HOOVER, AL — The Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs 5-3 on Thursday afternoon in the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
The game began at 12:04 p.m. and lasted two hours and 50 minutes. It was played in 77-degree, overcast weather.
Georgia opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when Kolby Branch hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Kenny Ishikawa. Mississippi State tied the game 1-1 in the top of the third when Chone James lined an RBI single through the right side to bring home Ryder Woodson.
The game’s pivotal moment came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Georgia’s Brennan Hudson delivered the game-winning hit, blasting a three-run home run to right field that scored Ryan Wynn and Rylan Lujo to give Georgia a 4-1 advantage. Mississippi State cut the deficit to 4-2 in the sixth on an RBI single to right field by Ace Reese that scored Gehrig Frei. Georgia added an insurance run in the seventh when Ishikawa drew a bases-loaded walk to score Tre Phelps. Mississippi State’s Noah Sullivan closed the scoring with a solo home run to left-center in the top of the ninth inning.
Hudson led the Georgia offense, going 1-for-3 with the crucial three-run homer. Ishikawa also contributed a hit, two walks, an RBI, and a run scored, while Wynn recorded a pair of hits. Sullivan paced Mississippi State at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a home run, and Reed Stallman also collected two hits in the contest.
Georgia starting pitcher Joey Volchko (9-2) earned the victory, allowing two earned runs on seven hits over five innings while striking out one. Relief pitcher Matt Scott secured his fifth save of the season, shutting the door over the final four innings, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out three. Mississippi State starter Duke Stone (6-3) took the loss, surrendering four earned runs on six hits over 3 1/3 innings while striking out four.
“I felt Joey came out and really attacked the strike zone early,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said. “Then obviously you know Brennan comes up and gets off a really good swing and puts one in the seats. That really, really, obviously, settled the game down”.
Mississippi State head coach Brian O’Connor praised his team’s fight despite coming up short. “I thought we battled the whole game even there in the ninth inning,” O’Connor noted. “Obviously, the three-run home run was the difference in the ball game”.
With the victory, Georgia improves to 44-12 and advances to the tournament semifinals on Saturday, May 23, at noon CT. Mississippi State falls to 40-17 and is eliminated from the SEC Tournament.
This was created with AI assistance using content provided by the SEC, and edited for content and accuracy by the webmaster.
