oklahoma State’s 50th appearance in an NCAA tournament regional, tied for the third-most all time with Miami. Only Texas (64) and Florida State (61) have more. … Oklahoma State has made 12 straight regionals, tied for the fourth-longest active streak behind Vanderbilt, LSU and Florida. … That streak was in jeopardy, as the Cowboys were one of the last four teams to make the field. … Bodendorf transferred in after spending the last two seasons at Hawaii. He was named co-Big 12 newcomer of the year. … Youngerman was named All-Big 12 as both a starter and reliever. Most of his starts came in the second half of the season; he has a season-high of 133 pitches in an appearance (an eight-inning start against Kansas State allowing three hits and no runs, with 11 strikeouts and no walks).

Record: 29-24 (13-11 in America East Conference)

Coach: Tim Sinicki (33rd season at Binghamton)

Offensive number to know: 6.8 — strikeouts per game (more below).

Defensive number to know: 10.42 — hits allowed per nine innings, 201st in the country.

Key batters to know: First baseman Freddy Forgione (.358/.463/.642; 14 HRs, 46 RBI; 32 walks and 30 strikeouts), catcher Zach Rogacki (.360/.437/.609; 8 HRs, 42 RBI; 27 walks and 22 strikeouts), outfielder Matt Bolton (.356/.457/.514; 7 HRs, 32 RBI; 11-for-14 on stolen-base attempts), third baseman Devan Blade (.348/.430/.576; 11 HRs, 59 RBI).

Key pitchers to know: Right-handed reliever Brady Lesiak (2-1, 4.24 ERA, 13 strikeouts and 10 walks in 23 1/3 innings), right-handed starter Ryan Packard (3-5, 7.52 ERA, 38 strikeouts and 31 walks in 61 innings), right-handed starter Hayden Tarsia (4-3, 4.97 ERA, 56 strikeouts and 18 walks in 67 innings).

History against Duke: Duke leads 2-1. All three meetings came at the start of the 2014 season, the second with Pollard coaching the Blue Devils. Duke swept a doubleheader to start the season, with Binghamton winning 7-6 in the series finale.

Common opponents this season: Cornell (Binghamton won both games 8-5, though one was only six innings, while Duke won two of three against the Big Red in an early season series).

This season against ACC: N/A.

Nuggets: Sinicki is the longest-tenured coach in Binghamton history and is the third-longest tenured coach at any Division I baseball program. … Binghamton was the No. 3 seed in its conference tournament and trailed 6-2 in the first game before a 12-run seventh inning. The Bearcats won the first three games of the tournament by a combined 50-24, lost 7-3 to top-seeded Bryant, and then beat Bryant 6-5 in the 11th inning to win the league title. … By comparison on Binghamton’s strikeout number: Duke batters strike out 8.2 times per game, Georgia strikes out 9.4 times and Oklahoma State strikes out 10.5 times.