Georgia Baseball rebounds, takes series from top-10 Crimson Tide

After a disappointing week that included getting swept at Kentucky, Georgia Baseball bounced back in the right direction the last few days. The Bulldogs won decisively in the midweek over Wofford before taking the weekend series over Alabama, entering Athens ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation.

Georgia, now 21-4 on the season and 3-3 in the SEC, will look to build on the momentum as the Bulldogs head to Knoxville to take on Tennessee next weekend. Here’s how it all went down this week though…

Tuesday – Wofford (18-6 W)

The Bulldogs got back on track Tuesday with a run-rule victory over Wofford in the midweek outing. Jumping on the Terriers early with a leadoff home run from Corey Collins, Georgia would lead 6-0 after two when Collins hit his second of the day, a three-run shot, and was followed up with another one immediately after, this time from Charlie Condon.

Dylan Goldstein went deep in the third before Collins sent another one out of the park. His three home run day tied a school record as part of an 8-RBI performance from the senior. Meanwhile, Clayton Chadwick hit two including one to walk things off in the eighth, putting Georgia up 18-6.

Zach DeVito, Zach Harris, DJ Radtke, Tyler McLoughlin, Max DeJong and Jarvis Evans pitched in on the mound with no earned runs and a combined three hits from the first three as they covered the first four innings. DeVito, Harris and Radtke struck out seven in total with just two walks before giving way to McLoughlin, DeJong and Evans down the stretch.

Weekend – No. 8 Alabama (Georgia takes three from the Tide)

Saturday: A rainy Friday night brought on a Saturday doubleheader on what was a beautiful day in Athens. The Bulldog bats stayed hot with a combined seven home runs across the two games including three from Charlie Condon in front of a sold-out Foley Field crowd.

Kolby Branch walked off the first game with a grand slam that gave Georgia the 9-5 advantage after entering the ninth tied and making a play in the field to gun down Alabama base runner trying to score before the bottom half heroics. Then, in game two, it was Condon’s nation-leading 17th that put the Bulldogs ahead in the seventh.

Georgia bounced back from early deficits in both games. Game One saw Alabama take a 1-0 lead before the Bulldogs poured four on in the first inning, three coming on a home run from Dylan Goldstein. The Crimson Tide would tie and take the lead in the fourth at 5-4 before Condon knotted it back up at 5 all in the bottom half of the inning. It would remain that way until the ninth when Branch broke the tie and sent the Dawgs home with the win.

On the mound, it was 5.0 innings from Charlie Goldstein and 4.0 from Brian Zeldin that was all the Bulldogs needed. Both walked just one while Zeldin managed to keep the scorebook clean with no runs.

In Game Two, the early deficit was larger. Leighton Finley gave up solo home runs in the first, second and third innings before settling in for 5.1 innings. Luckily for Georgia, Condon and Slate Alford went deep in the third to tie things at 3 in the third.

Another Alabama home run made it 4-3 in the seventh, but once again, Condon sent one over the wall to give Georgia a lead. An insurance run in the eighth helped secure the win and make Alabama’s one run in the ninth meaningless. Kolten Smith provided 3.2 innings of work in relief, striking out five including the final batter to send the Bulldogs home victorious.

“Sometimes when you get into these situations, and you need to play 18 innings, it’s hard. You have to be able to stay focused. You got to be able to stay with your plan. You can’t give away at bats, and it all started on the mound today,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said. “When you have Superman (Condon) on your team, you always feel good. Charlie had a phenomenal day, but Corey (Collins) and Slate (Alford) did a phenomenal job forcing the pitching staff to pitch to Charlie. We still have things to work on. We need to execute more pitches, but today was a great step for our four guys that threw today.”

Sunday: For the first time all weekend, it was Georgia that scored first. The Bulldogs used another leadoff home run from Corey Collins to take a 1-0 lead and built on that in both the second and third innings as well with home runs. Those two came from Paul Toetz and Dylan Goldstein.

Henry Hunter added another in the fourth with an RBI-double before Colins brought him home to make it 6-1. The Dawgs weren’t done. Scoring three more in the sixth, potential for the run-rule to come into play was on the table. However, a three-run home run from Alabama cut into the UGA lead.

With the game ongoing, Collins got another chance to go to the plate and sent another one out of the park. It was the sixth of the week for Collins and tenth in his last nine appearances after recording just one hit in the his first eight games.

Alabama would bring one across the plate in the top of the ninth, but that wasn’t enough as Georgia’s pitching closed out the game and another Bulldog victory. Christian Mracna picked up the win with 4.2 innings of work while Brian Zeldin entered for the final out with the bases loaded, earning his fourth save of the season.

What’s Next

Georgia wraps up a five-game home-stand against Mercer on Tuesday before heading to Knoxville to take on Tennessee. The Volunteers currently come in as high as No. 7 in the country (USA Today Coaches Poll). First pitch against Mercer is set for 5:00 p.m. ET (SECN+) while action from Rocky Top comes your way starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET (SECN+). Both Saturday (5:00 p.m. ET) and Sunday (2:00 p.m. ET) games can be seen on SEC Network.