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 14th week of the 2024 campaign:
Record: 38-12, 16-11 SEC
Streak: Won 8
Rankings: No. 6 (Baseball America), No. 4 RPI
Last Week (3-0)
Thursday: Defeated No. 16 South Carolina 14-10
Friday: Defeated South Carolina 11-5
Saturday: Defeated South Carolina 14-6
This Week
Thursday: vs. Florida (26-25, 11-16), 6 p.m.
Friday: vs. Florida, 6 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Florida, 2 p.m.
Week in review
The offensive fireworks that have accompanied the Bulldogs down the stretch this season continued in Columbia against South Carolina, with Logan Jordan providing the biggest “boom” on Saturday afternoon. The graduate transfer from Lake Elmo, Minnesota, by way of Campbell University, entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning and delivered a grand slam home run.
What made it even better is Jordan’s homer came after the Gamecocks, for the second straight inning, had walked Georgia star Charlie Condon to load the bases. That ploy worked for South Carolina the previous inning as Dylan Goldstein struck out for the fourth time in the game. This time, Jordan made the home team pay, clearing the bases to give the Bulldogs a 6-4 lead in what would end up as a six-run eighth inning. Georgia would add two more runs that inning and four more in the ninth for a 14-6, sweep-clinching victory.
Jordan’s slam felt like justice for the Bulldogs, who had watched the Gamecocks avoid pitching to Condon most of the weekend. Georgia’s star slugger walked five times in the series. Four of those were intentional passes, including his final at-bat on Friday. That prevented Condon from attempting to extend his home run streak to nine games.
The good news is such ploys are keeping the bases crowded. Batting second in the Bulldogs’ lineup, Condon enters the final weekend of the regular season with 46 walks. That’s second only to lead-off hitter Corey Collins, who has 48.
Condon has been intentionally walked 13 times in SEC games and 22 times for the year. Don’t be surprised if that trend initiates a lineup change by coach Wes Johnson. Batting behind Condon (.454-34-72), Goldstein (.302-12-39) was 0-for-7 in the last two games. Two batters later, hitting fifth, freshman Tre Phelps (.385-9-32) went 6-for-14 over the weekend with 4 home runs, 9 RBI and 8 runs scored. Phelps was named SEC player of the week on Monday.
Then, again, Johnson might not want mess anything. The Bulldogs have scored 74 runs in their last six SEC games, an average of 12.3 per game.
Week ahead
Thanks to its recent hot streak, Georgia has gone from wondering whether it would be able to land an NCAA tournament bid to positioning itself to be regional host.
With back-to-back sweeps of Vanderbilt and South Carolina the last two weekends, Georgia shot up the rankings. It moved from 14th to 6th in the Baseball America poll and is now No. 4 per the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
Enter the Gators.
It has been a tough year for Florida baseball. Coming into the season off another run to the College World Series, the Gators were the SEC coaches’ pick to win the Eastern Division with a preseason ranking of No. 2. Instead, they arrive in Athens unranked and needing a sweep of Georgia plus a deep run in the SEC Tournament just to earn a postseason bid.
But Florida remains a dangerous team. It pushed Kentucky, the SEC’s top team, to the limit this past weekend. The Gators won Saturday’s game 10-1 and lost the other two by a total of three runs. They’re led by slugger Jac Caglianone, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, who enters the weekend on a school-record-tying 30-game hitting streak to go with 28 home runs and 55 RBI.
As for Georgia, the Bulldogs still are trying to get their starting pitching set. Sophomore left-hander Jarvis Evans got the start Thursday but lasted only one-third of an inning. The hope is that Charlie Goldstein, who rested a triceps injury this past weekend, might be able to come back against the Gators. The 6-1 graduate left-hander (4-1, 3.72 ERA) began the season as Georgia’s Friday night starter. Sophomore right-hander Kolten Smith (8-2, 4.73), who got the win in relief of Evans, also is an option.
They said it
“I got my name called. It started with the guys that got on base before me. They did their job, and I did my part as well. My mentality was to get on base and get one run in and everything turned out after that. We’re one of the hottest teams in the country right now.” – Georgia’s Logan Jordan on hitting his game-winning, pinch-hit grand slam in the 8th inning Saturday.
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