Georgia
Georgia's Charlie Condon Pursues NCAA Records — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects – Baseball America
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Charlie Condon (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Charlie Condon’s season has already been remarkable and record setting, and there’s still at least another month to play.
Condon last weekend broke both the program’s single-season and career home run records, which were both held by Gordon Beckham, who homered 28 times in 2008 and 54 times in his career. Condon homered again Tuesday in a win at Kennesaw State, his 30th in 44 games this season. He leads the nation in both home runs and home run rate (0.68 per game).
Condon is hitting .456/.563/1.088 with 30 home runs, 37 walks and 35 strikeouts in 44 games. He is the top-ranked prospect in the draft class and projects to become the first player in program history to be drafted in the top four selections. He and the Bulldogs on Friday open a crucial SEC East series against No. 14 Vanderbilt.
Condon now is also at the precipice of more history. The most home runs a player has hit in a single season in the 21st century is 33, jointly held by Florida’s Jac Caglianone (2023) and Gonzaga’s Nate Gold (2002).
At his current pace, Condon is still six games away from breaking that record. But he’s also fully capable of going on home-run binges. Condon has homered in four straight games and has homered three times in three of Georgia’s seven SEC series. So, at least matching the mark has to be considered a possibility this weekend.
Georgia has nine games left in the regular season and is on track to make both the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, which would guarantee the Bulldogs three more games, with the possibility for many more. As long as Condon stays healthy, his pursuit of the 21st century record now appears to be a matter of when, not if.
Once that record falls, the next mark will be the SEC record of 40 home runs in a season, which was set by LSU’s Brandon Larson in 1997. At his current pace, Condon needs to play 15 more games to reach that mark. Even with just nine games left in the regular season, the Bulldogs (32-12, 10-11) can relatively easily play at least 15 more games this year thanks to the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament (the NCAA, unlike MLB, count all games, regular season or postseason, toward official records).
If Condon does reach 40 home runs this season, he will have reached truly rarified air for a college slugger. Only four players have hit 40 home runs in Division I history: Larson, Rice’s Lance Berkman (40, 1997), Florida State’s Jeff Ledbetter (42, 1982) and Oklahoma State’s Pete Incaviglia (48, 1985).
Condon in all likelihood will not make any sort of run at Incaviglia’s Division I record. To reach that mark at his current rate, Condon would need to play 27 more games, which would require Georgia to reach the finals of both the SEC Tournament and the College World Series.
The 21st century career home runs record of 74, held by Florida’s Matt LaPorta, is also likely beyond Condon’s reach—especially because LSU’s Tommy White and Florida’s Caglianone are likely to break that mark in the coming weeks, pushing it even further beyond Condon’s reach. He will likely finish his career in the top 10 in SEC history, as he needs just five more home runs to break into a group that includes LSU’s Eddy Funiss (80) and Mississippi State’s Rafael Palmerio (67) and Will Clark (61).
Condon’s exploits go far beyond his power prowess, however. He also leads the national batting race at .456. No player has led the nation in both home runs and batting since Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz hit .465 with 28 home runs in 2009. Condon ranks 10th in the nation in RBIs (63), meaning he’ll likely fall short of the triple crown. The last player to win college baseball’s triple crown was Indiana’s Mike Smith in 1992.
Condon’s batting average today is just the third best in Georgia history, falling behind Ronnie Braddock’s .489 (1962) and Charley Trippi’s .464 (1946). But those two players combined for 157 at-bats in their banner seasons. Condon already has 171. Condon is on track to set the SEC’s 21st century single-season record for hitting. That’s currently held by Tennessee’s Chris Burke, who hit .435 in 2001.
Condon and Georgia undoubtedly have their sights set on an NCAA Tournament appearance and a deep postseason run. But the rest of Condon’s season will also very much be about his pursuit of records and cementing his legacy as one of the best home run hitters in college baseball history.
Georgia
Federal defunding of public media raises concerns for Georgia stations from viewers, educators
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — More than $1 billion in federal funding is being pulled from public media nationwide, money that supports more than 1,500 television and radio stations across the country.
For nearly six decades, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) helped deliver children’s programming, public affairs reporting and emergency information to homes across the state. Shows like “Sesame Street” introduced generations of children to letters, numbers and social-emotional learning.
“I loved learning, and having educational programming right there made a big difference,” said Bailey Matthews.
In Georgia, the cuts are raising concerns about jobs, children’s educational programming, and access to news and emergency alerts, particularly in rural communities.
Educators and child development experts say programs featuring puppets as characters can be especially effective for young learners.
“Kids see a puppet as a living character, and that makes learning easier,” said Beth Schiavo, executive director for the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts.
Congress voted last year to defund CPB through the Rescissions Act of 2025, clawing back $1.1 billion that had already been approved. This week, CPB’s board voted to dissolve the organization entirely.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting votes itself out of existence
Some Georgia Republicans who supported the move say the decision comes down to federal spending priorities and concerns about political bias in public media.
“The news that these entities produced is either resented or increasingly tuned out and turned off by most of the hardworking Americans who are forced to pay for it,” said former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
The loss of federal funding has immediate financial implications for Georgia stations. Georgia Public Broadcasting says CPB funding made up about 10% of its budget, or roughly $4.2 million this year.
At Atlanta’s WABE, the city’s PBS affiliate and main NPR affiliate, they must replace $1.9 million — about 13% of their annual budget.
Both GPB and WABE say they are not shutting down but acknowledge the loss of federal support means relying more heavily on donations and community backing moving forward.
“Public radio, to continue to be funded, allows for us to meet the needs of people who live in news deserts,” said NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher.
Former Georgia Teacher of the Year Tracey Nance said the impact extends beyond broadcasting. The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute estimates more than 77,000 Georgia teachers have accessed GPB educational content more than four million times.
“It is absolutely providing essential services — not a luxury, but essential services that provide a foundation that all kids deserve,” said Nance.
Nance is calling on state lawmakers to use the state surplus to intervene.
Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.
Georgia
Georgia Deports Citizens of 6 Countries, Including Azerbaijan
Employees of the Migration Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, as part of recent special operations, have deported 13 citizens from Turkmenistan, Iran, Cuba, Türkiye, Thailand, and Azerbaijan.
According to the information released by the ministry, the Migration Department carried out comprehensive immigration control measures in close coordination with the relevant departments, The Caspian Post reports, citing local media.
It is noted that, under current legislation, deported persons are prohibited from re-entering the country.
According to official statistics, the total number of foreign citizens deported from Georgia last year was 1,311.
Georgia
Georgia attains highest AP Top 25 ranking since 2003, with Florida on deck
No. 18 Bulldogs bring 13-1 record into Tuesday night game against defending national champion Gators in Gainesville.
Georgia coach Mike White (right) talks with guard Jeremiah Wilkinson during the Bulldogs’ win against Cincinnati in a Holiday Hoopsgiving game Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Georgia won 84-65. (Jason Getz/AJC)
ATHENS — Georgia basketball is back on the map, ranked in the AP Top 25 for a third consecutive week for the first time in nearly 23 years.
The Bulldogs (13-1, 1-0 SEC) are ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25, up five spots from last week’s ranking, on the strength of a 104-100 overtime win over Auburn on Saturday.
It’s the highest Georgia has been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll since Jim Harrick coached the program and came in at No. 17 on Feb. 3, 2003 — the most recent season UGA has been ranked in the poll three or more consecutive weeks.
Unbeaten teams Arizona (14-0), Michigan (13-0) and Iowa State (14-0) hold the top three spots in this week’s AP Top 25, with UConn (14-1) and Purdue (13-1) rounding out the top five.
Vanderbilt (14-0, 1-0) is the SEC’s highest-ranked AP Top 25 team, coming in at No. 11, while Alabama (11-3, 1-0) is at No. 13, Arkansas (11-3, 1-0) is No. 15 and then No. 18 Georgia is the league’s fourth-highest-ranked team entering into this week’s games.
“Our guys have been so eager, probably like most teams in our league and throughout other leagues, at the highest level of college basketball,” UGA fourth-year coach Mike White said about the start of SEC play.
“We were playing a bunch of midmajors through the holidays, and you can’t let the moment be too big.”
Georgia’s schedule strength jumped from 298th to 231st with the win over Auburn, and it figures to get another boost when the Bulldogs play at Florida (9-5, 0-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“Our confidence comes from within, we know what we have in our locker room,” said Georgia guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, a transfer from Cal who scored 31 in the win over Auburn and leads the Bulldogs with 18.3 points per game this season.
“We knew what we were capable of before coming into the (Auburn) game, and we told each other before the game: Let’s act like we’re supposed to win the game. Let’s act like we’re supposed to be here.”
Georgia leads the nation in scoring offense (99.4 points per game), fast-break points (27.0 per game) and blocked shots (8.0 per game).
The Gators, featuring preseason All-SEC players Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Boogie Fland, were the media’s preseason pick to win the league.
Georgia — which didn’t have a player picked on the first, second or third team — was picked to finish 14th in the SEC.
White, who coached Florida from 2015-2022, leading the Gators to four NCAA tournaments and an Elite Eight appearance in 2017, said Georgia is looking forward to the opportunity to play the defending national champion.
“We’ll fly around, we’ll play hard, we’ll be prepared,” White said. “This team has a pretty healthy level of intrinsic confidence, and you’ll need that to be competitive down there against a team that’s coming off a national championship.”
Georgia split with Florida last season, losing 89-59 in Gainesville, Florida, on Jan. 25 and then handing the Gators their last loss of the season, 88-83, on Feb. 25 in Athens.
“It’s nothing different than what we’ve just seen tonight (against Auburn),” said UGA guard Marcus “Smurf” Millender, who leads Georgia with 54 assists and a 40% 3-point shooting clip.
“They put their jerseys on like we put our jerseys on. We’re going to give them our best game and hope they bring it too.”
Florida fell out of the AP Top 25 poll this week after losing its SEC-opening game at Missouri 76-74 on Saturday and is among other teams still receiving votes.
Georgia has lost six consecutive games in Gainesville dating back to a 61-55 win on March 2, 2019, in Tom Crean’s first year leading the Bulldogs.
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