In the rough-and-tumble SEC, 15 conference wins equals a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
After No. 12 Georgia won Friday night by beating No. 14 South Carolina 11-5, consider the Bulldogs’ ticket punched to the 64-team field.
The win also goes a long way for Georgia (37-12, 15-11) securing its position as a host site for one of the 16 regionals.
With a strong finish Saturday against the Gamecocks and next week against Florida – the Bulldogs could also have an argument for being one of the nation’s top eight national seeds, meaning Georgia would host throughout the Regionals and Super Regionals leading up to the College World Series.
The Bulldogs – who won their first SEC road series since 2022 at Alabama - entered play with a No. 4 RPI and No. 6 strength of schedule, numbers that could rise even higher should Georgia pull off the sweep Saturday afternoon.
“I told the guys we’re going to come out Saturday and it’s 0-0, and we’re playing one more game here. If we do that, we’ll be fine," head coach Wes Johnson said. "This is a really good team we’re playing, and they’re going to fight until the end"
Although Charlie Condon did not homer after going deep in eight straight games, it was another nice evening for the redshirt sophomore, who went 2 for 5 with an RBI.
Condon came to the plate in the top of the ninth, but after a wild pitch moved Corey Collins to second, he was intentionally walked with the count 3-1.
Perhaps the Gamecocks (33-17, 13-13) should have done the same to Tre Phelps.
The true freshman blasted his third homer in as many games, a three-run shot in the fourth inning helped push Georgia’s lead to 10-1 after South Carolina scored the first run of the evening.
Phelps wasn’t the only Bulldog going deep.
A three-run homer by Slate Alford highlighted the Bulldogs’ five-run third.
Pitcher Leighton Finley, the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week, allowed two runs on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts, before giving way to Brian Zeldin to start the sixth.
Zeldin would allow a pair of homers in the inning, one to Dalton Reeves, followed by a two-run shot by Will Tippett on a 0-2 pitch.
But Zeldin would recover. The right-hander recovered to set down nine straight before allowing a ninth-inning single.
No matter.
Zeldin – who picked up his sixth save – struck out the final two batters to lock up the game.
"With Leighton (Finley), I’ve seen this in the league a lot when a guy has a really good outing one week, he hit some career marks last week for pitches, strikeouts, all that, and then that next week, you see a little struggle," Johnson said. "He was able to battle through that. Leighton was good to only give up two through five and then (Brian) Zeldin came in and took care of the rest. It was a grinded-out effort by both of them.”
Georgia and South Carolina wrap up their series Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
