At the start of each week throughout the regular season, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will take a closer look at the Georgia baseball team. Here’s a breakdown of the Bulldogs going into the fourth week of the campaign:
Record: 10-1, 0-0 SEC
Streak: Won 2
Rankings: N/A
Last Week (3-1)
Tuesday: Beat Presbyterian College 4-3
Wednesday: Lost to Michigan State 19-6 (7 innings)
Friday: at Georgia Tech, suspended B5 due to rain
Saturday: Beat Georgia Tech 3-1
Sunday: Beat Georgia Tech 11-9
This Week
Tuesday: vs. Georgia Southern in North Augusta, S.C., 3 p.m.
Wednesday: vs. Stetson, 6:30 p.m.
Friday: vs. Northern Colorado, 5 p.m.
Saturday: DH vs. N. Colorado, 1 p.m. & 5 p.m.
Sunday: vs. Northern Colorado, 1 p.m.
Week in review
It was a week that featured the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It could not have ended any better than it did on Sunday when the Bulldogs rallied from a 9-3 deficit to Georgia Tech to win 11-9 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville.
Earlier in the week, Georgia dropped its first game of the season in a run-rule loss to Michigan State on Wednesday. The Bulldogs, though, got the ultimate uplift on Sunday versus Georgia Tech.
They were furious Friday night after umpires halted the game at Georgia Tech due to inclement weather with Georgia leading 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Delayed 46 minutes due to rain, the game probably should have never started. But once it was, the Bulldogs felt every effort should have been made to make it official, which it would have been had the teams played another half-inning. But the game was called with Georgia already on the field to play defense.
The teams will attempt to complete the game at a later date in Atlanta. The Bulldogs have agreed to come back whenever schedules will allow.
After Georgia pulled out a gritty 3-1 win Saturday in Athens in a game in which Charlie Condon’s hitting streak was snapped but he made three incredible defensive plays.
Things didn’t look good for the Bulldogs on Sunday. Trailing through six innings 9-3 – how perfect is that? – Georgia rallied for an 11-9 victory. The comeback was initiated after coach Wes Johnson called up the team after the sixth.
The Bulldogs scored 5 runs on 4 hits to make it a one-run game heading into the ninth. After walks by Corey Collins and Clayton Chadwick, Sebastian Murillo hit a sacrifice fly off an 0-2 pitch and Fernando Gonzalez drove in the winning run for second game in a row with a double down the left-field line. Gonzalez’s solo home run Saturday plated the winning run in Athens.
In the bottom of the ninth, Brian Zeldin, a graduate transfer from Penn used a pair of strikeouts to record his second save in the series and third this season.
Week ahead
Another busy week awaits the Bulldogs as they’ll play five games over the next six days.
That starts Tuesday night in North Augusta, S.C., as Georgia makes its annual trek to SRP Park to take on Georgia Southern. The Eagles (4-7) dropped two of three to Campbell this past weekend. They also lost two of three this season to Maryland and Mississippi State.
Georgia will squeeze in another midweek game vs. Stetson on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Foley Field. The Hatters (8-4) look like a competitive bunch. They beat No. 4 Florida 7-4 on Feb. 27 and split a series against West Virginia earlier this season. But this will be their first game away from Deland, Fla.
The Bulldogs will play four games over the weekend as Northern Colorado comes to town. The teams will sandwich a Saturday doubleheader between Friday and Sunday games. The Bears (0-11) are winless on the season.
They said it
“I told the guys, ‘I don’t care how this game finishes but we’ve got to lock in, we’ve got to focus, we’ve got to quit chasing, we’ve got to attack without being attacked, and we’ve got to throw strikes.’” -- Georgia coach Wes Johnson
“Everybody was looking at each other, like, ‘we got this; we’re good.’ That’s the identification of this team.” – Shortstop Kolby Branch
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