6 hours ago
Georgia Athletics
GAINESVILLE, Florida — Charlie Condon hit three home runs Friday to celebrate his birthday, while Connor Tate’s grand slam was part of a seven-run ninth as the Bulldogs stunned third-ranked Florida 13-11 in front of a crowd of 6,994 at Condron Ballpark.
The Bulldogs (19-15, 4-9 SEC) grabbed a 3-0 lead in the third highlighted by a two-run home run by Condon, his team-leading 14th of the year, and this one on his 20th birthday. The blast to left extended his on base streak to 33 games. Georgia’s first run scored on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Anderson.
The Gators (28-7, 9-4 SEC) responded immediately in the bottom of the inning, on a leadoff walk, a single and sacrifice fly by Josh Rivera. After a hit-by-pitch and a walk loaded the bases, freshman Cade Kurland smashed a grand slam, his 10th home of the season to put Florida in front 5-3.
Condon pulled Georgia to within one with a solo shot to lead off the sixth. It marked the third time this year he has hit a pair of home runs in a road game, also doing it against No. 16 Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern.
In the sixth, Luke Heyman’s grand slam capped a five-run outburst off the Georgia bullpen to give the Gators a 10-4 advantage. However, Florida’s top relievers, Philip Abner and closer Brandon Neely, combined to allow nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits in 1.1 innings.
Condon tied a school record with his third home run in the eighth, a mammoth two-run blast that traveled 446 feet over the centerfield wall to give him a team-high 16 on the year. It trimmed Florida’s lead to 10-6. Condon is the 10th Bulldog in school history to hit three home runs in a game and the second to do it this year. Like Condon, graduate Connor Tate did it in three straight at bats against Charleston Southern on March 11.
Tate tied the contest with a grand slam off Neely with one out in the ninth. It was his third career grand slam including second this year. Florida then intentionally walked Condon to bring up Collins.
He reached on a fielder’s choice, and Parks Harber gave Georgia an 11-10 lead with a ground-rule double to centerfield.
Cole Wagner’s RBI-single and a sacrifice fly by Fernando Gonzalez capped the seven-run rally as Georgia sent 12 to the plate. Coming in Georgia was 0-9 when trailing after eight while Neely had seven saves in 15 appearances and with a 2.96 ERA.
„The guys have been working hard, and we’ve lost some really tough ones late so we deserved something to go our way,“ said Georgia’s Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin. „This is how you turn your season around right there. What we did on Sunday, winning a series against the No. 1 RPI team in 10th-ranked Kentucky, and now we’ve won three in a row in the conference.
„You can’t say what if or what about what happened before because you can’t change it. That was a great win for us and hopefully that can propel us to winning a series. You want to win every game but you’re trying to win a series on the road. We’ll get after it tomorrow and try to clinch this series.“
Graduate Dalton Rhadans provided 2.2 scoreless inings of relief to improve to 2-0 while freshman Leighton Finley took care of the ninth for his second save. Neely dropped to 0-1.
UP NEXT
The series will continue Saturday with first pitch at 7:02 pm on the SEC Network and available on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. Junior left-hander Charlie Goldstein (1-1, 6.55) will start for Georgia.
