Georgia baseball player hits 7th home run with electric double against No. 11 Alabama
Georgia baseball defeated No. 11 Alabama in a doubleheader at home on Saturday, earning a 2-1 record.
At Foley Field, the Bulldogs (20-4, 2-3 SEC) broke the serve of the Crimson Tide (18-5, 2-3) and won 9-5, 6-5. did. UGA hit seven home runs, becoming the first NCAA player to hit 70 home runs this season.
Georgia scored 14 of its 15 total points on long balls. Saturday was a true comeback for a Bulldog team that opened its SEC season with a loss to Kentucky last weekend.
UGA looks to reward him with a home sweep of its own at 1 p.m. on sunday. Georgia shortstop Colby Branch hit a grand slam in the opening period, setting the tone for the game. Branch loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th inning for the Bulldogs, but Branch was 0-for-3 at bat that day. His transfer to Baylor saw his shorter replacement move up to the middle of the field. Despite the wind picking up, the ball continued to fly, and Alabama center fielder TJ McCants didn’t have enough space to chase the big ball. After the home run went over the center field wall, Branch and the other three Bulldogs on base circled the baseline.
Branch tossed his helmet before crossing home plate, where he was surrounded by a crowd of teammates wearing black jerseys. The sophomore was suspended for one game for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Bulldogs decided to hang his jersey in the dugout during the second game in honor of his heroism.
“We had to give credit to Colby because of some unfortunate circumstances at the end of Game 1, but I think it brought everyone together,” Charlie Condon said. Condon represented Georgia in Game 2 with some late-game heroics. The top MLB Draft pick hit three home runs on Saturday, none more important than his monster two-run run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Condon, who expressed his dissatisfaction with the home plate umpire after being down 2-0, towered 442 feet above the television cameras, well behind center field. Condon immediately dropped his bat, ducked down and yelled toward the dugout, then ran around the bases. “Sometimes things don’t go your way, like a call like this, but you have to move on quickly,” said Condon, who leads the nation in home runs with 17. “I think we saw a lot from our group of players today.”
Georgia led 5-4. The Bulldogs added the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 8th inning on a double play.
Fernando Gonzalez led off, advanced to third base on a double by Paul Tetz, and scored on a ground ball by Clayton Chadwick. “His goal was very simple: move the baseball,” UGA coach Wes Johnson said. “It was really big.”
In Game 1, Branch’s grand slam ended a five-inning defeat. Georgia and Alabama each scored five runs in the first four innings before relief pitchers took over.
That’s when Brian Zeldin shut down the Alabama offense. Zeldin pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and finished the game with 43 effective pitches.
The Crimson Tide’s only real threat against Zeldin was a huge boost for Georgia. In the top of the 9th inning, Alabama’s Evan Slate nearly broke the silence with a double that hit Jean Petruch from first base and hit the right-field wall. Condon quickly caught the ball and shot Branch for a cutoff. Petritz rounded third base when Branch found catcher Henry Hunter at bat. Hunter quickly turned and threw a dart to third-place Slate Alford, but found Petritz sliding in just as the lights came on at Foley Field. “It was so loud I couldn’t hear anything,” Zeldin said. “My ears were ringing.”
UGA won the final out of the inning with a lazy fly to center field on the next pitch. Branch hit the killer blow four at-bats later.
Georgia also scored its first five points with a home run. The Bulldogs started the weekend with a four-run lead in the first inning.
Corey Collins hit his second home run of the week, hitting his first pitch over the 407-foot wall in center field. Dylan Goldstein then hit a three-run shot to take a 4-1 lead in the second set.
Condon added his first home run of the day in the fourth inning. The country’s top prospect punished a dangling curveball over the center of home plate as a 441-foot bomb.
Game 2 starting pitcher Leighton Finley hit a solo home run in each of the first three innings and then completely settled in. Finley pitched 5.1 innings and finished the game with four hits, three walks, and three earned runs.
Fellow sophomore Colten Smith took the mound the rest of the way for the Bulldogs, finishing the final 3.2 innings with four hits, no walks, and two earned runs. UGA scored the first three runs of the second game in the third inning. Condon hit a two-run homer, followed immediately by Alford’s solo homer.
