Georgia offense explodes in blowout win over in-state opponent
Georgia Baseball went on the road for the first time this season, and the Bulldogs secured their first win away from home as 15-0 victors over Georgia State.
“Our guys came out, and we talk a lot about consistency, not giving at bats away, not giving pitches away on the mound, consistently attacking and staying focused and bringing a consistent energy with that, no matter where we’re playing or who we’re playing. I think what you saw today was that,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said. “Charlie (Condon), we all knew it was coming. He hit a ball 118 this weekend, and how ’bout that second homer he hit. I don’t know if it’s landed yet. It may beat us back to Athens. Big hit for Logan (Jordan). He’s been working really hard. He and Coach Coggin have been putting in a lot of work on his approach. One of the things just told our guys after the game, no matter what the score was, even when it got sideways there, we didn’t give at bats away today. That’s the sign of guys starting to mature at the plate and understand their approach.”
“We’ve got a great group of guys here, a lot of talent and friendship, guys are close. It’s awesome to see guys come from all over the place and come together. It’s awesome,” Logan Jordan added after his team-high 4 RBI day. “Honestly, I feel like we could go far with what we have here. Feels great. Bats are hot, pitching staff is doing wonderful and hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”
It’s just the second time in program history that a UGA team has scored 10+ runs in each of its first four games, the previous time in 2004 with a squad that ended its season in Omaha at the College World Series. The Bulldogs have also held their opponents to three or fewer hits in three of the four games so far with the pitching staff owning an ERA of 1.90 with a strikeout to walk ratio of 46 to 14.
Georgia, now 4-0 on the young season, hosts Northern Kentucky (2-2) this weekend. The Norse fell 10-2 to Cincinnati on Tuesday. First pitch of the opener is set for 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday before Saturday and Sunday games come your way at 2:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. respectively. All three games can be streamed on SEC Network+.
How It Happened…
It was an active top half of the first for Georgia as Charlie Condon got the Bulldogs on the board with his first home run of the season. Dylan Goldstein followed that up with a double before he scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
The momentum continued into the second inning as Georgia loaded the bases with no outs on the board. Condon drew a walk to score one, but it was Logan Jordan that got the big hit. He cleared the bases and scored Dillon Carter, Slate Alford and Condon on a one-out double. That put UGA ahead 6-0. Another double, this time from Kolby Branch, added another to the Bulldog tally.
Georgia State threatened in the bottom of the second by loading the bases with three walks, but starting pitcher Jarvis Evans was able to escape still scoreless. It took until the third inning for Evans to allow his first hit, thanks in part to a spectacular play by Branch at short and a robbed home by John Marant in right field. Evans would exit with three strikeouts, one in each of his 3.0 innings of work, and just the one hit. He did however walk four.
Condon hit a second home run with a long shot to left field in the fourth, followed by a Goldstein triple – the first of his Georgia career after transferring from Florida Atlantic. He too would score, thanks to another RBI from Jordan, making it 9-0.
Tyler McLoughlin, a transfer from Emory, made his Georgia debut and looked strong as he struck out three in 2.0 hitless innings. Georgia’s tenth run crossed home in the seventh while Zach Harris (Georgia Southern) and Daniel Padysak (Charleston Southern) went an inning a piece in their respective debuts.
After Condon scored his fourth run of the day, Paul Toetz went deep with a three-run home run. That made it 14-0, extended to 15-0 on a single by Alford to score Clayton Chadwick later in the eighth. DJ Radtke and Luke Wiltrakis helped close things out on the mound.
More Georgia Baseball News…
Georgia infielder Slate Alford was named co-SEC Player of the Week after an impressive opening weekend. He reached base on eight of 16 plate appearances with six hits and a team-high nine RBI. Alford scored five times including a trio on home runs. He went deep twice in the opener before walking off Saturday’s second game of the series to run rule UNC-Asheville.
“We all know what Charlie (Condon) can do, who doesn’t, but Slate, you look at him today and the thing I told him after the game, it wasn’t the three hits, it was the fact that the took his walk. ‘You didn’t chase out of the strike zone, you stayed inside your approach with everything we’ve been working on.’ It showed up today, and it gave him a chance to have a three-hit day,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said after Sunday’s sweep-securing win over Asheville. “When you do that, they have to pitch the Charlie, they have to pitch to (Dylan) Goldstein. I really like those three guys right there, and I think they’re going to do a lot of damage.”
“It’s going to be a fire powered offense. There’s not a weak link in this lineup … It’s going to be scary. That’s what’s so good about this whole group. You can’t pitch around anybody,” Charlie Condon added about Alford. “There are guys getting their jobs done and protecting each other. That’s what this is all about, sharing the love, everybody going up there and getting their job done. Slate’s going to go up there and do his thing all year. I’m really excited to hit behind that guy.”
