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Diamond Dogs travel to Texas to take on top-ranked Aggies

Wes Johnson (UGA Sports Comm) Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson after Georgia's game against Georgia Tech at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Sunday, Mar. 3, 2024. (Kari Hodges/UGAAA) (Kari Hodges/Kari Hodges/UGAAA)

The Georgia Bulldog baseball team travels to Texas to take on the top-ranked team in the country: coach Wes Johnson and the Diamond Dogs play three weekend games against Texas A&M. Game one is tonight in College Station.

From Christopher Lakos, UGA Sports Communications…

The 17th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs begin a Southeastern Conference road series with top-ranked Texas A&M Friday with first pitch slated for 7:02 p.m. on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

Georgia (30-10, 9-9 SEC) ranks third nationally with 101 home runs, a .602 slugging percentage and .442 on base percentage. The Bulldogs are batting .312 with a 5.08 team ERA and .974 fielding percentage. The Aggies enters the series batting .315 with 88 home runs, a .586 slugging percentage (fourth nationally) and .439 on base percentage (sixth nationally). Texas A&M (36-5, 13-5 SEC) owns a 3.71 ERA (seventh nationally) and a .981 fielding percentage (ninth nationally). In midweek action, Georgia outlasted No. 4 Clemson 4-3 in 15 innings in Athens while the Aggies outslugged Houston 13-11 in College Station. This season, the Aggies are 26-1 at home while the Bulldogs are 25-3 at Foley Field and 5-7 outside of Athens.

The Bulldog offense is headlined by sophomore All-America Charlie Condon. He leads the NCAA with a .477 batting average, 26 home runs, a 1.097 slugging percentage, 74 hits, and 170 total bases. He has a .583 on base percentage (third nationally) with 36 walks (17 intentional) and 56 RBI. Senior Corey Collins is enjoying a career-year at .387-12-38 and leads the country with a .593 on base percentage. The Aggies top hitters are junior Braden Montgomery (.370-22-68), freshman Gavin Grahovac (.333-15-51) and sophomore Jace LaViolette (.318-20-53). Condon, Montgomery and LaViolette were teammates this past summer on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.

Series History: Texas A&M leads the series 13-7, and it didn’t start until the Aggies joined the SEC. Georgia has made three trips to College Station (2013, ‘16 and ‘21), and the Bulldogs are 1-8 with that lone win coming in series finale in 2021 by a score of 6-4. At Foley Field in Athens, the Bulldogs are 5-4 against A&M. Georgia is 1-1 against the Aggies at the SEC Tournament. Last year in Athens, the Aggies won a series 2-1.

Starting Rotation: Georgia’s rotation will feature sophomore right-hander Leighton Finley (3-1, 5.27 ERA) on Friday and sophomore right-hander Matthew Hoskins (0-0, 0.00 ERA). The Aggies will counter with redshirt-sophomore Ryan Prager (7-0, 2.55 ERA) and junior right-hander Tanner Jones (3-1, 4.67 ERA). Both teams are TBA for Sunday.

Radio/TV/Live Stats Links for Georgia-Texas A&M Series

Friday @ 7:02 p.m. ET (SEC Network+)

Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston)

https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4599&type=Live

TV: SEC Network+ (Will Johnson & Boomer White)

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b1845c0d-f3fb-4aaf-b548-7993f2210e19

Tim Bryant

Tim Bryant

Tim Bryant hosts Classic City Today, 6-10 weekday mornings on 98.7FM & AM 1340 WGAU in Athens.

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