Chase Hawkins and the rest of the Diamond Dog freshmen are virgins.

But when Hawkins throws the first pitch of his start against Georgia Tech today, they’ll officially begin their first career game against Georgia’s in-state rivals.

“It’s an honor,” said Hawkins, a Snellville native. “I don’t know how often freshmen get to do that, but to me, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. This is my first time doing something like this. The Clemson game [earlier this year] was my first biggest career start, but now this is my first.”

“Georgia Tech versus Georgia, at home – you can’t beat that crap if you’re a pitcher.”

Georgia’s last scheduled matchup with Tech (which would have been a matchup between the top-ranked Diamond Dogs and a third-ranked Tech squad) at the end of April turned into a rainout.

Hawkins is 3-1 in four starts this season, sporting a 2.88 ERA. He’s part of a freshman class that has excelled for the Diamond Dogs this year, and will get their first crack at their in-state rival tonight.

“All I’ve heard is it’s tough, it’s really intense,” said freshman Levi Hyams, who’s from Virginia but said his dad grew up a Georgia fan. It’s just locking horns the whole time they said. It’s kind of like every other SEC game, but you’ve got to multiply it by about two or three.”

Georgia’s last scheduled matchup with Tech (which would have been a matchup between the top-ranked Diamond Dogs and a third-ranked Tech squad) at the end of April turned into a rainout.

“We were ready,” Hyams said. “We were ready to play, we were all focused. When they said it was rained out, we were like OK, when we get another chance at them we’ll definitely be ready. We’re not going to let our heads hang just because it got rained out this time.”

This time around, Georgia (29-6) is ranked No. 1 in the USA Today poll and No. 2 by Collegiate Baseball. The Yellow Jackets (21-8-1) are ranked 11th and 10th in those polls, respectively.

“I’m not too much of a trash talker, but I’m excited about tomorrow,” said freshman third baseman Colby May.

“It’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be big.”

Tech is in the middle of the ACC pack in terms of batting average, but leads the conference with 53 home runs.

That’s taking a page out of Georgia’s own book, as the Diamond Dogs have homered 64 times (third in the SEC), and in 33 of 35 games, this season.

“I haven’t heard much about them,” Hawkins said, “but from what I have heard, they swing it pretty good. So it’s definitely going to be a fight top to bottom.”

Georgia’s freshmen have seen their fair share of SEC competition already this season, but perhaps May put it best.

“SEC is big,” he said, “but Tech’s our rival.”