Georgia secures series over Ole Miss, moves to .500 in SEC

Georgia Baseball secured a second straight SEC series over the weekend, winning two of three against Ole Miss. For the Bulldogs, it was their only action on the week – and a series that wrapped up early with a doubleheader on Saturday due to expected Sunday weather – ahead of a couple of tough tests ahead with Clemson coming to town and a road trip to Texas A&M. Both teams are in the top-10 including A&M at No. 1.

UGA sits at .500 in SEC play, six series in, with a 9-9 record against conference competition and a 29-10 mark overall.

Friday

The Bulldog bats got it done for the Dawgs on Friday, putting up at least one run in all but two times at the plate. While Ole Miss struck first with a 3-spot in the opening inning, Georgia scored one each in the first and second before striking for eight in the third to take a 10-3 lead. Kolby Branch sent a ball out of the park scoring Slate Alford before Alford would do the same later in the inning, his a 3-run shot. Fernando Gonzalez and Corey Collins each recorded RBI-singles in the middle of all the action, helping Georgia jump out in front.

Gonzalez, Collins and Alford weren’t done, and it was Alford who had the biggest impact on the night. Hitting a second home run in the eighth inning, he sent fans home early as Georgia run-ruled the Rebels on his walk-off grand slam. Every Georgia starter recorded at least one hit and scored at least one run while the Bulldogs set a school-record with nine grand slams in a single season. Alford has three of them, also tying a school-record. All in all, he would finish the night 3-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBI.

“I can’t say enough about Slate and his work ethic and what he does every day. This guy cares, obviously they all care, but he’s taking countless swings,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said about the star of the night. “Slate and Coach Coggin were even in that cage again this morning early, and then before we took batting practice. He’s been working extremely hard this week. I thought he had a good weekend last weekend if you go back and look. He’s been putting in a lot of time and a lot of effort. As I’ve said a lot before, when guys are putting in that kind of time, work, and focus, and they go out and have success, it doesn’t surprise me.” 

Saturday

Georgia rode that momentum into Game 2 of the series, but this time, it was a different star. Charlie Condon extended his lead on the nation-high number of home runs, hitting his 25th and 26th on the season in the 7-2 win. Condon wasn’t alone either as Dylan Goldstein and Kolby Branch sent ones deep too, all three homering in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie. Condon hit a pair of two-run home runs in his 4-for-5 showing while all seventh of Georgia’s runs crossed home on long balls.

Meanwhile, on the mound, Georgia’s pitching performance was solid. Allowed just four hits, the trio of Christian Mracna, Josh Roberge and Kolten Smith combined to strike out 12 and secure the series for the Bulldogs.

Game 3 saw the return of Matthew Hoskins to the mound after elbow surgery shut down his freshman season April 7, 2023. Hoskins faced four batters and struck out one in an inning of work, giving way to Charlie Goldstein for a pair of innings. Goldstein was also making a return from injury that’s sidelined him the last month and struck out four of the six he faced.

Georgia wasn’t able to get much going offensively in the second half of the twin-bill and fell 3-2.

“Series wins in this league are hard to come by, even at home. I thought we played well all day,” Johnson said. “You’re not going to put up 16 or 17 runs every game. You’ve got to tip your hat to Ole Miss. They made some adjustments and did some things that got us out of rhythm. We did a good job of not chasing. All in all, I look back on this series and thought that we were trending in the right direction.”

What’s Next

Georgia, ranked by D1Baseball for the first time this season last week coming in at No. 24, wraps up an eight-game home stand with No. 6 Clemson coming across the state line from South Carolina on Tuesday. First pitch of the nationally televised midweek matchup is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Then, it’s a road trip to the Lone Star State for the Bulldogs to take on the top-ranked team in the country. Georgia and Texas A&M will meet Friday (7:00 p.m. ET), Saturday (3:00 p.m. ET) and Sunday (2:00 p.m. ET), all three games airing on SEC Network+.