ATHENS — For the first time in 18 years, Georgia baseball is headed back to Omaha.
Behind a relentless offense, timely pitching, and a resilience forged through years of postseason heartbreak, the thirdseeded Bulldogs swept No. 14 Mississippi State in the Athens Super Regional, winning a pair of thrilling games at a sold-out Foley Field last week to secure the program’s first College World Series berth since 2008.
Georgia opened the weekend with a dramatic 13-12 comeback victory Saturday before clinching the series Sunday with an 11-9 extra-inning win, improving to 51-12 and earning the program’s seventh trip to the College World Series.
The sweep marked Georgia’s fifth Super Regional championship and the first time the Bulldogs have ever swept a Super Regional on their home field.
“It was just a bunch of resilient guys,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said. “You saw the fruition of all that work come through.”
That resilience was on display throughout the weekend.
In Saturday’s opener, Georgia found itself facing a seven-run deficit after Mississippi State erupted for six runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead.
The Bulldogs never panicked. Junior catcher Daniel Jackson started the comeback with a solo home run in the fourth inning, his 30th of the season. Moments later, Rylan Lujo followed with a homer of his own as Georgia began chipping away at the deficit.
Ryan Wynn scored on a sacrifice fly from Jack Arcamone before Ryan Black delivered a two-run double to cut the lead to 7-5.
Georgia seized control in the fifth inning when Michael O’Shaughnessy crushed a two-run homer to tie the game before Kolby Branch lined a two-run double that put the Bulldogs in front.
Lujo added his second home run of the day in the sixth inning, but Mississippi State continued answering in a slugfest that featured 11 combined home runs.
With the game hanging in the balance during the eighth inning, O’Shaughnessy delivered again, launching a three-run homer that proved to be the difference. He finished with five RBIs as Georgia completed one of its most impressive comebacks of the season.
Joey Volchko struck out six batters over five innings in the start, while Grant Edwards earned the victory in relief. Justin Byrd recorded the final three outs for his eighth save.
One day later, the Bulldogs found themselves in another battle.
Georgia jumped out to an early lead Sunday, scoring two runs in each of the first two innings while receiving another strong offensive performance from its veteran lineup.
Brennan Hudson blasted his 21st home run of the season in the third inning, while Branch continued his hot weekend with solo home runs in both the second and seventh innings to establish a new career high with 19 homers.
Graduate starter Caden Aoki kept Mississippi State in check for much of the afternoon, striking out nine batters across 5.2 innings.
But just as it had throughout the weekend, Mississippi State refused to go away. The visiting Bulldogs launched five home runs between the sixth and eighth innings, including three consecutive solo shots in the seventh, to erase Georgia’s lead and move in front 9-8 entering the ninth inning.
Facing the possibility of a winnertake- all Game 3, Georgia answered one final time.
Hudson delivered a clutch RBI single in the ninth inning to score Kenny Ishikawa and tie the game at 9-9.
Byrd then worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth to force extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Georgia’s biggest star stepped to the plate.
Jackson, a National Player of the Year finalist, launched a two-run home run to give Georgia an 11-9 lead. The blast was his team-leading 31st homer of the season and ultimately sent the Bulldogs to Omaha.
Byrd returned to the mound and closed the door in the bottom of the inning, recording the final strikeout that sparked a celebration more than a decade in the making.
The victory carried extra significance for several players and coaches who had experienced the heartbreak of Georgia’s 2024 Super Regional loss at Foley Field, a defeat that left the team one win short of Omaha.
Senior shortstop Kolby Branch said that memory never left the program.
“That hurt me, Tre [Phelps], Coach Wes, Paul Farley, Luke Wiltrakis,” Branch said. “I remember going to bed that night knowing we were going to Omaha, we were going to win this game, and it just didn’t work out. That’s how baseball is.
“So now that we’ve got that second game, and now we are on to Omaha, it’s kind of a full-circle moment.”
For Johnson, the weekend was a testament to a team that has repeatedly responded when challenged.
“I tell our guys all the time, I think toughness gets a bad rap,” Johnson said. “People think it’s some kind of physical element, and it’s not. You have to learn to have great endurance and understand that our game is really long. Teams are going to get emotional. Those emotions are going to carry you out of what you normally do every day. You just saw a bunch of resilient guys.”
Now, after sweeping through the Athens Super Regional and surviving two unforgettable games against Mississippi State, Georgia will take that resilience to college baseball’s biggest stage.
The Bulldogs will open College World Series play against Texas at 8 p.m. Saturday, with the game set to be televised on ESPN.