Condon sets HR records as UGA goes 2-2 for week

At the start of each week throughout the regular season, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will take a closer look at the Georgia baseball team. Here’s a breakdown of the Bulldogs going into the week:

Record: 31-12 overall, 10-11 in the SEC. Streak: Won 1. RPI: No. 11. Last Week (2-2): Tuesday, beat Clemson 4-3 (15 innings); Friday, lost at No. 1 Texas A&M 5-2; Saturday, split with A&M, 19-9 seven-inning loss and 5-4 win.

This week: Today, at Kennesaw State (24-18), 6 p.m.; Friday, vs. No. 14 Vanderbilt (31-13, 11-10), 6 p.m.; Saturday, vs. Vanderbilt, 2 p.m.; Sunday, vs. Vanderbilt, 1 p.m.

Week in review: It was memorable week, with Charlie Condon becoming Georgia’s home run king and the Bulldogs edging Clemson in a marathon matchup. But UGA could not accomplish its most important objective, which was to win the series against topranked Texas A&M in College Station and continue to make up ground in the SEC.

Almost exactly five years exactly after a 20-inning win over Clemson, the Bulldogs were able to tie the fourth-ranked Tigers with a run in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings. In the 15th, Paul Toetz scored from third on a wild pitch for an after-midnight victory.

In College Station, the Bulldogs saved face with a 5-4 win in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader. Reliever Christian Mracna closed the door on the Aggies’ late comeback bid from a 5-2 deficit. That was no small feat, as it was only the second home loss of the season for A&M, which had been 28-1.

The Bulldogs received a gut punch earlier in the day. After shooting ahead 9-0 in the top of the first, Georgia gave back all but one of those runs in the bottom of the inning, then saw A&M continue the onslaught to

win via the 10-run-rule — 19-9 in seven innings.

Condon, a redshirt sophomore from the Walker School, set the single-season and career home run mark with a two-run blast in the seventh inning to give Georgia a 5-2 lead that would stand up. That gave him his 29th homer of the year, besting the previous mark set by Gordon Beckham in 2008. It also gave Condon a school-record 54 career homers, and he did it in just 99 games over two seasons.

Condon heads into the penultimate week of the regular season hitting .461 and also has 16 doubles on the season. An exceptional fielder who has taken turns at third base, first and all three outfield positions this season, Condon is a favorite to win both the Golden Spikes Award for amateur baseball players and the Dick

Howser Award as college baseball’s top player. He projects as the No. 1 selection in June’s pro baseball draft.

Week ahead: The Bulldogs head into the final three weekends of the regular season. After tonight’s road game at Kennesaw State, Georgia gets Vanderbilt at home, travels to South Carolina and finishes the season at Foley Field against Florida.

Sitting one game below. 500 in conference play and in fifth place in the SEC East, the Bulldogs need to, at the least, win more than they lose over those final nine games. The consensus opinion is the NCAA selection committee will not deny a regional tournament berth to any team that can break even in the SEC, which has nine teams in the top 23 of the RPI rankings, including UGA.

KARI HODGES/UGA ATHLETICS Charlie Condon, a sophomore from the Walker School in Marietta, hit three home runs in a three-game series at Texas A&M. That gives him 29 this season (a school record) and 54 in his career (another school record).