Any questions about what Corey Collins could do for an encore after winning SEC Player of the Week honors were answered in Friday night’s Game 1 at No. 5 Tennessee.
Collins picked up where he left off last Sunday against Alabama, drilling a pair of three-run homers, to lift the Bulldogs to a 16-2 rout.
The game was called after seven innings due to the 10-run rule, making a winner of Charlie Goldstein (4-0) who only allowed a pair of unearned runs.
Collins remained as hot as a player can get.
After going 11-for-17 last week with six home runs and 13 RBI, went 2-for-3 with home runs Nos. 11 and 12. Collins is now hitting .457 with 12 of his 19 hits going for home runs.
“What Corey Collins is doing right now is hard to talk about, other than it’s impressive,” head coach Wes Johnson said during his post-game radio interview. “I don’t know what else to say.”
Georgia’s fifth-straight win was its most impressive of the year.
Taking three last weekend from what was a top-10 team in Alabama qualified as an eye-opener for Georgia.
Friday’s rout of No. 5 Tennessee equaled a statement maker, particularly since most of the damage came against Vol ace AJ Causey. Entering play, the Tennessee right-hander was 5-0 with a 1.91 ERA.
The Bulldogs touched him for eight runs in 2.1 innings.
“Coach (Will) Coggin did a great job of preparing those guys and we had a really good plan against him,” Johnson said. “The first inning, he came out and it was like OK, this is going to be a dogfight because he looked so good. But our guys just settled down, settled into the game, and got off some really good at-bats.”
Although two more games remain in the weekend series, for Georgia (22-4, 4-3) speaks to the confidence of a team, which continues to blast home runs at a school record pace.
The Bulldogs tacked on four more Friday night against the Vols, giving Georgia an NCAA-best 78.
Fernando Gonzalez and Clayton Chadwick joined Collins in Friday’s home-run derby.
Every Bulldog starter hit safely, including shortstop Kolby Branch (3-for-3, 3 runs scored, 3 RBI) whose’ bases-clearing double in the second gave Georgia a 3-0 lead it would not relinquish.
Dylan Goldstein and freshman Trey King also added a pair of hits. King was making his first SEC start.
“We had hits up and down the lineup,” Johnson said. “Trey King gets his first SEC start and gets two knocks today. Trey’s been having phenomenal BPs, we lock into all that stuff, so it was good to see him get in there and have a couple of knocks.”
Goldstein (4-0) was the beneficiary of all the offense, although he did not need a lot of help.
The senior left allowed Tennessee (22-4, 3-4) nine hits, but only two unearned runs with zero walks and three strikeouts.
“Charlie was really good and threw the ball exceptionally well. You hear me talk about it all the time, we have to pound the strike zone,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t mean we’re always going to win, or the ball is always going to stay in the yard, but we’ve got to get in the strike zone, and when we do I like our defense to make plays.”
Closer Brian Zeldin pitched the seventh despite the 14-run lead.
“It was probably not a situation where you want to bring Zeldin in with that score,” Johnson said. “But you can’t see it here (at Lindsey Nelson Stadium), we had him up, the bases were loaded early in the third, and we started getting him up. We got him up; their offense is so explosive that you just want to stay ahead.
“When you get a lead like that, you don’t want to lose that gap. So, we had Brian up every inning, and it was now at that point, you might as well go ahead and put him in the game, let him finish it off.”
Georgia and Tennessee resume their series on Saturday at 5, followed on Sunday by Game 3 at 2.
