Loud Georgia baseball bats silence No. 13 Florida with Sunday sweep

The Bulldog offense closely resembled the 2024 version, as they scored all of their runs on six homers. UGA outscored the Gators 40-13 on the weekend and extended its NCAA-leading home run total to 70.

Florida was swept at home for the first time since 2022 and is 0-6 in SEC play, its worst start since 2001.

NCAA home run leader Ryland Zaborowski kept hammering for Georgia, business as usual.

Zaborowski hit two more homers on Sunday, extending his NCAA lead to 15. The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder also delivered the fatal blow in Friday night’s 8-7 win.

Zaborowski, a graduate transfer from Miami of Ohio, is on pace to finish the season with 32 home runs. That would be the second-most in Georgia history behind the legendary Charlie Condon’s 37-homer campaign last year.

Georgia got a less-expected power surge from Christian Adams on Sunday. Adams has been a solid bat, but his production in the last two games against Florida was certainly above average.

Adams, a Florida native, homered twice on Sunday. He followed Zaborowski’s two-run bomb with a three-run shot of his own in the second inning.

“I’m always locked in, it’s just something different about coming home,” Adams told 960 the Ref.

Adams hit another solo shot in the fifth to take an 8-1 lead. The FAU transfer finished the weekend hitting 8 of 14 with three homers, three doubles, seven RBI and six runs scored.

Leighton Finley gave Georgia another encouraging start on the mound. The right-hander followed Brian Curley’s scoreless five innings on Saturday with five innings of one-run ball.

Finley allowed two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. The junior had a rocky start to the season with 14 earned runs in 16-1/3 innings pitched. Each of his last four starts lasted three innings or less.

Johnson said he was finally able to ‘reset’ his pitching staff after having one of the busiest schedules in the country before this week.

“I’ve been telling everybody that, we had some hiccups along the road and we had a whole bunch of games in a short amount of time and we found out a lot about these guys,” UGA coach Wes Johnson said. “Very, very happy with the way we threw the ball this weekend.”

Zach Brown gave up three earned runs in the sixth before Matthew Hoskins sealed the win with three strikeouts in the seventh.

The Bulldogs will start the third week of SEC play with a share of first place in the conference. UGA’s 5-1 SEC record will tie No. 1 Tennessee, the winner of tonight’s game between No. 8 Texas and No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Arkansas if it beats South Carolina on Sunday.

It’s a much stronger start than Georgia had last season. Johnson’s Bulldogs were right in the middle of the pack at 3-3 before ultimately finishing 17-13.

UGA also proved it can score in several ways. The Bulldogs scored six runs without a homer on Friday before Zaborowski’s dagger in the ninth inning.

Georgia scored with a mix of ‘small ball,’ extra-base hitting and homers on Saturday before scoring only on the long ball on Sunday.

Johnson paid respects to the depth of Florida’s pitching staff going into the weekend. The longtime pitching coach tabbed the Gators as the deepest bullpen the Bulldogs would face all season on Wednesday.

“There is a team or two that may have a couple front-line starters that are equal or a tick better, but not top to bottom,” Johnson said. “You’re going to see 95 (miles per hour) to 98 all weekend, every guy they bring in.”

The Bulldogs did not face Florida’s top pitcher in Liam Peterson (general soreness), but they hammered many of the Gators’ top arms. UGA freshman phenom Aidan King -- who held No. 1 Tennessee to one run in six innings last weekend -- was tagged for six earned runs in four innings.

Florida’s Sunday starter, Jake Clemente, gave up two earned runs in three innings last week against the Volunteers. Georgia chased Clemente after the second with four earned runs.

The Bulldogs scored at least one earned run on every Florida pitcher that appeared this weekend.

“You look at what the offense did this weekend putting up those kind of runs in this ballpark against this pitching staff, I’m really, really proud of those guys,” Johnson said.

The SEC has more challenges in store for Georgia, as No. 20 Auburn is coming to Athens next weekend. The Tigers are coming off a series win at Kentucky and are 4-2 in SEC play.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Johnson said. “You better hook it up and get ready for a really good Auburn team.”

The Bulldogs could move up in the national rankings, especially if Texas beats LSU on Sunday. The Bulldogs are back in action at 5 p.m. on Tuesday hosting West Georgia.