Baseball News and Notes: Another big weekend at hand

No. 12 Georgia at No. 14 South Carolina

WHERE: Founders Park, Columbia, S.C.

WHEN: Thursday 8 p.m., Friday 5:30 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 35-12, 13-11; South Carolina 33-15, 13-11

STARTING PITCHERS: Thursday – LF Jarvis Evans (4-1, 4.29) vs RH Roman Kimball (2-1, 4.61); Friday – RH Leighton Finley (4-1, 4.53) vs. RH Eli Jones (3-3, 4.53); Saturday – TBA vs TBA

TV/RADIO: Thursday – ESPNU (Sam Ravech and Lance Cormier); Friday – SEC Network (Sam Ravech, Lance Cormier); Saturday SEC Network+ (Dave Weinstein and Grayson Griner); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Jeff Dantzler and David Johnston).

Charlie Condon and Georgia’s offense have carried most of the headlines for the Bulldogs this spring.

Rightfully so. With 33 home runs, just seven shy of the SEC record, Condon’s bat and those of his teammates are a huge reason the Bulldogs (35-12, 13-11) find themselves in excellent shape for the postseason entering their three-game set at South Carolina..

However, for as good as the bats have been, if Georgia truly wants to make a deep run, its pitching needs to come through.

Of late, Wes Johnson is starting to see some positive signs.

Since Texas A&M jumped on the Bulldogs for 19 runs on April 27, Georgia has seen pitchers combine for a respectable ERA of 3.85.

“It’s been awesome. But I think when it gets so competitive, everyone is fighting for innings, it makes everyone better,” reliever Chandler Marsh said. “Obviously, we’re all rooting for all the guys non-stop, but just being OK isn’t good enough. You have to step up, and everyone is making each other better.”

A deeper look into the numbers shows the improvements being made.

Since giving up 10 runs to Missouri on April 11, Georgia’s last 13 games have seen Bulldogs pitchers allow five or fewer runs 10 times.

That includes holding No. 4 Clemson to just three earned runs in a 15-inning win on April 23, and last Saturday’s 10-0 shutout of Vanderbilt.

Individually, five hurlers are pitching their best ball of the season.

Recent outings for the following include:

• Zach Harris – Seven innings pitched, zero hits, zero runs, three walks, 10 strikeouts.

• Kolten Smith – 25 innings pitched, two earned runs, 14 hits, two walks, 36 strikeouts.

• Chandler Marsh – 4.1 innings pitched, one hit, three runs, one walk, nine strikeouts.

• Leighton Finley – 11 innings pitched, six hits, two runs, six walks, 18 strikeouts.

• Jarvis Evans – 4.1 innings, six hits, one run, one walk, six strikeouts.

“Leighton had a good week last week. It was his career-best outing for innings and all that cool stuff; he was SEC pitcher of the week, but it’s like I told him before his pen, we’ve got to keep going,” head coach and pitching coach Wes Johnson said. “We need to get better at this. Here’s the game plan against South Carolina, so let’s start attacking that in this bullpen and be ready for that, because they’ve got some different hitters who can do some things.

Like many on Georgia’s staff, Marsh worked with Johnson on some subtle mechanical changes that have helped produce improved results.

Becoming mentally stronger has not hurt, either.

“Mechanically, we’ve adjusted some things, but for me, it’s more on the mental side. Just attacking hitters with the mindset of being offensive while pitching instead of being defensive,” said Marsh. “I found myself a couple of times this year reverting back to it, but I understand I’ve got to make those adjustments. Just attacking hitters and knowing that even if the hitter is really good, if you’ve got really good stuff, you can be successful.”

With the series at South Carolina and next week’s home finale against Florida starting on Thursday, Johnson is keeping his starters on regular rest.

That means Finley will pitch in Friday’s game against the Gamecocks, with Evans getting the call in Thursday’s opener.

Evans warmed up on Sunday during Georgia’s 11-7 win over Vanderbilt but did not get into the game.

Speaking before his rotation was announced, Johnson said several factors go into the equation when deciding who starts during short weeks.

“It depends on what they did the week before, but I’ll usually take it back three weeks. I have this little thing I use that I look at over a three-week cycle and determine where they’re at,” Johnson said. “We have a leverage index. I’ll just leave it at that, that we use a lot that I’ll factor in over three weeks where we actually see besides just actual pitch count, how much of that was in a higher leverage situation, because that does affect recovery. So, I use that a lot, and how I will determine that this week.”

Georgia and South Carolina list their starting pitchers as TBA for Saturday’s final game.

It’s unclear if Charlie Goldstein can go against the Gamecocks this weekend.

The Bulldogs senior had to come out of Saturday’s contest against Vanderbilt in the third inning due to what Johnson described as “triceps cramps.”

Further examination confirmed the earlier diagnosis.

“I feel good for sure that he’ll be ready for next weekend. This weekend, I feel pretty good, but I’m not going to rush it,” Johnson said. “The last thing we want to do is run him back out there. I like the way he’s trending.”

Goldstein played catch on Monday, and per Johnson “looked great.”

Johnson is never one to get too far ahead of himself.

The next game is always the biggest game. Still, Johnson admits that if Georgia could somehow find a way to host one of the 16 NCAA Regionals, that would be a huge deal.

“I can’t get there yet. Just because in my mind we’re still a ways away, meaning we’ve got to win more ball games and this league is hard,” Johnson said. “We’re playing a Florida team that’s finally getting healthy on the mound, who’s going to come in extremely healthy, of course against us. This week you’ve got a South Carolina team who is the 10th or 12th RPI team in the country. There are no gimmes there. That being said, it would mean a lot to host.”

Current projections have Georgia in line to do just that.

DIBaseball.com has Georgia as the 14th seed and a host, with Wake Forest, Southern Miss, and Austin Peay as part of the field.

BaseballAmerica.com also has Georgia as a 14th seed and a host, with Wake Forest, Southern Miss, and Kennesaw State as part of the field.

That optimism is due to the Bulldogs having the nation’s fifth-best RPI and sixth-best strength of schedule.

“It’s great for recruiting, it’s great for your fan base, it’s great for your players, because we obviously play better at home,” Johnson said. “It gives you your best chance to move on. So, it is massive to host. I’m not going to sit here and downplay that. But as far as where I am with that, I’m locked in. We’ve got to try and take care of business in Columbia on Thursday.”

Condon leads the NCAA with a .459 batting average, a school record 33 home runs (T2nd in SEC single season history), 200 total bases, and a 1.105 slugging percentage. He has a .568 on-base percentage (third nationally) with 41 walks (18 intentional) and 69 RBIs. He's hit a home run in seven consecutive games and has an 18-game hitting streak.

…Senior Corey Collins is enjoying a fine year at .352-14-43 while leading the country with a .591 on-base percentage. He ranks fourth nationally with an SEC-leading and school record 23 HBP this year. Freshman Tre Phelps checks in at .378-5-23.

… The Bulldogs rank third nationally with a school record 122 home runs. The old mark was 109 by the 2009 club in 62 games. Also, this year’s squad has hit a school record 10 grand slams. Georgia is third nationally with a .601 slugging percentage and .440 on-base percentage. The Bulldogs are batting .306 with a 5.31 team ERA and a .975 fielding percentage.