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BSB: Auburn Ends Dawgs’ Win Streak

Fourth-ranked Auburn snapped Georgia’s 11-game winning streak Saturday with a 14-4 decision to salvage the final game of the series at Plainsman Park.

Fast Facts

• Bulldog junior Daniel Jackson became just the sixth player (and first catcher) in Division 1 history to have 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in the same season. Jackson, who has 27 home runs, notched his 25^th stolen base Saturday. He is 25-for-26 in stolen base attempts.
• Jackson claimed the SEC regular season Triple Crown, leading the league with a .394 batting average, 27 home runs and 77 RBI. He has a league-best 1.328 OPS.
• Auburn tied the game with a three-run outburst in the second on three hits and one Bulldog miscue. In the fifth, Auburn hit a pair of home runs as part of a five-run frame to take a 9-4 lead.
• Georgia jumped out 2-0 in the first courtesy of Daniel Jackson’s team-leading 27^th home run. Tre Phelps was on base after a leadoff single. Phelps made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the second, scoring Kolby Branch, who was on with a one-out double.
• Freshman Cole Johnson smashed his first career home run, a solo shot in the fourth to put Georgia in front 4-3.
• With two more home runs Saturday, Georgia now has an NCAA-leading 147 home runs on the year.
• During Georgia’s SEC Championship season, the Bulldogs won nine of their 10 league series, including all five on the road against ranked opponents, a first in SEC history. 
• Since the league went to a 30-game slate in 1996, Georgia’s 23-7 mark is one of the best for an SEC Champion, trailing only the 2013 Vanderbilt (26-3), 2000 South Carolina (25-5) and 2022 Tennessee (25-5) teams. The 2019 Vanderbilt squad also went 23-7.
• Georgia’s 43 wins in the regular season are the most ever in a 56-game slate in school history and just one shy of the 1990 national champions that played 59 regular season games and were 44-15 heading into the postseason. The 1990 team finished with a school record 52-19 record.

Key Quotes

Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson

On Saturday’s game…

“This was the first time since we clinched the SEC that a game got away from us. We tried to get some guys in there that hadn’t been in there a while and give some at bats to some guys and do some different things. Once it got away from us, I wanted to see a few of these arms that hadn’t pitched in a while. We got all our position players some at bats, and they deserve it too and have helped us do what we’ve done so far this season. We won 11 in a row and you’re not going to win them all. We’ll look back and be proud of what we accomplished in the regular season but come Monday, we’ll be focusing on the SEC Tournament and go play that, and when we’re done with that, we’ll get ready for regionals.”

Daniel Jackson, C, Jr.

On SEC Champions and reaching the 25 HR-25SB milestone this season…

“It’s cool and feels good, and I’m proud of what this team has done to be SEC champions especially on the road. We are battled-tested and played at some of the hardest places in college baseball against some really great teams. We played hard for 30 SEC games. I’d like to keep going on my goals of what I want for myself too.”

Up Next

SEC Champion Georgia (43-12, 23-7 SEC) earned a double bye in the SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs will play their first game in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 4 pm ET against either the No. 8 (Miss. State), No. 9 (Ole Miss), or No. 16 seed (Missouri), pending the outcome of the early rounds in the single-elimination event. Thursday’s game will be available on the SEC Network and the Georgia Bulldogs Sports Network.

WTEN: Georgia Falls in NCAA Semifinal

The No. 1 Georgia women’s tennis team (22-6, 12-3 SEC) fell in the NCAA Semifinal to No. 4 Texas A&M (27-5, 13-2 SEC) 4-3 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Saturday night.

Fast Facts

• Georgia started strong in the doubles session as No. 19 Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte defeated the nation’s No. 11 doubles pair of Lucciana Perez and Mia Kupres, 6-2, on court one.
• No. 4 Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert clinched the Bulldogs fifth consecutive doubles point with a 6-3 victory over Violeta Martinez and Ilinca Amariei on court two.
• No. 64 Dilek gave Georgia a 2-0 lead with a 7-6(3), 6-1 victory over No. 71 Amariei on court three.
• Texas A&M earned its first point on court two as No. 50 Kupres defeated No. 7 Mert, 6-4, 6-2.
• No. 93 Emma Dong put the Bulldogs back in front with a 7-6(1), 6-1 victory over No. 106 Lexington Reed on court four.
• Texas A&M defeated Georgia in three sets on courts five and six to even the score at 3-3.
• The match came down to a deciding third set on court one in which No. 1 Perez took down No. 19 Lopata 6-1, 6(5)-7, 6-3 to clinch the match for the Aggies and send Texas A&M to the NCAA Championship Finals tomorrow.

Results

Doubles:

1. #19 Anastasiia Lopata/Patricija Paukstyte (UGA) def. #11 Lucciana Perez/Mia Kupres (TAMU): 6-2

2. #4 Deniz Dilek/Ayşegül Mert (UGA) def. #35 Violeta Martinez/Ilinca Amariei (TAMU): 6-3

3. Emma Dong/Anastasiia Gureva (UGA) vs. Daria Smetannikov/Lexington Reed (TAMU): 4-5, unfinished 

Singles:

1. #1 Lucciana Perez (TAMU) def. #19 Anastasiia Lopata (UGA): 6-1, (5)6-7, 6-3

2. #50 Mia Kupres (TAMU) def. #7 Aysegul Mert (UGA): 6-4, 6-2

3. #64 Deniz Dilek (UGA) def. #71 Ilinca Amariei (TAMU): 7-6(4), 6-1

4. #93 Emma Dong (UGA) def. #106 Lexington Reed (TAMU): 7-6(1), 6-1

5. Violeta Martinez (TAMU) def. #81 Sofia Rojas (UGA): 6-1, 5-7, 3-6

6. Daria Smetannikov (TAMU) def. Patricija Paukstyte (UGA): 6-3, 2-6, 7-5

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2) ; Singles (3, 2, 4, 5, 1).

Key Quotes:

Head Coach Drake Bernstein

Opening Statement

“Huge thanks to Athens and UGA and this entire tennis community for making this one of the most special weekends of these ladies’ lives. I couldn’t begin to say how proud I am of this team and the way that they competed, start to finish. Heart breaks for [Anastasiia Lopata] there. Saving match points in the second, fighting all the way through and giving herself a chance there in the third. Doing whatever she could to stay alive against what’s really the best player in the country. Really proud of this team. Really proud of the fight that we showed tonight.”

On the team’s progress this year…

“I think you saw out there tonight how far this team has come. The competitiveness and composure down the stretch. It’s a big stage and we did everything we could to give ourselves a chance to play one more day in front of the greatest fans in the country and on the greatest stage in the country. Again, really proud of these ladies. I know that this one’s going to sting all of us for a bit, but I hope that in due time we’re all able to look back and smile at these memories and the effort that we laid out there tonight.”

On what he wants his team to know…

“That I love them. That this tennis community loves them. It’s evident that there’s something special in the air here in Athens around these courts and this facility. I like to think of that as love of some sort of capacity. You can’t really define it, but I hope that everybody that was a part of this Georgia experience this weekend felt that sort of love in some kind of way.”

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