HOOVER, AL — The top-seeded Georgia Bulldogs staged a dramatic comeback, rallying from a massive early deficit to defeat the Florida Gators 8-7 on Saturday afternoon in the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament semifinals.
Played at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, the game began at 12:02 p.m. and lasted three hours and 19 minutes. Weather conditions were 81 degrees and mostly cloudy, and the contest featured a one-hour weather delay in the seventh inning.
Florida stormed out to a 6-0 lead in the early innings. Blake Cyr opened the scoring in the top of the first with a solo home run to center field. In the third, Cyr struck again with a two-run single that brought home Hayden Yost and Cade Kurland. Caden McDonald immediately followed with a towering three-run home run to left field, scoring Cyr and Brendan Lawson.
Georgia methodically chipped away at the lead starting in the fourth inning. Brennan Hudson lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Rylan Lujo. Kolby Branch then lined an RBI double to left-center to score Kenny Ishikawa, and Ryan Black followed with an RBI double to score Branch. In the fifth inning, Daniel Jackson scored on a wild pitch to cut Florida’s lead to 6-4.
Florida pushed its advantage to 7-4 in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Cyr. Following the hour-long rain delay, Georgia responded in the bottom of the seventh when Ishikawa roped a two-run double to left-center, scoring Lujo and Jackson. In the decisive eighth inning, the Bulldogs claimed the lead for good without recording a hit. Tre Phelps tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Branch, and Jackson delivered the go-ahead RBI with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Black. Because the final run scored via a sacrifice fly, an official game-winning hit was not recorded.
Cyr carried the Gators offensively, going 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs. Ishikawa paced the Bulldogs at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
On the mound, Georgia relief pitcher Justin Byrd (4-2) earned the victory, shutting out the Gators over the final two hitless innings with two strikeouts. Florida reliever Luke Whritenour (3-4) took the loss, surrendering three runs (one earned) on three hits over 1 2/3 innings. No save was recorded in the contest.
“Well, first of all, congrats to Georgia. They obviously played really, really well today. They just chipped away,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I’m really proud of the way our team played this week.”
Georgia head coach Wes Johnson praised his team’s relentless fight. “Florida came out and got a really good punch in on us,” Johnson noted. “I thought we were able to persevere… we actually won a game and didn’t homer.” Georgia’s Tre Phelps emphasized the team’s composure late in the game: “We all knew we just need to put together good at-bats like we’ve been doing all year at that critical point of the game.”
With the victory, Georgia improves to 45-12 and advances to the SEC Tournament Championship game on Sunday, May 24 at 1 PM CT on ABC TV. Florida falls to 39-19 and is eliminated from the tournament.
This was created with AI assistance using content provided by the SEC, and edited for content and accuracy by the webmaster.
