Olivia Sayer
Georgia redshirt sophomore Charlie Condon (24) at bat during a NCAA college baseball game between Alabama and Georgia at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Georgia won 9-5. (Photo/Mady Mertens: @MadyMertensPhotography)
160.
That’s how many home runs Georgia baseball is currently on pace to hit this regular season.
The Bulldogs have used the long ball to win many of their games this season en route to a 20-4 record. Saturday’s doubleheader against Alabama was no exception, as Georgia sent seven pitches out of Foley Field. The Bulldogs swept the twin bill, with final scores of 9-5 and 6-5.
14 of Georgia’s 15 runs were scored via the home run.
According to head coach Wes Johnson, the power surge by the Bulldogs this season can be attributed to one of their coaches.
“I’m going to tell good job to coach Derek Groomer, our strength coach,” Johnson said. “We’re really strong. Yeah, we’re really strong.”
No Georgia player has put that strength on display this season more so than Charlie Condon, who finished the day with three home runs in seven-at bats. His 17 homers this season currently lead college baseball, while his .529 batting average is the best in the nation.
“Superman,” Johnson said of Condon. “He’s phenomenal. He’s the best player in the country right now, in my opinion.”
Part of Condon’s success can be attributed to the strength of the lineup around him. The Bulldogs have already hit 70 homers this season, nine ahead of the next closest team.
Kolby Branch extended the total when he stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth in game one. With the bases loaded, Branch drilled a pitch to deep center field, to walk-off the Crimson Tide and give Georgia a 9-5 victory.
The four-run blast put an exclamation point on a game that saw the Bulldogs tag Alabama starter Ben Hess for seven hits and five runs in four innings. Coming into the matchup, Hess had only allowed three home runs on the season. It only took four innings for Georgia to double that number.
The Crimson Tide’s game two starter Greg Farone had only allowed two, which Georgia duplicated by the bottom of the third.
The Bulldogs’ offense started much quieter in the second game of the twin bill, as Alabama was the one doing majority of the damage. Three solo shots had the Crimson Tide leading 3-0 in the top of the third.
In the home half of the inning, Condon stepped into the batter’s box.
He quickly got down 0-2, fouling off pitches to stay alive. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, he sent a ball over the right field wall. One batter later, Slate Alford crushed a pitch to the opposite field to tie the game at three.
“If you put [Condon] on, the guy behind him is moving the baseball too,” Johnson said of Georgia’s depth. “You can’t just try to get the guy out in front of him because then he’s on base, and then it makes it even tougher.”
This came to fruition in the bottom of the seventh, when Georgia trailed by one. Condon was up to bat with one out and a runner on first. Alabama could have opted to intentionally walk him. However, it would have given Alford an opportunity with runners on first and second.
After a couple of mound visits and a pitching change by the Crimson Tide, Condon stepped up to the plate. Once again on an 0-2 count, he obliterated a pitch 442 feet to dead center field. The homer had an exit velocity of 114 mph and eventually landed over the batter’s eye.
It gave the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead they would never relinquish.
“I’ve just been lucky to be put in those spots,” Condon said. “And I’m confident that if anybody’s name got called in that spot there, that those guys are going to go up there and get the job done too.”
The depth of Georgia’s lineup has allowed Condon to get pitches to hit, highly contributing to the Bulldogs’ astonishing showcases of the long ball.
If Georgia does reach the 160-homer mark this season, it will shatter its record of 109 set by the 2009 team. With 30 games left in the regular season, it is conceivable that the 2024 Bulldogs will be etched in the record books.