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BSB: Charlie Condon has been named a semifinalist for the 2024 Golden Spikes Award

Condon, the 2024 SEC Player of the Year, is one of 25 student-athletes up for the award which is given annually to the nation’s top amateur baseball player. The 46^th Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 22 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN ahead of Game one of the College World Series Finals.

A 6-6, 216-pound native of Marietta, Ga., Condon leads the NCAA in batting (.451), home runs (35), slugging percentage (1.063) and total bases (219) plus is second in hits (93) and third in on base percentage (.567). He has made starts at third base, first base and all three outfield positions for the ninth-ranked Bulldogs who are 39-14. Recently, Condon was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy too. He was tabbed the Midseason Player of the Year by D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game USA. Condon was a 2023 semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy. LSU’s Dylan Crews is the most recent winner of the Golden Spikes Award.

Here is the 2024 Golden Spikes Award timeline:

• May 20: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, and fan voting begins
• June 3: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists fan voting ends
• June 5: Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, and fan voting begins
• June 21: Golden Spikes Award finalists fan voting ends
• June 22: Golden Spikes Award winner announced

Fan voting will again play a part in the Golden Spikes Award in 2024. Baseball fans can vote for their favorite players on GoldenSpikesAward.com, beginning today with the naming of the semifinalists. USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award on June 5, and fan voting will once again open at GoldenSpikesAward.com before closing on June 21.

BSB: Bulldogs earn SEC Honors

Georgia’s Charlie Condon has been named the 2024 SEC Player of the Year, Fernando Gonzalez made the All-Defensive team and Tre Phelps was tabbed Freshman All-SEC in a vote of the league’s coaches, the SEC announced Monday.

A 6-6, 216-pound native of Marietta, Ga., Condon leads the NCAA in batting average (.451), home runs (35), slugging percentage (1.063) and total bases (219) plus is second in hits (93) and third in on base percentage (.567). He has made starts at third base, first base and all three outfield positions for the ninth-ranked Bulldogs. Recently, Condon was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy too. Condon is just the second Bulldog to win SEC Player of the Year, joining Gordon Beckham (2008) since the league began the award in 1994. Condon is one of only two players in SEC history to win Player of the Year in his second season after being named the Freshman of the Year. Stephen Head (Ole Miss) did it in 2003-04. Also, Condon was named the First Team All-SEC third baseman.

A 5-10, 199-pound native of Panama City, Panama, Gonzalez has been recognized as the SEC’s top defensive catcher for the second straight year. He has added more responsibility this season calling pitches in-game plus has posted his best offensive numbers of his career. He is batting .291 with nine home runs and 48 RBI in his final collegiate season.

A 6-2, 204-pound native of Kennesaw, Ga., Phelps made the 12-member Freshman All-SEC squad. He ranks second on the team in batting at .370 with 11 doubles, nine home runs and 33 RBI. He has started at five different positions this year. A few of his highlights include being named SEC Player of the Week after helping the Bulldogs sweep No. 13 South Carolina in Columbia, and he had a pinch-hit two-run home run in a road win over top-ranked Texas A&M.

The SEC Pitcher of the Year went to Hagen Smith (Arkansas), the Freshman of the Year was Gavin Grahovac (Texas A&M), the Scholar-Athlete of the Year was Drew Beam (Tennessee), and Coach of the Year was Nick Mingione (Kentucky).

Georgia (39-14) opens the SEC Tournament Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET against LSU (36-20).

WBB: Brianna Patton returns to UGA as director of recruiting operations

Brianna Patton, who has spent the last three years as the director of women’s basketball recruiting at Ole Miss, will return to Georgia as the director of recruiting operations for Lady Bulldog basketball, head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson announced Monday.

The Conyers, Georgia, native graduated from the University of Georgia in 2018 with a degree in sport management. She was a member of the Lady Bulldogs’ staff as a manager during her time in school and also served as a graduate assistant on Coach ABE’s staff at UCF.

“Returning to Georgia as the director of recruiting operations is a dream come true,” Patton said. “As a Georgia graduate who worked with this program for several years and as a member of Coach ABE’s staff at UCF, this is the perfect fit for me. This University and this team hold a special place in my heart, and I look forward to joining this outstanding staff in this role.”

Patton was a member of a historic staff, leading the UCF Knights to a 26-4 season and its first win in NCAA Tournament history in 2021-22. UCF entered the NCAA Tournament on a 13-game winning streak, its longest in program history. As a graduate assistant, Patton was a key piece of day-to-day operations, practices and game planning. She also worked in assisting in recruiting operations and with the program’s academic advisors.

At Ole Miss, Patton helped the Rebels sign multiple top 10 recruiting classes during her three seasons.

Patton also spent time as a physical education teacher and coach for the Rockdale County Public Schools and worked as a gameday operations intern for the Atlanta Dream.

UGA Tennis: Thomas Paulsell advances to Round of 64 – Three women advance to Round of 32

Men

Thomas Paulsell of the Georgia men’s tennis team won his Round of 64 match at the NCAA Singles Championship on Monday morning, beating Boise State’s Sam Sippel by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the Greenwood Tennis Complex.  

Five Fast Facts

• Paulsell earned his ninth straight-set victory with the win and now holds 16 singles wins on the year.

• Sippel entered the match ranked No. 125 nationally, which marks the seventh ranked win for Paulsell this season, good for second-most on the team.

• With Paulsell advancing to the Round of 32, a Bulldog has now won at least one match in the NCAA Singles Championship in nine of the previous 10 tournaments. 

• Junior Ryan Colby’s season has come to an end following his 6-4, 6-2 loss in the Round of 64 to Virginia’s Dylan Dietrich. Colby finished his junior year with 20 singles wins, 10 of which came against ranked competition. 

• Paulsell’s next match will come against Dietrich in the Round of 32, Colby’s opening-round opponent.

Up Next

Paulsell’s next match in the Round of 32 will be played on Tuesday, May 21 at 10:30 p.m. ET. The NCAA Doubles Championships is set to begin on Tuesday as well, with freshmen Freddy Blaydes and Niels Ratiu preparing to take on Middle Tennessee State’s Ondrej Horak and Leo Raquin at 5:30 p.m.

Women

Representing the Georgia women’s tennis team in the NCAA Singles Championships, three Bulldogs in Anastasiia Lopata, Alexandra Vecic and Dasha Vidmanova each opened up their first day of competition with opening round victories to advance to the round of 32.

Five Fast Facts

• No. 70 Anastasiia Lopata picked up the first victory of the day for the Bulldogs with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 43 Valentina Ivanov (Cal).

• No. 41 Alexandra Vecic followed up as the second Bulldog with a win after knocking off No. 49 Katja Wiersholm (Cal), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

• No. 16 Dasha Vidmanova capped off the evening with the last result of the day, posting a comeback 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 35 Ellie Schoppe (FSU).

• Lopata’s victory over Ivanov on Monday marks her third-consecutive win in the last four days in singles action while tallying her ninth win in the last 10 finished singles matches.

• With a win over Schoppe, Vidmanova has now defeated seven ranked opponents in her last eight finished singles matches.

Up Next

The Bulldogs will resume competition at the NCAA Singles Championships second round on Tuesday, May 21 starting at 10 a.m. ET. Vidmanova will face Janice Tjen (Pepperdine) at 3 p.m. ET followed by Vecic taking on Alexandra Yepifanova (Stanford) and Lopata facing Fiona Crawley (UNC) at 3:30 p.m. ET. A fourth Bulldog in Aysegul Mert will begin competition alongside Vidmanova in the opening round of the the NCAA Doubles Championships set to begin on Tuesday, where they will take on Xinyi Nong and Isabella Pfennig (Miami) at 7 p.m. ET.

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