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 10th of the 2024 campaign:
Record: 27-9, 7-8 SEC
Streak: Won 1
Rankings: No. 9 RPI
Last Week (3-1)
Tuesday: Defeated Kennesaw State 15-5 (8)
Thursday: Beat Missouri 15-10
Friday: Lost to Missouri 6-5 (10)
Saturday: Beat Missouri 10-7
This Week
Friday: vs. Ole Miss (20-16, 5-10 SEC), 6 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Ole Miss, 2 p.m.
Sunday: vs. Ole Miss, 1 p.m.
Week in review
Playing one of the SEC’s bottom-feeders, the Bulldogs certainly were hoping for a sweep of Missouri (16-21, 5-10 SEC). Instead, they had to settle for winning the series 2-out-of-3, scrapping to hold on to a 10-7 win on Saturday.
Georgia had pitcher Kolten Smith to thank for the clinching victory. The sophomore right-hander from Ocala came out of the bullpen to earn the victory with 10 strikeouts in six innings of relief. He improved to 4-2.
Charlie Condon continued to be Charlie Condon. The super sophomore clubbed his NCAA-leading 24th home run on Saturday to extend his hitting streak to seven games.
Condon’s incredible season captured the attention this past week of Baseball America, which has identified him as the top pro baseball prospect of 2024. According to that publication, Condon stands to become the preeminent slugger of the 21st century.
Condon has virtually no shot of breaking the single-season home run record of Oklahoma State’s Pete Incaviglia. Incaviglia hit 48 in 1985 when the Cowboys played 75 games, including 65 in the regular season. Georgia will play 53 regular-season games this year.
But Condon’s home runs per game pace (0.68 per game) actually exceeds that of Incaviglia (.64). That remains shy of Augusta’s Keith Hammond in 1987 (.74), but it easily would be the best of the 21st century if Condon can maintain his current pace. Gonzaga’s Nate Gold’s .59 home runs per game in 2002 is the only time any D-I hitter in the 2000s has topped .54 home runs per game.
No 21st century college player has topped Jac Caglianone’s 33 home runs of 2023, according to Baseball America. Only seven in the 21st century have hit more than 30 home runs. At the current rate, Condon could exceed that number in the regular season. He’s on pace to do it in Georgia’s 50th game of the season.
Condon has a better shot of breaking the single-season Division I slugging percentage record, which is also held by Incaviglia. Condon’s 1.113 slugging percentage is just a tick below Incaviglia’s 1.140. Condon’s .926 career slugging percentage is even closer to Rickie Weeks’ career slugging record of .927.
Week ahead
Georgia reached the midpoint of the SEC season with all its goals intact. If the Bulldogs can win at least eight of the final 15 conference games, they should be in line for an NCAA Tournament bid.
To that end, they could help themselves this week with Ole Miss coming to town. The Rebels have taken a couple of steps back since winning the 2022 College World Series. Georgia needs to at least claim the series as the second half of the conference slate is even tougher than the first. Every other league team the Bulldogs face will be ranked.
Not having to play a midweek game this week should be helpful. The Rebels, meanwhile, travel to Arkansas State Tuesday before coming to Athens.
They said it
“I was trying to make every pitch the most important pitch of the game. That’s about it, taking it one pitch at a time. I’m not too worried about stats. Every time you come out it’s a new day. I know how good I am, and I know that if I execute my pitches and get guys out, that’s all I have to do.” – pitcher Kolten Smith
