Best baseball program in state is clear to see

Last week on “The Midday Sports Zone” on Middle Georgia’s ESPN, we had a long discussion about the state of the athletics programs at Georgia and Georgia Tech.

Russ Brown and I agreed that the baseball and football programs at Georgia Tech are currently in a better spot than Georgia. Not in their history. Not with their tradition. Maybe not moving forward. But right now.

The football part of that might surprise some folks, but the Yellow Jackets have won two of the past three meetings with the Bulldogs, and both of those wins came in Athens. Georgia Tech also finished with a better record than Georgia in two of the past three seasons and won the Orange Bowl in 2014, while it has been some time since Georgia has won a bowl game like that.

Basketball, we decided, is probably more of a coin flip.

That — and the fact that we’re in the middle of the college baseball season — got me thinking about the Division I baseball programs in the state, and it quickly became clear that the best college program in the state is right here in Macon. Georgia Tech and Georgia certainly have had more success traditionally with their programs, but if you’re paying attention, it’s easy to see that they’re currently behind Mercer.

It’s also easy to see just how good a job Mercer head coach Craig Gibson is doing with the Bears. Mercer has won the Southern Conference regular-season title the past two seasons, and the Bears won the conference tournament championship two years ago. Mercer was close to back-to-back NCAA Tournament trips last year when it lost in the conference tournament championship round, and its season featured Golden Spikes Award winner Kyle Lewis and a talented group around him.

But even without Lewis, the Bears continue to roll right along this season. Mercer is 19-4 after an 11-5 win over Florida A&M on Wednesday, coming on the heels of an impressive sweep at East Carolina last weekend. The Bears open Southern Conference play with East Tennessee State this weekend, and the rest of their weekends this season will be spent playing conference games.

Georgia Tech has been solid this season, while Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Kennesaw State have been OK, and Georgia has struggled. Those seasons have played out in the teams’ RPI: Mercer was ranked 47th entering Tuesday’s play, while Georgia Tech (95th) was the only other team in the state in the top 100.

It takes awhile to scroll down through the list to find Georgia State (152), Georgia Southern (165), Kennesaw State (166) and Georgia (182), and those are telling numbers.

Gibson’s program is on a roll, especially in its first season in OrthoGeorgia Park, and it doesn’t look like it will slow down any time soon. Wednesday’s win was Gibson’s 450th in his 14th season as the Bears’ head coach. Gibson and his terrific coaching staff continue to recruit talented players out of high school and develop them into really good college players.

Lewis certainly was the focal point last year, but he wasn’t the only good player on last year’s roster, and this season’s success without him is proof of that. This is a deep and talented team from the top of the lineup to the bottom and throughout the pitching staff, and the Bears keep winning games at a high level.

In doing so, Mercer continues to show it’s the best program in the state.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Best baseball program in state is clear to see."