Georgia baseball sweeps South Carolina, sets sights on top-eight seed
Things have changed quite a bit for Georgia in the past two weeks. With a 6-4 win over Texas A&M two weeks ago, the Bulldogs put themselves in prime position to make the NCAA tournament. That started what is now and eight-game win streak and Wes Johnson’s team has gone from tournament bubble, to a shot at regional host to now having a chance to be a top-eight seed where it could host a regional and super regional.
Georgia finished up a three-game sweep of South Carolina, in Columbia, on Saturday with a 14-6 win. That moves the Bulldogs’ RPI up to No. 2 in the nation with three regular-season games left. UGA hosts Florida in a three-game set starting on Thursday. If it can win at least two of those, it’s odds of earning a top-eight seed on selection Sunday will be quite high.
The sweep over South Carolina is Georgia’s second in a row after doing the same to Vanderbilt last weekend. The two series have something else in common. Georgia scored 10 or more runs in each of the wins and it has scored nine or more runs in seven straight games.
The Bulldogs got two home runs and five RBI from true freshman designated hitter Tre Phelps on Thursday night as it won 14-10. Charlie Condon belted his record-breaking 34th home run of the season as well.
Phelps was far from done. He left the yard in each of the final two games of the series as well and drove in nine runs in the three-game set. Junior second baseman Slate Alford, who struck out four times on Thursday night, also had dingers in games two and three of the South Carolina series, driving in five runs total. Senior first basemane Corey Collins also homered twice in the series. Senior catcher Fernando Gonzalez left the yard in game one and the Bulldogs got a massive pinch-hit grand slam from Logan Jordan in game three.
The Bulldogs took game two of the series comfortably with an 11-5 score. The Gamecocks came into the series with an impressive 22-7 home record this season but Georgia used 10 home runs to cut into that win percentage. It was the Bulldogs third SEC sweep of the season but their first on the road. Georgia took all three from Alabama and Vanderbilt at home.
The Gators come into Athens on Thursday fighting for their postseason lives. Florida is 26-24 on the year and 11-15 in the SEC. Georgia’s record in Johnson’s first season with the program now sits at 38-12 overall and 16-11 in the SEC.
