Gators roll, but Bulldogs undeterred
This was not the regular-season capper that Georgia was hoping for.
Florida used a 12-run fourth to outslug the Bulldogs 19-11 in Saturday’s regular-season finale, a loss that would appear to put a severe crimp in whatever national seed hopes held by the team, barring a deep run in next week’s SEC Tournament.
Georgia will be the 6th seed in the conference tournament and will play Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. against the 11th seed against either LSU or Alabama.
Should the Bulldogs (39-14, 17-13) win, Georgia would advance to double-elimination play which begins on Wednesday.
Georgia is still expected to host one of the 16 NCAA Regionals. NCAA Tournament bids go out on Monday, May 27.
“If anything, this was a bit of a wakeup call,” Georgia’s Charlie Condon said. “We’re obviously in a good spot, but we’re not a finished product. We’ve been playing good baseball recently, but any day you give up a 12 spot it’s what you’ve got left in the tank after that.”
To Georgia’s credit, the Bulldogs showed some fight.
Condon gave fans who stuck around something to cheer about with this 35th home run in the eighth, followed one batter by Slate Alford, who sent his 16th home run over the fence in right.
But the Bulldogs would get no closer than 16-11, as the fourth homer of the afternoon from Florida (28-26, (13-17) in the top of the ninth accounted for the final score.
“We didn’t play well today,” head coach Wes Johnson said. “I told them after that (fourth) inning that we weren’t going to hit the panic button, but we need to play the second half of the game with some pride and see if we can win the second half of the game. Our offense showed a lot of fight.”
After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Florida sent 16 batters to the plate in the fourth, scoring 12 times.
The inning featured home runs by Jac Caglianone and Cade Kurland. Reliever Josh Roberge was charged with six of the runs in just one-third of an inning after replacing Zac Harris – who pitched despite breaking his nose Friday.
Chandler Marsh also gave up a pair of runs after failing to record an out Harris was responsible for four after setting down the first nine hitters to start the game.
“They’ve got to come in and attack the strike zone,” Johnson said. “It’s all about belief and confidence, trust in your pitches, and get the job done.”
Up 1-0 on an RBI groundout by Tre Phelps, the game’s first big moment came in the second with the bases loaded and Condon at bat.
Good friends after their summer as teammates on Team USA, Caglianone jumped ahead 1-2 before Condon shot the ball through the left side to put Georgia up 3-0 before the tidal wave that was about to occur.
Of Florida’s 12 runs, eight came after two were out.
To Georgia’s credit, the Bulldogs did not lay down. Even down 14-3 and one inning away from being run-ruled, Georgia scored three and five runs over innings seven and eight to close within five.
“We’ll flush it. We’ll get after it during practice on Monday; we’ll practice here then go over there,” Johnson said. “Just like we flushed the Kentucky series, you have to flush them all, man. Even when you win, you better flush it.”