Georgia holds off Mississippi State to advance to College World Series

Georgia baseball is heading to Omaha for the first time (in forever) since 2008. The Bulldogs held off the Mississippi State Bulldogs 11-9 on Sunday to sweep the Athens Super Regional at Foley Field.

Georgia jumped out to a big lead, not a lot unlike the lead Mississippi State had on Saturday morning.

Wes Johnson’s squad had to walk Mississippi State down and earn game one to come away with the 1-0 lead in the series going into Sunday.

The Bulldogs’ offense continued the hot run it got on in the second half of Saturday’s win. On Saturday, Georgia had to rally from a 7-0 deficit. On Sunday, the Bulldogs held a 7-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Georgia found a lot of different ways to score runs on Sunday. In the first inning, the Bulldogs scored their first two runs without having to get a hit and drive them in.

Georgia got a sacrifice fly to drive in from Rylan Lujo to drive in Tre Phelps in his return from his one-game suspension. Later in the inning, Ryan Wynn grounded out to drive in Daniel Jackson.

The home run ball came into play in the second. Kolby Branch launched a solo home run to open the inning. Georgia got a bases-loaded walk from Kenny Ishikawa to score the fourth run of their day.

Brennan Hudson hit a solo home run in the third inning. A Michael O’Shaughnessy sacrifice fly gave Georgia another run in the fourth inning.

Phelps drove in a run on a groundout.

Back and forth

Then, the momentum swung toward Mississippi State. Mississippi State got two runs in the sixth inning, three in the seventh inning and then two in the eighth.

By the top of the eighth, Georgia’s lead was gone. Branch hit his second home run of the game to put Georgia on top again. The next half-inning, a Jacob Parker two-run home run put Mississippi State back on top.

Georgia responded. A Brennan Hudson single drove in Ishikawa, who walked earlier in the inning. The Georgia threat of more ended with a strikeout of Wynn.

For another inning, there was another new hero for Georgia; Jackson blasted a two-run home run to put Georgia on top in the 10th inning.

Georgia pitching carries heavy load

The Bulldogs leaned on Caden Aoki on Sunday. Aoki went 121 pitches. He went 5.2 innings, allowed eight hits, four runs and struck out nine.

Zach Brown was welcomed with some Mississippi State offense. Brown allowed three runs in his 1 third inning of work. Matt Scott went two innings. Justin Byrd came in and pitched a perfect ninth inning to send the game to extra innings.

Byrd got the ball for the last three outs after walking two batters. Byrd got the win and the save for Georgia.

What’s Next?

Georgia will travel to Omaha, where it will face the winner of Texas and Oregon and vie for a national championship over the next week.