HOOVER, Ala. — Georgia first baseman Brennan Hudson hit a three-run home run to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning Thursday afternoon — his 17th of the season — breaking a 1-1 tie and providing the decisive blow as the No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs eliminated the No. 8 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs 5-3 in the SEC Baseball Tournament quarterfinal at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The SEC regular-season champions advance to Saturday’s semifinal at 1 p.m. ET to face the winner of Game 10 — Florida vs. Alabama.
Wes Johnson after Georgia’s 5-3 quarterfinal win over Mississippi State. (SEC Network)
Joey Volchko (left) and Brennan Hudson after Georgia’s 5-3 quarterfinal win — Hudson hit the game-deciding 3-run HR in the 4th inning. (SEC Network)
Georgia improved to 44-12 overall and continues its drive toward a potential NCAA Tournament national seed and regional host bid. Mississippi State’s season at Hoover ends at 40-17 (16-15 SEC) under first-year head coach Brian O’Connor; the Bulldogs from Starkville now await Monday’s selection show with their NCAA Tournament regional placement and potential hosting bid in the committee’s hands.
Wes Johnson — the 2026 SEC Coach of the Year, named Monday after Georgia secured the conference’s outright regular-season title — moves his program one step closer to the SEC Tournament championship game.
For O’Connor, the loss closes the conference portion of a debut season that exceeded preseason expectations. O’Connor reflected on his first SEC tour in the postgame.
“It’s, here we are now done with the conference tournament, and you know, first and foremost, I’m very proud to be the coach at Mississippi State,” O’Connor said. “I understand what comes with that and the pride that not only the fans have, but the players and former players have in this baseball program. I want to do everything I can as the leader of it to live up to it of what the standards are in this program. Certainly this league is outstanding.”
He continued: “The thing that I learned is how narrow it is, how much the fringes matter. I believe this year we lost seven games by one run. We’re right there. We just need to be a little bit better starting next weekend in those tight ball games. I don’t think other than maybe one game this year — if I can recall correctly, that was Game 3 against Auburn — every other game you felt like we were in it.”
HUDDY HAS LEFT THE YARD ?
B4 | UGA 4, MSST 1#GoDawgs | @BrennanHudson6 pic.twitter.com/xNQlxpJwF0
— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) May 21, 2026
Hudson’s three-run swing
Mississippi State had drawn even at 1-1 in the top of the third inning. Center fielder Ryder Woodson — the NC State transfer who has been a steady presence in the lineup for the Bulldogs from Starkville — led off the third with a double to right-center. Catcher Chone James followed with an RBI single up the middle to score Woodson and tie the game.
Georgia’s response came in the bottom of the fourth. Rylan Lujo — the All-SEC First Team center fielder — singled to third base to start the inning. After a flyout, Ryan Wynn singled to left field. With two on, Brennan Hudson stepped in. The Georgia first baseman caught a 1-0 pitch from Mississippi State starter Duke Stone and drove it over the right-field fence for a three-run home run, scoring Lujo and Wynn ahead of him.
https://x.com/BaseballUGA/status/2057524694090440927
The blast — Hudson’s 17th of the season — made it 4-1 Georgia. It was Hudson’s clutch contribution to a Georgia offense that, while not powered by a single dominant night from 2026 SEC Player of the Year Daniel Jackson, produced runs in three different innings.
Wes Johnson, the Georgia head coach, broke down Hudson’s value to the lineup in the postgame.
“You look at it, and the thing that’s really impressive about him is his ability to take his walk. He has a very, very low chase rate, which allows him to get into some favorable counts,” Johnson said. “We call him Huddy. You look at Huddy — his ability to get into fastball counts because he doesn’t chase and then get off a good swing is what has made him really good this year. Oh gosh, what’s he hit? 17 now? Yeah, he’s homered 17. It really lengthens your lineup.”
For O’Connor, watching the Hudson home run develop, the inning frustration was about the pitch sequence.
“The inning started off with a rollover ground ball and then a two-strike hit, and you know, credit them — a 2-0 pitch, a guy hits the three-run home run,” O’Connor said. “Duke Stone was pitching good. The three-run home run was the difference in the ball game.”
Brennan Hudson, in the postgame, explained the lineup-wide confidence.
“There’s so much confidence just from the other guys around you,” Hudson said. “We have so many fun bats and fun guys just to be around. Like I said, the confidence comes from the guy behind you. He’s gonna get it done if you’re not able to. But same thing with the guy in front of you — you’re gonna pick him up every time and just keep on going.”
Jackson — the catcher who entered the day batting .394 with 27 home runs and 25 stolen bases, making him the first catcher in Division I history with a 25-25 season — went 1-for-4 with a strikeout. Georgia didn’t need him to be the focal point. The lineup was 1-9 productive.
The double-play problem
For Mississippi State, the offensive story was the inability to convert baserunners into runs. The Bulldogs from Starkville hit into four double plays across nine innings — a rare and game-altering total that drained every base-runner Mississippi State managed to push on against the Georgia pitching staff.
The double plays came in clusters. In the second inning, Reed Stallman singled with one out, then Bryce Chance grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. In the third, Chone James followed his RBI single with Gehrig Frei’s lineout double play (P-1B) that erased the run-scoring opportunity. In the fifth, Chone James grounded into a 6-4-3 with Ryder Woodson on first base, ending another threat. And in the seventh, Reed Stallman walked to lead off, then Bryce Chance grounded into a 5-4-3 to end the inning.
The pattern was consistent: Mississippi State got on base, then ran into the wrong contact at the wrong time. The Bulldogs from Starkville had nine hits and three walks on the night but managed only three runs.
“We swung it pretty well. We just left some guys out there,” Noah Sullivan, Mississippi State’s All-SEC designated hitter, said in the postgame. “Certain situations happen, but we just have to be better offensively as a whole. There’s not one guy to just pinpoint, but we just gotta be a better offense.”
Asked specifically about the difference from Wednesday’s 12-2 outburst against Missouri, Sullivan added: “I guess the pitching was a little better. Maybe we tip our hat a little bit, but we just have to be better in certain spots with a guy on first. Not necessarily hit the ball in the air, but try to stay off the ground.”
“Four double plays today, I am very annoyed,” one Mississippi State fan posted on r/collegebaseball in real time, summarizing the frustration of an offense that produced traffic but not runs. “Would it kill this team to NOT hit into a double play?????”
Joey Volchko and the Georgia pitching plan
For Georgia, the early innings belonged to the starter. Joey Volchko — the right-hander who got the ball for the quarterfinal — was efficient and effective across 5.0 innings. The line: 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout on 68 pitches. He gave up Mississippi State’s first run in the third inning and surrendered another in the sixth on an Ace Reese RBI single, but otherwise navigated the Bulldogs from Starkville’s lineup without further damage. Volchko got two of his double plays in support — the Frei lineout double play in the third and the James groundball double play in the fifth.
“Joey came out and really attacked the strike zone early,” Johnson said. “Looked like they were coming out ready to swing. He executed. I thought his fastball today was really good, especially the command of it. Landed some sliders when we needed them.”
Volchko, asked about how he settles into starts in big-environment games, said the key is the same approach he uses in every start.
“Just tons of practice and having all these road starts. They’re great atmospheres and I have a lot of fun,” Volchko said. “Part of why I’m sitting in this chair is because I’m a competitor and I want to win. Sometimes you’ve gotta dial that back a little bit just to establish the zone and then let that carry me deep into the game.”
Asked specifically about facing the Mississippi State lineup, Volchko gave a careful tip of the cap.
“They’re an extremely well coached team with a great approach. I had the chance of playing one of Brian O’Connor’s teams at Virginia when I was at Stanford, and started,” Volchko said. “It was the same thing — well coached, good approach. They had just gritty at-bats and they were making me work. So they’ve kind of done that this year twice as well, and just gotta be tougher.”
Volchko exited after five innings with Georgia leading 4-2 and the bullpen lined up to close.
Matt Scott — Georgia’s right-handed reliever — entered in the sixth and was lights-out: 3.0 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts on 28 pitches. Scott’s three innings of perfect baseball came at the crucial part of the game when Mississippi State, down two runs and needing baserunners to mount a comeback, never got one. He held the Bulldogs to no hits, no walks, and three strikeouts across the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.
Johnson admitted in the postgame that Scott’s first inning was a brief rough patch.
“Matt came in, the first inning was just OK for him under his standards. I probably should have given him another hitter — we kind of rushed him out there a little bit,” Johnson said. “But then after that, I thought he settled in and threw the ball really well the last three innings. He was really executing his cutter, getting it to the areas to induce soft contacts or ground balls.”
Volchko — who’s been catching the Scott handoff for two seasons now — added a teammate’s read.
“It’s been awesome,” Volchko said of his on-mound relationship with Scott. “I see him as a starter, and I really trust him to give him the ball regardless of the situation. I know he believes in his stuff, and he doesn’t think there’s anybody better on that field than him. So it’s been awesome to kind of follow his career. We’ve been together for three years now, so just watching him compete — it’s contagious.”
Tyler Pitzer — the Georgia closer — entered in the ninth. Mississippi State’s Noah Sullivan greeted him with a solo home run to left center on the first pitch he saw, cutting Georgia’s lead to 5-3. But after the home run, Pitzer worked through the inning. Sullivan’s home run was Mississippi State’s only damage of the inning. Pitzer’s line: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K on 16 pitches. The save was complete.
“Noah Sullivan, king of the solo shot,” one Mississippi State fan posted on r/collegebaseball after the ninth-inning home run. Another added: “Too bad the offense couldn’t do this earlier when guys were on base.”
Ws in the chat ?@BaseballUGA x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/Bc4tJyzCFq
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 21, 2026
The grind shows in Mississippi State’s pitching
Mississippi State’s pitching told a different story than its Wednesday performance against Missouri. The Bulldogs from Starkville used five pitchers across 7.2 innings — a workload reflective of the toll the SEC Tournament’s compressed schedule takes on a single-elimination quarterfinalist.
Duke Stone got the start and exited after 3.1 innings, charged with the loss. His line: 6 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts on 55 pitches. The Hudson three-run home run accounted for three of those four earned runs.
Jack Bauer entered in relief and went 2.2 innings — 1 hit, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts on 43 pitches. The run he allowed was Georgia’s fifth, scored in the seventh inning when Kenny Ishikawa drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Tre Phelps from third. Maddox Webb followed for two-thirds of an inning, then Dane Burns and Tyler Pitzer (Mississippi State’s reliever sharing the surname with Georgia’s closer) closed out the eighth.
For a program that asked Tomas Valincius — the All-SEC First Team starting pitcher and a 2026 MLB Draft prospect — to throw six innings of 78-pitch baseball on Wednesday against Missouri on short rest, the toll showed Thursday. The Bulldogs from Starkville pitched roughly 16 innings across two days, used eight different arms across both games, and exhausted the depth O’Connor was relying on to navigate the bracket.
For O’Connor, the postseason pitching outlook entering the NCAA Tournament shifts toward right-hander Ryan Milewski — the senior who’s been working back from a long injury layoff and was scheduled to start Saturday’s semifinal had Mississippi State won.
“He threw a bullpen yesterday in preparation to start on Saturday had we won,” O’Connor said. “When you’re dealing with the injury that he’s coming back from, it’s not in our best interest or the young man’s best interest to pitch today on that kind of short rest, because his last time out there was Saturday. So we lined it up for him to start on Saturday. That’s not happening. So this weekend, we’ll do some kind of inner-squad scrimmage so he can continue to drive his pitch count up.”
O’Connor also highlighted reliever Tyler Pitzer (Mississippi State’s, not Georgia’s), who has emerged as a postseason trust arm.
“He’s pitching some really great baseball the last two weeks for us, and he’s executing his pitches,” O’Connor said. “You want your guys pitching their best baseball at this time of the year, and he certainly is. We have a lot of confidence in him, and he’ll be a key guy starting next weekend.”
The Tre Phelps moment
The game’s most tense moment came in the seventh inning, when Georgia third baseman Tre Phelps was hit by a pitch on the hand and went down in obvious pain. Mississippi State challenged the call via ABS; the call stood. Phelps remained in the game and advanced to second base on the wild pitch that struck out Daniel Jackson two batters later. He scored on Kenny Ishikawa’s bases-loaded walk to make it 5-2 Georgia.
The moment was significant beyond the score. Phelps — the All-SEC First Team third baseman and 2026 SEC All-Defensive Team selection — is one of Georgia’s key offensive pieces. Watching him take a pitch off the hand drew an immediate response from Georgia fans on r/collegebaseball: “Man, please let Phelps be okay!”
Phelps continued playing through the at-bat and inning, eventually scoring the run. By the end of the game, he had taken his at-bats and finished 1-for-4 with the run scored. The Phelps health update — whether he’ll be available for Saturday’s semifinal — is one the Georgia fan base will be watching.
Sullivan’s late blast
For Mississippi State, the offensive bright spots were limited but real. Noah Sullivan — the DH who had been a steady presence in the lineup all year — went 1-for-3 with the solo home run to left center off Pitzer in the ninth inning that cut Georgia’s lead to 5-3. The home run was Sullivan’s third of the SEC Tournament.
Sullivan, asked about his transition into the Mississippi State program under first-year head coach O’Connor, gave the kind of endorsement that gets remembered in coaching reviews.
“It’s been a lot of fun. The transition has been really smooth,” Sullivan said. “Coach Oak and the guys have really been amazing, and we’ve played ball a lot better than we did last year. It’s been a lot of fun.”
For Ace Reese — the All-SEC First Team third baseman who has been Mississippi State’s offensive engine — the night ended 1-for-4 with the RBI single that scored Gehrig Frei in the sixth inning. The hit cut Georgia’s lead to 4-2 and gave the Bulldogs from Starkville life heading into the late innings.
Vytas Valincius — the slugger who Wednesday became the first player in SEC Tournament history to hit two home runs in the same inning — went 1-for-2 with a single, a hit by pitch, and a strikeout.
The case for Starkville to host
For O’Connor, with the SEC Tournament now in the rearview, the conversation pivots to next Monday’s NCAA Tournament selection show. Mississippi State’s 40 wins, 16-15 SEC record, and quality wins put the Bulldogs from Starkville in a strong position for an at-large bid — and potentially for a regional hosting bid at Dudy Noble Field.
Asked specifically about hosting, O’Connor made the case directly.
“It’ll mean a ton, right?” O’Connor said. “Because that’ll mean we did something special in year one under my leadership. It’s razor thin. I’ve been in this situation many times that it’s razor thin on whether or not you host or not. I don’t think this loss has really anything to do with it. This team certainly is fully capable, and I believe that we’ve earned that right to play at home.”
He continued: “The last thing I’d say is, you know how much it means to the fans. Not that we play the games for that reason — they’re part of what we do. They’re with us, and I’ve felt that every day since joining this baseball program. We want to do anything we can to bring that back to Starkville. So I hope on Sunday, the committee feels that we are worthy of that. I know our fan base and the community of Starkville will do an incredible job hosting a regional, welcoming the other teams. I believe this team has earned the right to be able to do that.”
Sullivan, asked about looking ahead to next week, echoed the same hope.
“It’s a place we’ve been, it’s nothing different. And hopefully we can play at home,” Sullivan said.
What’s next
Georgia advances to Saturday’s semifinal at 1 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs face the winner of Game 10 — Florida vs. Alabama — which begins approximately 30 minutes after Game 9’s conclusion. The Florida-Alabama matchup is the fourth meeting between those teams in 2026; Alabama swept the regular-season series in Tuscaloosa.
Friday is the other half of the quarterfinals. No. 7 Arkansas faces No. 2 Texas at 4 p.m. ET; No. 6 Auburn faces No. 3 Texas A&M at 8 p.m. ET.
For Mississippi State, the season at Hoover ends, but the season itself does not. Selection Monday airs at 12 p.m. ET on May 25 on ESPN2. The Bulldogs from Starkville’s 40 wins, the Valincius brothers’ tournament-defining performances, and a deep run for a first-year head coach put the program in good position for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid — and, if the committee agrees with O’Connor, possibly to host their own regional at Dudy Noble Field.
For Wes Johnson and Georgia, the road continues. The SEC regular-season title is in hand. Two more wins gets them to Sunday’s championship game. Three more gets them the trophy.
When Johnson was asked in the postgame whether his team would treat the tournament differently than a weekend series — given Georgia’s likely status as one of the eight NCAA Tournament national seeds and a regional host — his answer was clear.
“We’ve got that mentality. We’re not gonna stress people too much. We don’t feel like we have to,” Johnson said. “Joey, well, I think we got him at pitch 68. I mean, this guy could go 110 if we needed him to. So it was just a good time. I didn’t feel like I needed to stress Joey too much. That’ll continue to be our theme as we move forward. We’re not gonna stress the pitcher too much. Matt got in perfect work — 39, 40 pitches, right in there. So that was good for him. I feel comfortable with the work he got in now as we get ready, obviously for next week, but also getting ready for Saturday.”
Johnson also addressed why Georgia has come to Hoover at all, given their already-locked-in regional host status.
“With a team like this, every team’s different, right? You wish that they weren’t or whatever, but this one’s just different. They want to play, they want to play games,” Johnson said. “They’re always competing at practice. They want to practice. The number of times we’ve had practice, and practice is formally over, the coaching staff goes upstairs, and all of a sudden we hear the team of the bat and then guys have come back in and they’re hitting on their own. They just love to play. When you have guys who do that, one of the ways to help them stay focused is you play the game. That’s what these guys want to do. They wanted to come here and stay for a couple days and play and try to get better. The alternative is we’re running live at-bats Sunday. So I think they much rather would want to play against someone else.”
The grind
Thursday’s quarterfinal at Hoover was played in the weather-adjusted 1 p.m. ET slot — moved up from 4 p.m. ET due to expected inclement weather in the Hoover area. The schedule shift created a more compressed Day 3 for the Hoover Met crowd, but allowed both games to start and finish without weather interruption.
Mississippi State played its second consecutive day game at the Hoover Met. The Bulldogs from Starkville had a 10:30 a.m. ET first pitch Wednesday against Missouri, won that game 12-2 in seven innings, and returned to the same field today for the early afternoon slot against the conference’s regular-season champion. The compressed schedule of the SEC Tournament’s single-elimination quarterfinals — combined with the weather-driven shift — meant Mississippi State was on its feet at the Hoover Met for the third consecutive day. Georgia, coming in off five days’ rest from a first-round bye, arrived fresh.
The Bulldogs from Athens looked like it.
By the Numbers
Score: Georgia 5, Mississippi State 3 (FINAL)
Hits: Mississippi State 9, Georgia 8
Errors: Mississippi State 0, Georgia 0
Double plays: Mississippi State 4 (hit into); Georgia 4 (turned)
Left on base: Mississippi State 4, Georgia 9
Georgia pitching: Joey Volchko (W) 5.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 68 pitches. Matt Scott 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 28 pitches. Tyler Pitzer (S) 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 16 pitches.
Mississippi State pitching: Duke Stone (L) 3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 55 pitches. Jack Bauer 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 43 pitches. Maddox Webb 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 12 pitches. Dane Burns 0.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 5 pitches. Tyler Pitzer (MSU) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 16 pitches.
Georgia hitting leaders: Brennan Hudson 1-for-3, HR (17th), 3 RBI, 1 R, 1 K. Ryan Wynn 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 K. Daniel Jackson 1-for-4, 1 K. Rylan Lujo 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB. Kenny Ishikawa 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB. Tre Phelps 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 HBP. Kolby Branch 0-for-1, 1 RBI (sac fly), 2 BB.
Mississippi State hitting leaders: Noah Sullivan 1-for-3, HR (9th-inning solo), 1 RBI, 1 R. Gehrig Frei 1-for-4, 2B, 1 R. Ryder Woodson 1-for-2, 2B, 1 R, 1 BB. Ace Reese 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 K. Chone James 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 K. Vytas Valincius 1-for-2, 1 HBP, 1 K. Reed Stallman 1-for-2, 1 BB.
For More on the 2026 SEC Tournament
- Game 8 Recap: Auburn 3, LSU 1
- Game 7 Recap: Arkansas 8, Tennessee 4
- Game 6 Recap: Florida 8, Vanderbilt 3
- Game 5 Recap: Mississippi State 12, Missouri 2 (7 inn.)
- Game 4 Recap: LSU 6, Oklahoma 2
- Game 3 Recap: Tennessee 11, South Carolina 6
- Game 2 Recap: Vanderbilt 8, Kentucky 5
- Game 1 Recap: Missouri 10, Ole Miss 8
- How to Watch: Day 3 Quarterfinal Preview
2026 SEC Baseball Tournament Schedule
All times Eastern. Second game of each session begins approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
Tuesday, May 19 — First Round (SEC Network)
Game 1: No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 16 Missouri — 10:30 a.m. (Missouri 10, Ole Miss 8 — FINAL)
Game 2: No. 12 Vanderbilt vs. No. 13 Kentucky — 2 p.m. (Vanderbilt 8, Kentucky 5 — FINAL)
Game 3: No. 10 Tennessee vs. No. 15 South Carolina — 5:30 p.m. (Tennessee 11, South Carolina 6 — FINAL)
Game 4: No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 LSU — 9 p.m. (LSU 6, Oklahoma 2 — FINAL)
Wednesday, May 20 — Second Round (SEC Network)
Game 5: Missouri vs. No. 8 Mississippi State — 10:30 a.m. (Mississippi State 12, Missouri 2 — FINAL, 7 inn.)
Game 6: Vanderbilt vs. No. 5 Florida — 2 p.m. (Florida 8, Vanderbilt 3 — FINAL)
Game 7: Tennessee vs. No. 7 Arkansas — 5:30 p.m. (Arkansas 8, Tennessee 4 — FINAL)
Game 8: LSU vs. No. 6 Auburn — 9 p.m. (Auburn 3, LSU 1 — FINAL)
Thursday, May 21 — Quarterfinals (SEC Network)
Game 9: Mississippi State vs. No. 1 Georgia — 1 p.m. (Georgia 5, Mississippi State 3 — FINAL)
Game 10: Florida vs. No. 4 Alabama — 4:30 p.m. ET
Friday, May 22 — Quarterfinals (SEC Network)
Game 11: Arkansas vs. No. 2 Texas — 4 p.m.
Game 12: Auburn vs. No. 3 Texas A&M — 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 23 — Semifinals (SEC Network)
Game 13: Georgia vs. Winner Game 10 — 1 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12 — 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 24 — Championship (ABC)
Game 15: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14 — 2 p.m.
