ATHENS -- 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 fifth week of the campaign:
Record: 17-4, 0-0 SEC
Streak: Lost 3
Rankings: N/A
Last Week (1-3)
Tuesday: Beat Iowa 10-5
Friday: Lost at Kentucky 16-10
Saturday: Lost at Kentucky 9-3
Sunday: Lost at Kentucky 12-2 (7)
This Week
Tuesday: vs. Wofford (13-4), 4 p.m.
Friday: vs. Alabama (17-3, 2-1 SEC), 6 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Alabama, noon
Sunday: vs. Alabama, 1 p.m.
Week in review
It was a very bad week. To be more specific, a terrible weekend.
After improving to 17-1 with a 10-5 win over Iowa on Tuesday, the Bulldogs were swept in their SEC-opening series at Kentucky. And while there certainly is no shame in dropping a conference road series, the manner in which Georgia went down was alarming.
There were a lot of areas of weakness that were exposed by the Wildcats, who improved to 17-3 after the sweep. Georgia has struggled to throw out runners all year, and Kentucky exposed that on their all-turf field, stealing 6 on 7 attempts. Opponents are now 30-of-34 on the basepaths.
Bulldog pitchers issued seven wild pitches. And when the Wildcats got into scoring position, they tended to score. Eighteen of 30 runners in scoring position crossed the plate.
Compare that to Georgia, which was 3-for-25 with RISP. The Bulldogs were 2-of-12 on Friday and 1-of-9 on Sunday.
All-American Charlie Condon continues to be a bright spot. Kentucky refused to give him anything to hit all weekend, walking him five times and hitting him with pitches twice. But he scored just once and struck out twice on Sunday. Nevertheless, he carries a .521 average into the week.
Week ahead
Suddenly, Georgia’s a little desperate. Yes, there is a long way to go in the season, with nine more SEC series and a bunch of midweek games to be played. But it’d take a sweep of Alabama this weekend just to pull back to .500 in the league, and this past weekend’s results notwithstanding, that’s a difficult feat against any team.
As for the Crimson Tide (17-3, 2-1 SEC), they just took two of three from Tennessee in Tuscaloosa, losing 11-3 Friday night but winning 6-3 and 7-6 in the last two games.
First things first, though. The Bulldogs will host a game Wofford team on Tuesday afternoon at Foley Field. The Terriers come in with a 13-4 record. First pitch was moved up to 4 p.m. to accommodate Georgia’s NIT basketball game vs. Xavier, which tips off at 7 p.m.
They said it
“When the snowball started down the hill, we couldn’t stop it. We’ve got to get better. We have to be able to stop it. We have to get better in the batter’s box, on the pitcher’s mound, and believe we can get out of a situation when things don’t go our way. The ball is not going to bounce your way every day, and it didn’t this weekend. We’re going to learn from it. We’re going to practice tomorrow and get better.”– Georgia coach Wes Johnson
About the Author
