Georgia baseball finishes weekend of walk-offs with towering two-run homer

Black was mobbed by the Bulldogs at home plate, and for the fourth time in three days, a pack of red jerseys sprinted to jump the center-field wall and slap the batter’s eye, designed to keep sun glare out of a hitter’s line of vision.

The tradition started with Georgia’s first three walk-offs on Friday and Saturday, all off the bat of Slate Alford. The No. 6 ranked Bulldogs (13-1) beat the Eagles (4-8) on Friday 10-9 and swept a Saturday doubleheader with a 10-0 run-rule and 9-8 win before Sunday.

Alford hit a hard ground ball Friday night at FGCU’s first baseman, who missed the throw to get freshman Erik Parker at home.

Alford’s third walk-off was an actual base hit Saturday night, as he grounded a breaking ball past the shortstop’s outstretched glove and into center field, plating Daniel Jackson.

Georgia’s first walk-off on Saturday had less energy, as Alford plated Brennan Hudson with a seventh inning sacrifice fly to get the 10-0 run-rule.

Alford also sparked UGA’s 7-3 comeback win over Georgia State on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs entered the sixth inning down 3-0 before Alford mashed a two-run bomb.

Georgia had the four-run advantage by the end of the seventh.

The Bulldogs went 5-0 in pre-SEC play for the second straight week but not without some pressure.

UGA entered the weekend with an interesting trend in its pitching staff. Georgia’s starting pitching had surrendered 22 of the team’s 27 earned runs on the year.

UGA’s starters gave up another 11 earned runs this weekend. The Bulldogs have still had only one starter go five full innings in 2025.

Georgia coach Wes Johnson joked before the weekend series that his team might have the country’s worst ERA through the first two innings and have the best ERA through the last seven.

Johnson still seemed calm about his team’s issue on the other side of the series but recognized the need for improvement with SEC play just two weekends away. Johnson also pointed out that while UGA’s pre-conference schedule doesn’t match the SEC’s caliber, the talent is nothing to overlook.

“I think we’re still learning a lot, I schedule so many games early to try to figure out a lot about or team, so I think we’re getting there,” Johnson said. “What you’re seeing with a lot of your mid-major teams now is they’re giving you a lot of different looks off the mound that you may not see in SEC play.

“It’s just a sign of where baseball is.”

Johnson has learned plenty from his team, who has played more games than any other SEC program to this point.

“We’re still walking too many guys at the mound, that will get you in SEC play,” Johnson said. “You can’t really make any changes when you’ve got to reset. You’ve still got five games coming up this week, so it’s not like you can just go, ‘We’ll put this guy here and start him on Friday.’

“We’ll have it reset and completely ready to go for opening weekend against Kentucky in conference.”

The Bulldogs open SEC play at Foley Field against the Wildcats on March 14.

UGA is back in action hosting High Point at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The Bulldogs will then host Georgia State on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before Columbia plays three games in Athens next weekend.