Have a day, Kolby Branch.
Georgia’s shortstop homered twice in the fifth inning, including a grand slam, to help pace the 7th-ranked Bulldogs (30-5) to a 16-2 rout of visiting Presbyterian.
The game – played before a nice Tuesday crowd of 2,848 – was called after seven innings due to the 10-run rule.
For Branch (3-for-4 with 7 RBI), the slam was the seventh of his career, fifth with the Bulldogs since transferring from Baylor two years ago.
Branch’s day was indicative of the afternoon the Bulldogs enjoyed with the bats, after scuffling with their situational hitting during last week’s sweep at Texas.
“We talked about that a lot before the game …, a lot of two-strike hit, you know, catch the ball deep, having the ability to go the other way and hit with two strikes, hit your fastballs away and then, you know, flow to the slider and flow to the changeup,” Brancg said. “We have to be better at that. We struck out too many times last weekend, and tonight we did a better job.”
Branch’s home runs were two of the five hit by Georgia, along with one each by Devin Obee, Ryland Zaborowski, and Ryan Black.
Overall, the Bulldogs pounded out 16 hits, including three each by Branch and Slate Alford. Every Georgia starter except for Nolan McCarthy had a hit.
“Kolby just played the game really, really slow. Ryan Black’s playing the game really, really slow right now,” Johnson said. “When you see that, those are good signs.”
Runs were no problem for the Bulldogs.
A first-inning home run to lead off the game by Black was followed by two more runs in the second for Georgia, which grabbed a 3-1 lead.
“We just try to keep baton going,” Black said. “We got guys that can hit, and when you got guys that can hit, that’s what happens.”
The lead would only grow from there.
Single runs in the third and fourth were followed by a nine-run fifth, which included back-to-back home runs by Branch and Obee.
Branch’s grand slam later in the inning was followed by Robbie Burnett’s two-run double in the sixth to cap the scoring.
“I thought we did a good job from the jump. I challenged our guys really hard not to chase, to have a two-strike approach,” Johnson said. “They got us a couple of times. But other than that, I thought we did a really, really good job of getting back to our approach, getting back to not chasing, and slowing the game down.”
It was another “Johnny Wholestaff” afternoon on the mound for the Bulldogs.
Starter Zach Harris allowed a run in the first, but that would be all for the Blue Hose, who were held scoreless by the next six Georgia pitchers.
Matthew Hoskins (1-1), Justin Byrd, JT Quinn, DJ Radke, Alton Davis II, and Zach Brown and Colin Caldwell combined to hold Presbyterian (16-18) to one run on five hits, one walk, and nine strikeouts the rest of the way.
Georgia returns to action on Friday when the Bulldogs host top-ranked Arkansas for three at Foley Field.
