ATHENS, Ga. — Wes Johnson has his Georgia Bulldogs playing their best baseball of the season with the days dwindling, and it resulted in an undefeated four-game week versus Kennesaw State and Vanderbilt. The Commodores came into the weekend ranked as high as No. 13 in the nation while the Owls are tied for the lead in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Dating back to the win over Texas A&M in the series finale last weekend, UGA has won five in a row and 11 of its last 15.
Kennesaw State
The week got off to a strong start with a 9-3 road win over Kennesaw State on Tuesday. Charlie Condon put the Bulldogs on the board with a two-run home run in the opening inning before a fourth inning that saw a pair of long balls from Kolby Branch and Fernando Gonzalez. With an RBI-single from Clayton Chadwick mixed in, Georgia led 7-0.
Kennesaw State would plate one, but the Bulldogs weren’t done. They added one each in the seventh and eighth innings on their way to the victory. Meanwhile, on the mound, UGA kept KSU hitless into the eighth as Zach Harris, Matthew Hoskins, Chandler Marsh, Brandt Pancer and Zach DeVito kept things clean. With the win over the Owls, UGA wrapped up regular season play against non-conference opponents 22-1. The lone loss came in March against Michigan State, falling 19-6 despite a three-home run game from Condon.
Georgia’s win also secured the Bulldogs an undefeated record against in-state competition. UGA twice took down the trio of Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and Georgia State while beating Georgia Southern in the only meeting. Johnson’s squad led a third game against Tech 9-3 when rain halted the Friday night matchup. It was later announced no makeup date was found for the rivalry game, and just shy of the requirement for an official contest, no result was recorded.
Vanderbilt
Turning to the important SEC series versus Vanderbilt, Georgia won the first two by run rule. UGA kept the Commodores scoreless on Friday night while scoring in each of the six innings it came to the plate. Charlie Condon homered in the first inning, one of three hit by the Bulldogs on the night – others by Paul Toetz and Slate Alford. Fernando Gonzalez recorded a pair of RBI with a fielder’s choice and a double while Tre Phelps added one of his own in the 10-0 win.
Georgia’s offense was impressive, but the pitching performance of Leighton Finley stole the show. The right-hander threw 6.0 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, both career highs. Brian Zeldin closed things out with a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 inning and sealed the deal on UGA’s first SEC shutout of the season, its third in total on the year. A key play in right field by Dylan Goldstein also kept a pair of runs off the board and earned a mention from his head coach postgame.
“We had a really good practice yesterday, the energy was high, and I told our staff that we needed that to carry over today. Vanderbilt is a really good club, they have two national championships under their belt. Tonight was really good,” Wes Johnson said. “Leighton (Finley) got us off to a good start. He dealt with a little adversity in the first. After that, it was lights out. Charlie (Condon) starting if off there in the first, and you can’t forget the play that Dylan Goldstein made in the top of the first. Paul Toetz had a really good night, and that ball Slate (Alford) hit there late was big too. We struck out only three times and put pressure on there guys on the mound.”
“My confidence level is definitely going up, I’m starting to get more in tune with my body and really get the pitches going including being able to get ahead in the count and execute,” Finley added after the game. “I was able to execute my slider tonight. I’ve been struggling with that, but it went really well tonight.”
On Saturday, it was a 14-4 drubbing with four home runs. Charlie Goldstein, Josh Roberge, Christian Mracna and Kolten Smith combined to strike out 10 while Corey Collins, Charlie Condon, Kolby Branch and Tre Phelps recorded the home runs.
Georgia took an early 4-0 lead, but a four-run fourth inning by Vanderbilt tied things up. Then, with the Bulldogs having the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning, the game was stopped for over an hour due to rain – creating a different kind of highlight for the Dawgs.
When play resumed, Georgia plated a pair. Collins and Condon each crossed home to re-gain momentum before the two would hit home runs in the fifth and seventh innings. That made it 11-4 UGA.
Another home run, this time by Branch, in the eighth followed by a two-run triple from Fernando Gonzalez ended things early as Paul Toetz and Clayton Chadwick crossed home for the mercy rule victory.
On the mound, it was Smith that took over for the Dawgs, throwing the final 4.0 innings while allowing just one hit. He picked up his team-high seventh win of the season in doing so.
“I prepped our guys before the game,” Wes Johnson said about the weather delay. “I said ‘Today’s a day you’re going to have to deal with some adversity, you’re going to have to deal with some distraction. A team that can sit there, and just relax, and not stress, and understand that part of the game is things that we can’t control, and just stay loose, and not overthink things, so that when they tell us that it’s time to play we’re going to go out there and be ready.’ I think that helped.”
“Our guys were phenomenal during the rain delay and when it was time to go we were ready,” he continued. “I thought our offense was phenomenal today. You know, Corey… we get caught up in the HBP’s, walks, which are obviously massive, but when he hit that three-run homer in a 3-1 count with Charlie on deck, he got that fast ball in the strike zone and didn’t miss it. It’s those kind of at bats, when guys can really get into the zone, that’ll allow you to put up some runs on the board.”
Georgia wrapped things up on Sunday, not winning by run rule but still doing so in dominant fashion. Once again, Charlie Condon went deep, his seventh straight game doing so, while Zach Harris provided 4.0 impressive innings on the mound to start the game.
Combined with his 3.0 inning performance against Kennesaw State on Tuesday, Harris finished the week throwing 7.0 innings while allowing no hits and striking out 10. Both outings set a new career-high in length, the second and third straight appearances he’s done so after previously accomplishing the feat in a start against Clemson.
As for Condon, the home run was his 33rd of the season – extending his already-owned school records both for single season and career home runs. He has hit safely in 18 straight games as well.
Holding the NCAA-high for 2024, Condon tied the 33 home runs hit by Florida’s Jac Caglianone last season, most by an SEC player in the BBCOR era. Caglianone did so in 71 games with the Gators advancing to the College World Series Finals and is behind only Brandon Larson (LSU), who hit 40 in 69 games during the Tigers’ 1997 National Championship season, for the SEC record. Caglianone has 26 already this season in 47 games.
Condon wasn’t the only one who pitched in offensively for Georgia in the finale. Tre Phelps got the scoring started in a big third inning with a two-RBI single to center field. That came after he crossed home himself on a sacrifice fly to right field foul territory in the second by Fernando Gonzalez. The Bulldogs would score five in total in the third and led 6-0 through three.
Vanderbilt put up three in the fifth and sixth, scoring four in the eighth as well. However, sandwiched in between was a bottom of the sixth in which Georgia hit back to back home runs. Condon’s three-run shot brought himself, Corey Collins and Gonzalez home and was immediately followed by a towering home run to right field by Dylan Goldstein.
Phelps scored again in the eighth, his fifth run contributed either by RBI or scoring himself, to bring the Bulldogs to their final score of 11-7.
Georgia last beat Vanderbilt in a series in 2021, and while the Bulldogs have series wins in 2019 and 2008. The last UGA sweep of the Commodores came in 2003, their first season under the direction of Tim Corbin.
The Bulldogs, now 35-12 on the season and 13-11 in SEC play, have just six games remaining in the regular season – all against conference competition. A road series at No. 15 South Carolina (1-1 on the weekend against Missouri at the time of publication) awaits on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before another Thursday-Saturday series to wrap up the regular season the following weekend. That one comes at home against Florida.
First pitch between the Bulldogs and Gamecocks on Thursday is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Games two and three follow at 5:30 and 2:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network (Friday) and SEC Network+ (Saturday).
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