Georgia reeled off 22 runs in only 6 turns at the plate on Sunday afternoon in a 22-0 destruction of Samford in Athens, completing a 3-game weekend sweep and improving to 6-1 on the young season.
All of that was great for the Dawgs in the run-rule win that finished off an impressive offensive weekend. On Friday, Georgia also won by the run rule, rolling to an 11-1 victory in 7 innings, and on Saturday it was more of the same and a little more, with the Bulldogs cruising to a 12-4 victory that set up Sunday’s theatrics at the plate.
The series finale only went 7 innings, too, and it was over after Samford failed to score in the top of the 7th. With that, the 22-run victory was complete, with the Bulldogs only managing 1 hit all day. It was just the opposite for the high-octane Dawgs, who are trying to start their season with a bang and banged out 17 hits on Sunday.
Mission accomplished this weekend and especially Sunday, when, amazingly, every starter in Georgia’s lineup recorded a hit and scored a run. It was the first time the Bulldogs baseball program had pulled off that feat since 2010, and 16 years is a long time ago.
On another impressive offensive note, the 22 runs that Georgia put up on Sunday were the most runs scored by a Wes Johnson-coached team. The previous best offensive output was 21 runs against Queens.
After punishing Samford all weekend, Georgia will be back on its home diamond in Athens for a midweek battle with Troy on Wednesday, looking for more big numbers and maybe even historical ones like it put up on a Sunday afternoon in late February.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
