TALLAHASSEE, Fla. --- If Georgia lives and dies by its power production, the Bulldogs were living well Friday.

Led by three home runs from former Greenbrier standout Rich Poythress and two each from Joey Lewis and Matt Cerione, Georgia tied a season high with seven homers -- the first four of which came against All-America ace Alex Wimmers -- in its 24-8 win over Ohio State in the first game of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.

"We just figured some things out this week and put it to good use today. It was good to see," said Georgia coach David Perno, whose team faces the winner of Friday's Florida State-Marist game at 4 p.m. today. "We are not gonna get through this deal and not do the things you want to do with (Poythress, Lewis and Cerione). I've been saying it for two weeks. You saw what they can do when they get it going."

Things quickly fell apart for Wimmers (9-2) after a bizarre first-inning play where Georgia's Peter Verdin reached on a one-out throwing error by Ohio State third baseman Justin Miller and advanced to third base before coming around to score when nobody covered home plate. The next nine batters reached base -- including a solo homer by Cerione and a three-run shot by Lewis -- and the Bulldogs led 8-0 by the end of the inning.

Lewis later crushed a deep solo homer to left and Poythress added a solo shot against Wimmers, the co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Year who had allowed only five home runs all season. The sophomore right-hander threw 103 pitches and allowed 10 runs -- eight earned -- in only four innings.

"No matter what the circumstances are, I'm still going to go out there and battle," Wimmers said. "I just left a few pitches up. Actually, I left pitches up all day, did not hit my spots, and they took advantage of it."

Poythress later hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and a grand slam in the eighth. He reached base in all six of his plate appearances, finishing 4-for-4 with seven RBI and two walks.

Lewis, whose homers were his 17th and 18th of the year, finished 3-for-5 with four RBI.

"I know for me it was getting very frustrating. I had a streak where I was hitting the ball all over the ballpark and then I hit a streak where I wasn't. I was trying to force it," said Lewis, who had homered only once in the previous 12 games. "Today I just took a step back, took a deep breath and swung at 70 percent and good things happened."

Cerione's homers were his 11th and 12th of the season. He finished 5-for-6 with four runs, five RBI and a walk.

"I'm just trying to get on base for the big sluggers behind me. I'm just trying to do my job," Cerione said.

Georgia starter Justin Grimm (4-4) pitched the first five innings and left with a 10-2 lead after a series of lengthy weather delays postponed the game by more than five hours in the middle of the fifth. Grimm allowed six hits and two earned runs, striking out five and walking two.

Friday represented a welcome return of the long ball to Georgia's offense after a drought that figured heavily into the team's recent offensive woes. The Bulldogs hit only one home run in their previous six games after starting the season with at least one homer in 29 of their first 31 games.

They were excited about hitting in a ballpark like Florida State's Dick Howser Stadium, with inviting short fences down the lines, and they wasted no time showing why they were excited.

"I think it was three weeks of pent-up frustration that came out," said Perno, whose team lost 14 of its past 19 games before Friday.