Josh Holliday calls out Georgia, Slate Alford for bat flip, heated moment in elimination game

Tensions have been high for the Athens Regional with elimination on the line. In particular, Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday wasn’t happy with how the Georgia Bulldogs celebrated during their third-inning rally.

Following multiple bat flips, Holliday went out to speak with umpires during the elimination game. While speaking to the ESPN2 broadcast in the fourth inning, Holliday called out Georgia and specifically the bat flips by Slate Alford and Christian Adams.

“I don’t want to get too much into that,” Josh Holliday said. “Obviously, we have rules and when you warn people about rules and talk about rules, and then whatever plays out behind it, you’re just curious what the conversations were about to begin with. So, just wanted to know what was going on. So, I was just in the loop with where we’re at on these things. It’s part in the past. Just gotta move forward.”

Slate Alford 2 run shot and taunts Oklahoma State 😬😬😬 pic.twitter.com/8klWHbiBVp

— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) June 1, 2025

Slate Alford got the rally going for Georgia in the third inning with a massive home run that he took his time to celebrate and flipped his bat toward the Oklahoma State dugout. At that point, warnings were issued for sportsmanship. Still, a couple of batters later, Christian Adams hit a home run and similarly took his time to admire it and flipped his bat in the general direction of the Cowboys.

At that point, the Oklahoma State bench made their frustrations known to the umpires. There was also a discussion as tempers seemed to rise between the two teams. However, seemingly no punishment would be handed out at that time.

“It’s not part of the game I was raised on,” Holliday said. “But it’s an emotional game. Kids are playing. Part of the environment. Just got to manage it and handle it. That’s all.”

In the fourth inning, Slate Alford launched another home run into orbit. On that, he began to watch the ball before the home plate umpire came up from behind on him to remind him to get a move on. He did so without a large bat flip. That would draw no further warnings or reaction from Josh Holliday and the Cowboys.

Christian Adams hit his second home run in the fifth inning. Again, there were no similar fireworks following it with his celebration.

The winner of the game between Oklahoma State and Georgia will survive to take on Duke later in the day for a double-header. The winner of that game against Duke will also be the winner of the Athens Regional who advances to the Super Regional. As the host, the Bulldogs entered as a favorite but dropped their game against Duke. Oklahoma State also fell at the hands of the Blue Devils.