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BSB: Dawgs Open SEC Tournament Tomorrow vs. the Mississippi State-Missouri Winner
The Southeastern Conference champion Georgia Bulldogs open the SEC Tournament Thursday in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. ET against the Mississippi State-Missouri winner. The game will be available on the SEC Network and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
*Georgia (43-12, 23-7 SEC), ranked as high as No. 4 nationally this week, clinched the SEC title and top seed in the tournament in week nine and won the league by 3.5 games. The Bulldogs are in their third season under Ike Cousins head coach Wes Johnson. Earlier this week, he was named the 2026 SEC Coach of the Year in a vote of the league’s coaches.
*Georgia became the first school in SEC history to win all five of its road series against top 25 foes, beating No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Miss. State, #14 Arkansas, #17 Ole Miss and #21 Texas A&M.
*While Georgia’s firepower is well documented as the national leader in home runs, it’s worth noting that the Bulldogs won 10 SEC games when it held their opponent to a pair of runs or less.
*This season, Georgia went 6-0 against MSU and Missouri, posting a road sweep in Starkville while it beat the Tigers in Athens. On Tuesday, in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, Missouri upset Ole Miss to advance to Wednesday’s second round against MSU. In SEC Tournament history, Georgia is 31-52, and its best finish is second in 1985, 1986 and 1989.
*Georgia leads the NCAA with 147 Home Runs and ranks second with a .621 Slugging Percentage and fourth in Scoring at 9.4 runs/game. The Bulldogs have an SEC-best .325 Batting Average that ranks fourth nationally. Also, Georgia has a .983 Fielding Percentage, which is seventh nationally.
*Georgia is averaging an NCAA-leading 2.67 Home Runs per Game (HR/G). The 2024 team averaged 2.52 HR/G when it set a school record with 151 home runs. Currently, the Bulldogs have 147 home runs.
*Georgia junior catcher Daniel Jackson, a National Player of the Year candidate, is one of just six players (and first catcher) in NCAA Division 1 history to have 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in a season. J.D. Drew (FSU) is the only D1 player to have a 30-30 season, posting 31 HR and 32 SB in 1997. Jackson, who was named the SEC Player of the Year, is the first player in league history to have a 25-25 season.
*Jackson ranks in the top five nationally in Home Runs (27), Total Bases (178), RBI (77), Slugging Percentage (.836) and Runs Scored (74). He is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, the Dick Howser Trophy and the Buster Posey Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award. In SEC action, Jackson batted .392-11-33. Did You Know? Jackson could become the third straight Bulldog to lead the SEC in batting, joining Charlie Condon (.433 in ’24) and Ryland Zaborowski (.370 in ’25). The only schools to do that in SEC history are Tennessee (1974-76) and Auburn (1988-90).
*All-SEC junior 3B Tre Phelps (.372-18-53), a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, bats leadoff with a .490 on base percentage and ranks second in the nation with a school record 30 Hit-By-Pitches.
*Sophomore All-SEC CF Rylan Lujo (.359-9-37) led the league with a .394 batting average in SEC games, and he had a .661 slugging percentage in SEC action, too.
*Senior SS Kolby Branch earned second team All-SEC honors after batting .309 with 15 doubles, 17 home runs and 51 RBI. He has started all 55 games at shortstop this year and has been a four-year mainstay in the lineup.
*Georgia’s SEC rotation during the regular season featured junior right-handers Joey Volchko (8-2, 4.22 EA) and Dylan Vigue (4-1, 3.57 ERA) in the first two games, while the game three starter of late has been graduate right-hander Caden Aoki (8-1, 4.12 ERA, 3 SV). The top relievers have been senior RHP Matt Scott (6-0, 3.86 ERA, 4 SV), redshirt sophomore RHP Paul Farley (7-1, 4.99 ERA, 1 SV), redshirt junior RHP Justin Byrd (3-2, 4.56 ERA, 6 SV) and junior RHP Zach Brown (2-0, 3.30 ERA, 1 SV).
*The Bulldogs have not announced their starter for Thursday’s game.
*Georgia’s team ERA is 5.05 with 570 strikeouts and 245 walks in 467.1 innings. Opponents are hitting .243 against the Bulldogs.
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson
On approach at the SEC Tournament…
“We’re planning on going with our regular routine. From a pitching standpoint on Thursday, we have a lot of guys who will be ready to throw. I’ll see who wins the first few games before we announce exactly what we’re planning to do, but we’re staying with it. We’ve got guys on bullpen schedules, as if we’re playing a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series. This is the way we’re setting our routines up without getting too in depth about that.
“For the first time since I’ve been here, our pitching staff is in a position to not be stressed in Hoover. When you look at last year, and especially my first year, we were stressed at the end of the year. We needed some time. Going into Hoover those first two years, I knew we didn’t need to throw a Kolten Smith or a Leighton Finley. We had been leaning on them so much, and if they did throw, I knew we had to limit it because we need them to be fresh in the regional. This is the first year that we are in a position not to have to play until Thursday. You can get your guys back and get them rested, and there’s just so many things you’re able to do that you haven’t been able to.”
Tre Phelps | Jr. | 3B
On playing loose and team chemistry…
“It has been about us getting as comfortable as possible as long as the games go and as long as the season has gone on. You have longer at-bats and pitchers getting comfortable being able to make pitch after pitch after pitch. We have batters getting comfortable as long as the at-bat goes trying to take pitch after pitch and get their swings off on good pitchers. That is going to be a hard team to beat at the end of the day.”
Ryan Wynn | Jr. | 2B
On staying competitive throughout the end of the season and the SEC Tournament…
“We just want to win and be competitive. We have accomplished a lot in the year, and this is another thing that we want to check off. It lines up perfectly to how we want to go throughout the postseason. We just want to take it one day at a time and see where it goes.”
Radio/TV/Live Stats
Thursday @ 4 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=5026&type=Live
SECN (Dave Neal, Chris Burke & Kris Budden): https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/997487c7-9535-4830-a46b-dc3dfc7909b3
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