ATHENS – Georgia baseball can make a statement to the SEC when No. 8 Alabama visits Foley Field this weekend.

The Bulldogs (18-4, 0-3 SEC), who are looking to regain respect in the conference, need a quick turnaround after an ugly sweep at Kentucky last weekend. The Crimson Tide (18-3, 2-1) will roll into Athens at 6 p.m. on Friday before a noon game on Saturday and a 1 p.m. finale on Sunday.

UGA coach Wes Johnson needs a much sharper weekend on the mound than he got in Lexington. His staff allowed 37 runs in their first weekend of SEC play.

Johnson, a pitching coach at heart, constantly harps on pounding the strike zone. The first-year SEC head coach knows the importance of attacking hitters and putting an offense on its heels.

The Bulldogs did throw strikes last weekend. They were just too hittable. Georgia walked 15 batters – still likely too many for Johnson’s standard – but allowed 38 hits, including eight home runs.

Kentucky entered the weekend with 12 homers in the first month of play.

“At times, it was like we weren’t in the zone enough,” Johnson said. “But then when we were in the zone, it was … too middle.

“We’re throwing it in the zone, but we’re throwing it in the middle of the plate instead of off.”

Friday starter Charlie Goldstein will look to set the tone for UGA’s staff. Goldstein, who co-leads the team with 24 strikeouts, aims to bounce back from a six-run outing that lasted just 3.2 innings last week.

The Alpharetta product will face an Alabama lineup with the highest team batting average (.330) in the SEC.

Alabama’s ace will also take the mound Friday with redemption on his mind. Righthander Ben Hess gave up four earned runs in 3.2 innings to No. 5 Tennessee in his first SEC outing of the season.

Georgia’s offense, which still leads the country in home runs (63), hopes to see its nonconference numbers transfer more to SEC play this weekend. UGA scored just 15 runs on 13 hits last weekend.

The Bulldogs got back to bashing homers this week, hitting a season-high seven bombs against a 13-5 Wofford team.

That started with new leadoff man Corey Collins, who tied a school record with three homers against the Terriers on Tuesday.

Collins is one of two Georgia players to be in his fourth year with the program. He hit leadoff for the first time in his career last Sunday after homering twice the day before.

The Suwanee product has always been a power bat, but has tweaked his approach to fulfill his leadoff duty. Johnson simply wants Collins to find a way on base, especially with National Player of the Year candidate Charlie Condon batting right behind him.

“I quoted the Moneyball line today: Just get on base,” Johnson said. “If you don’t have someone on base in front of Charlie, it makes it real easy for them to put up four fingers and send him to first base.”

Johnson would love to see Collins’ hot streak continue this weekend as the Bulldogs look to turn the top-10 Tide away with a statement upset.