Georgia baseball’s explosive offense visits Rocky Top this weekend aiming to topple another top 25 SEC foe.

The Bulldogs (21-4, 3-3 SEC) plowed back into the thick of the conference by sweeping No. 16 Alabama last weekend. UGA looks to roll that momentum into Tennessee’s hostile Lindsey Nelson Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

No one has matched UGA’s power this season. Georgia leads the country in homers (74), slugging percentage (.664), and OPS (1.121).

The No. 5-ranked Volunteers are right behind the Bulldogs in all three categories with 68 home runs, a .651 slugging percentage and a 1.087 OPS.

Statistically, at the least, it’s a clash of the two most powerful offenses in the sport.

Georgia aims to fare better in Knoxville than it did in its first SEC road trip. The Bulldogs opened conference action victims of a sweep at the massive Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington.

UGA catcher Henry Hunter shared the team’s mental adjustments as it fights for its first SEC road win of the season.

“We talked as a team, and we talked about just taking things a little bit more personal,” Hunter said. “We want to show up and beat somebody. It’s not always a bad thing to not be so nice.”

Veteran SEC coach Wes Johnson understood the difficulty of winning in the conference long before the Kentucky series. The lack of hospitality from fellow SEC fan bases certainly plays a factor, but it’s not only about breaking into someone else’s home.

According to Johnson, it’s also about not being in your own.

Johnson, like every other coach in the SEC, recruited his team to cater to his home ballpark.

The first-year head coach referenced the Wildcats, who have hit the least home runs in the SEC. Kentucky plays in a particularly large ballpark, so the lineup is built to contact and speed.

Foley Field is a smaller park, prompting Johnson to focus his recruitment on powerful batters.

“You’re always looking for the big, fast guy who can steal bases,” Johnson said. “Those guys don’t typically show up on college campuses; they go to the (MLB Draft), but you want both. Obviously, you don’t get them, so what teams are figuring out is, let’s play to our ballpark.”

The good news for the Bulldogs – at least compared to their first SEC road series – is that Lindsey Nelson Stadium is actually smaller than Foley Field in most places.

Georgia won’t need to overpower a pitcher’s ballpark like it did in Lexington. It can focus instead on Tennessee’s pitchers.

The Volunteer staff boasts the third-best team ERA (3.25) and opponent batting average (.219) in the SEC.

Tennessee ace AJ Causey will face off against Georgia’s Charlie Goldstein on the mound on Friday. Causey has allowed six earned runs in four starts this season and boasts a 5-0 record with wins over Alabama and Ole Miss.

Goldstein enters Friday with a 5.16 ERA, which has ballooned since surrendering 11 earned runs in his first two SEC starts.

Goldstein looks to earn one of Georgia’s most monumental wins yet. A home SEC series sent the team in the right direction, but a Friday night road upset of Tennessee would send a whole new message to the country.

National media have already begun paying attention and respect, as UGA cracked several top 25 polls for the first time since 2022 this week. These Bulldogs have tasted victory in the SEC and appear far from satisfied.

“If that gets us into a regional, then I care about it,” Johnson said on his team’s top 25 rankings. “If it doesn’t, it doesn’t mean anything. ... There’s been a lot of teams ranked at this point in time in the season to not make a regional tournament.”