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BSB: South Carolina Series Continues Today
Fourth-ranked Georgia defeated South Carolina, 5-2, in the weekend series opener at Foley Field on Friday night before a crowd of 3,438 fans.
Fast Facts
- Junior Joey Volchko (5-0) got the start on the mound for Georgia (21-6, 5-2 SEC) and allowed just two runs with six strikeouts across 6.2 innings of work for the win. South Carolina (13-14, 1-6 SEC) starter Josh Gunther (2-2) suffered the loss after tossing 4.0 innings with five runs off three hits. Senior Justin Byrd (3) got the save on his birthday after relieving Volchko in the seventh and struck out five to end the game.
- South Carolina stuck first in the second with one run off an RBI single. The Bulldogs answered in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single of their own from sophomore Kenny Ishikawa.
- Later in the second inning, junior Daniel Jackson stepped to the plate with bases loaded and launched his third grand slam of the season and 16th overall home run to give Georgia a 5-1 lead.
- Volchko then held the Gamecocks to four scoreless innings, collecting four strikeouts in the process.
- South Carolina added a second run to the board in the seventh before Byrd took the mound and finished the game for the Bulldogs, 5-2.
Game two of the series will be Saturday at 2 p.m. ET (SECN+) and the final game of the series Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. ET (SECN+).
*Georgia (20-6, 4-2 SEC), ranked as high as No. 4 in the national polls this week, is tied for the SEC lead with a 4-2 league mark. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks (13-13, 1-5 SEC) are coming off midweek losses. The Bulldogs fell to Kennesaw State 10-7 in Athens while No. 13 UNC defeated USC 9-1 in Charlotte. Georgia was leading the nation in fielding at .989 but made three errors Tuesday (two by pitchers, one by an INF) to drop to second overall at .987.
*Last weekend in the SEC, the Bulldogs went to No. 21 Texas A&M and registered their first ever series win in College Station. Also, the Aggies were 14-0 at home this year before the series with the Bulldogs. Georgia hit .283 with 11 home runs during the Texas A&M series with Sunday’s 18-5 loss skewing the pitching numbers after 9-4 and 8-2 wins in the first two games. Redshirt junior Justin Byrd (4.1 IP, 2H, 0R, 4K) and Matt Scott (5 IP, 5H, 1R, 6K) provided stellar relief to earn wins in the first two games.
*Meanwhile, USC dropped a home series to No. 4 Arkansas 2-1. After the Razorbacks 22-6 win last Friday, the Gamecocks made a leadership change as Paul Maineri and USC agreed to part ways. Monte Lee was named interim coach. In his first game in that role last Saturday, USC led 2-1 going to the ninth only to have Arkansas tie it up and then win 3-2 in 10 innings. USC avoided a sweep with a 9-4 win on Sunday.
*The Bulldogs are 17-5 at home this year. USC holds a slim 71-69 edge in the series over the Bulldogs that dates to 1896. The last series came in 2024 when Georgia posted a sweep in Columbia over the then No. 14 Gamecocks.
Georgia-USC Pitching Rotation
Game 1: Joey Volchko (4-0, 4.23 ERA), RHP, Jr., vs. Josh Gunther (2-1, 6.33 ERA), RHP, Jr.
Game 2: Dylan Vigue (3-1, 2.30 ERA), RHP, Jr., vs. Amp Phillips (2-2, 2.32 ERA), RHP, Jr.
Game 3: Kenny Ishikawa (1-1, 9.35), LHP, So., vs. TBA
*Georgia’s rotation will be the same for the third straight league series.
*The Bulldogs have a 4.29 ERA with 276 strikeouts and 98 walks. Opponents are hitting .233.
*Georgia ranks 3rd nationally with five shutouts and 11th nationally in strikeouts/nine innings (11.5).
*USC has a 4.65 ERA with 348 strikeouts and 125 walks. Opponents are hitting .259.
Georgia Leads Nation In Home Runs And Slugging Percentage
*Georgia has an NCAA-leading 82 Home Runs and .676 SLG% plus is second in Fielding% (.987). Also, the Bulldogs rank fifth in runs (258) and OB% (.460), sixth in HPB (62) and eighth in scoring per game (9.9) and batting average (.333).
*Junior C Daniel Jackson leads the team with 15 home runs followed by senior SS Kolby Branch with 13, senior 1B/C Brennan Hudson with 11 and junior 3B Tre Phelps with 10. Branch ranks tied for seventh in Georgia history with 43 home runs and has 49 for his career counting the six he had for Baylor in 2023.
*Georgia is averaging an NCAA-leading 3.15 Home Runs per Game (HR/G) in 2026. The 2025 squad averaged 2.40 HR/G while the 2024 team averaged 2.52 HR/G. Georgia’s past two squads ranked 1-2 in school history in HR, Last season, the Bulldogs had a school-record eight players with double-digit HR as the team finished with 144. In 2024 when Georgia set a school mark with 151 HR, the Bulldogs had six players with 10+ HR including an NCAA-best 37 by Golden Spikes Award winner Charlie Condon who was the third overall pick in the MLB Draft that year (Colorado Rockies).
*USC is batting .259 with 34 home runs and fielding .962. They average 5.5 runs per game.
Bulldog Quotes On The Upcoming Series
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson
On the offense…
“We’ve talked a lot in post games about our approach in certain counts. This team has the ability to do a lot of things when it comes to power. But it also has to be very, very disciplined in how they approach and understand what’s going on. It’s like I say, the scoreboard’s real cool, but when the opposing team knows that Daniel Jackson is on deck and he has this cool .400 batting average and 15 homers and you’re hitting in front of Daniel, the other team is probably not going to try to walk you. You go back and look at 2024, what made Corey Collins and Charlie Condon so special is Corey really, really understood that. He understood that ‘hey, I’m hitting in front of this guy named Condon, who’s really good, and he’s hitting .500 and he’s got all these homers. They’re probably not going to put me on base intentionally to get to him.’ That’s what those are, the things that we need to ramp up offensively. Another example, let’s look at Kolby Branch. He is still a threat down there in the lineup. He has so many homers, he’s got a lot of big hits. Understanding where you are in the lineup and then taking that approach to the game is something we have to get better at.”
#1 Tre Phelps | 3B | Jr.
On what he continues to learn about the team after two conference series…
“We are resilient. No matter if it’s a series or a midweek, this team is never out of the fight. Though we did lose on Tuesday, the way we performed in that seventh inning, hats off to the offense and getting those six outs. Obviously, we needed that earlier in the game. I think it’s being able to look at the small things that you do and still be able to learn from that as well.”
#3 Daniel Jackson | C | Jr.
On the challenge of the upcoming series against South Carolina…
“It’s about taking care of business at home. You want to rack up your wins at home because you know going on the road is going to be harder. The important part is going in on Friday and taking care of business and going to each game from there.”
Links To Follow The Bulldogs
Friday @ 6 p.m. ET
Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4983&type=Live
SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs):https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/033a6072-a6a2-40f9-acd9-69b712058577
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631897
Saturday @ 2 p.m. ET
Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4984&type=Live
SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs):https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/3d003fa9-8130-45e7-b132-f285d8c6f4d5
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631898
Sunday @ 1 p.m. ET
Radio/TV: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4985&type=Live
SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs):https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/33af8d43-a122-4511-8ce7-4d45b69b0aea
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631899
Foley Field In 2026
· Foley Field Gates Open 1 hour before first pitch
· Tickets –Limited Availability; Also Available on SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.com/georgia-bulldogs-baseball-tickets
· UGA STUDENTS: Free Admission and please enter at 3rd Base Gate
· Promotions For USC Series:
· Friday: Paint It Black Night and t-shirt giveaway
· Saturday: It’s Saturday In Athens flag giveaway
· Sunday Pregame: Anthem Buddies; American Flag shirsey giveaway; Postgame: Kids Run The Bases
WGOLF: Bulldogs To Host 54th Annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
The Georgia women’s golf team will wrap up its regular-season slate by hosting the 54th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the UGA Golf Course this Saturday through Monday.
Course: UGA Golf Course
Yardage: Par 72; 6,217 Yards
Format: 54 holes (18 holes of stroke play on Saturday, Sunday and Monday)
Live Scoring: https://gado.gs/lmcc
Tee Times: Starting at 8:30 on No. 1 & No. 10 on Saturday and Sunday; Shotgun start at 8:30 on Monday.
Georgia Lineup: Karoline Tuttle, Sydney Givens, Gabriella Albert, Trinity Beth and Celine Brovold Sanne. In addition, Maria Eidhagen Harrouch will compete as an individual.
Tournament Field (17 schools): Alabama, Florida Gulf Coast, High Point, Indiana, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Old Dominion, Penn State, Queens, Rutgers, South Alabama, South Carolina (individuals only), Toledo, Western Carolina and Western Kentucky
Five Fast Facts
• Georgia will be paired with Alabama and Indiana for Saturday’s first round, teeing off from No. 1 in nine-minute increments between 8:30-9:06.
• Freshmen Trinity Beth and Gabriella Albert have been the Bulldogs’ top individuals this spring, combining to post par-or-better scores in 14 of the 22 rounds they’ve played. Beth has eight POB tallies, while Albert has six.
• Karoline Tuttle sports Georgia’s best stroke average this spring at 71.73, slightly more than two strokes better per round than her 73.75 average in the fall. She is a cumulative even-par over 11 rounds during the 2026 calendar, with six par-or-better loops.
• Georgia has historically played well in its home event. The Bulldogs have won the team title 14 times and have produced 12 medalists. A year ago, Georgia finished second on the team leaderboard while Celine Brovold Sanne was the individual runner-up.
• The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic is one of the oldest sporting events in all of women’s intercollegiate athletics. The tourney began humbly in 1973 as the Georgia Invitational before becoming the Women’s Southern Intercollegiates from 1977-94. In 1995, the tourney was renamed in honor of Liz Murphey, UGA’s Hall of Fame golf coach and long-time Senior Woman Administrator.
• Liz Murphey was a leading figures in the evolution and development of women’s intercollegiate athletics both on the national level and at the University of Georgia. Murphey was an outstanding golf coach who also led the overall UGA women’s sports program to prominence as its Senior Woman Administrator from 1978-96. She led the Lady Bulldogs to 21 team and 18 individual titles and top-10 finishes at each national championship from 1979-83. Additionally, Terri Moody and Cindy Schreyer captured individual national titles in 1981 and 1984, respectively.
Quoting The Coach
Head Coach Erika Brennan
On hosting a home tournament:
“We are pumped to play at home this week and compete for this title. The team is feeling the energy and excitement and we hope to see loads of Dawgs fans out enjoying the days of competition. We’ll get some wind in that first round and will need to stay patient especially on this golf course. We are ready for the challenge and can’t wait to tee it up.”
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