Coming into one of the busiest weekends of the year for all of athletics, Georgia baseball somehow found their way to the top of national media headlines. The Final Four, Masters Week and the debut of the number one major league prospect all took a step to the side as the country watched a feat occur that has not occurred since 2008 in Starkville.
Mississippi State is known for many things as a university. Agriculture, cowbells at football games and one of the premier baseball programs in America. Their stadium boasts large attendance turnouts, extremely long waitlists for exclusive areas that rival the Green Bay Packers ticket list, along with having an illustrious list of alumni playing in the big leagues. Proving to be arguably the toughest place to play in the entire country, many baseball talking heads and analysts across the world of sports media claimed this would be the weekend that the Diamond Dawgs would be proven frauds. They made outlandish claims against the pitching staff, and all but a select few gave State the nod to win the whole series with many picking them to sweep the No. 5 ranked Dawgs.
However, this all proved to be false. Opening on Thursday night, Tre Phelps got the party in Starkvegas started with a three run home run in the second to open the gate early with a lead. However, his night did not end there as he eventually knocked in the most crucial run of the game later in the evening on an RBI single. The Dawgs were out hit on paper by State, but their knocks came when it entirely mattered most. Big swings in big moments make all of the difference in baseball, and this team capitalized in critical moments with runners on facing this stout opponent.
On the mound, Joey Volchko maintained his impressive start to the season picking up his sixth win so far with five innings pitched giving up only two earned runs and striking out eight. The starting pitching that has been critiqued and claimed to be fraudulent took the message to heart and brought out their best. Followed by Volchko, Justin Byrd struggled through his two innings of work giving up five hits and five earned runs while facing only twelve batters. This uncharacteristic performance did not faze the Dawgs; however, Caden Aoki brought the ship back to course in order to close the game out with two solid innings of work picking up the save in a 10-9 victory.
On Friday, offensive activity proved to be hard to come by as a pair of Bulldog homers proved to be basically it for the usually high powered offense, but this did not matter with Dylan Vigue on the mound. Vigue brought to the table 5.1 innings along with only one earned run given up for the Dawgs even though there were some minor struggles with command. Six walks is an uncharacteristic number for the dominant transfer, but he was able to have a short term memory and quickly find his rhythm on the mound even with significant traffic on the bases. His incredible effort along with Paul Farley and Matt Scott proved all of the doubters wrong as they only gave up a single run to the No. 4 home team in the country in a game where State appeared to be looking to bounce back.
The series finale was an all out desperation effort from Mississippi State. Being swept at home, under the lights, on the biggest stage is never something that any dominant team in the conference wants to have happen. A home field advantage is so crucial in college baseball. The home team sleeps in their own bed, eats their usual pregame meal, works out and prepares for battle in their usual facility before the contest. All advantages are given to them during these games, but this did not matter Saturday. Rylan Lujo boasted a three hit day at the plate for the Dawgs with a crucial homerun to keep the team in the baseball game. His three run shot put the Dawgs back in front as the game then went to extra innings after offensive activity stalled out after six innings of play. Michael O’Shaughnessy stepped up when it mattered most in extra innings delivering another three run homer for the Dawgs, and giving them a noticeable lead to play with in the bottom of the inning.
On the hill, it took a literal army to conquer State in the series finale, but Caden Aoki picked up his second win of the series with another impressive performance helping the Diamond Dawgs accomplish the impressive feat in achieving the sweep.
On the surface, this appeared to be an impressive accomplishment for Coach Wes Johnson’s Dawgs, but anyone who knows the history of UGA baseball knows what happened last time this occurred in 2008: a trip to Omaha. Now, there is a lot of baseball left to play, but it is safe to say that if this team plays like this the rest of the way, there is no stopping this Georgia baseball machine. Elite offense, resilient pitching, and excellent defense have separated this team from the pack so far in many eyes. The Diamond Dawgs take on Presbyterian tonight at Foley Field followed by a visit from those Florida Gators this weekend.