HOOVER, Ala. — Georgia is an SEC Tournament champion for the first time in 87 years.
The No. 1 seed Bulldogs (46-12, 24-7 SEC) defeated the No. 7 seed Arkansas Razorbacks 11-1 in seven innings via the run rule on Sunday afternoon at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, scoring five runs in the first inning, six by the second, and never giving the Razorbacks a real shot.
Daniel Jackson — the catcher, SEC Player of the Year, and the first Division I catcher in baseball history with a 25-25 season (.394, 27 HR, 25 SB) — was named SEC Tournament MVP. Bulldog head coach Wes Johnson, in his third year in Athens, became the first head coach in Georgia history to win the SEC Tournament. Georgia had not played in the championship game since 1989.
The Bulldogs got the championship. Arkansas got the bracket reset they needed.
The 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament selection show airs Monday, May 24 at noon ET on ESPN2. Both Sunday’s combatants are projected as NCAA Regional hosts — Georgia at Foley Field in Athens and Arkansas at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. For our complete breakdown of who’s hosting, who’s clinched automatic bids, and who’s on the bubble, see our complete NCAA Tournament breakdown.
The 2026 NCAA Tournament’s 16 official regional host sites — confirmed by NCAA Baseball Sunday evening — include both Athens (Foley Field) and Auburn’s Plainsman Park, along with 14 other sites across the country.
How Georgia won the championship game
In one word: first inning.
Tre Phelps flied out to right field. Daniel Jackson walked. Rylan Lujo doubled down the left-field line, scoring Jackson. Brennan Hudson doubled to left, scoring Lujo. Kenny Ishikawa singled to center, scoring Hudson and advancing to second on a fielding error by Arkansas’s Maika Niu. Ryan Wynn grounded out, advancing Ishikawa to third.
Then Jack Arcamone — the Bulldog DH with limited recent at-bats — turned on a 2-2 count and crushed a 415-foot, two-run home run to right field. 5-0 Georgia in the first.
By the third inning, Georgia was up 8-0. By the sixth, 11-1. The mercy rule ended it in the seventh.
Georgia pitching: Paul Farley (W) — 4 IP, 0 ER, 6 K, 0 BB. Zach Brown, Chris Jameson, and Jordan Stephens combined for the final three innings. The Bulldogs allowed one run all afternoon — a sixth-inning solo home run by Arkansas freshman Maika Niu, the Honolulu native and one of three Hawaiian student-athletes on the Razorback roster. It was the first home run of Niu’s college career.
SEC All-Tournament Team: Daniel Jackson (Georgia, MVP). Kolby Branch (Georgia). Brennan Hudson (Georgia). Tre Phelps (Georgia). Rylan Lujo (Georgia). Kenny Ishikawa (Georgia). Justin Byrd (Georgia). Cam Kozeal (Arkansas). Bub Terrell (Auburn). Caden McDonald (Florida). Blake Cyr (Florida). Andreas Alvarez (Auburn).
What it means for the NCAA Tournament
Three things to know heading into Monday’s selection show:
1. Georgia is locked in as a top-3 national seed. The Bulldogs were already projected as a top-eight seed and a Foley Field host before Sunday. The championship win pushed them to the No. 3 overall projection per D1Baseball.
2. Arkansas helped its hosting case. Three elimination wins and a championship game appearance moved Arkansas firmly into NCAA Regional host territory at Baum-Walker Stadium. Dave Van Horn was direct in his postgame: “I hope we get to play at home.”
3. Six SEC teams are projected to host NCAA Regionals. The list: Auburn (Plainsman Park, RPI No. 3), Texas (UFCU Disch-Falk, No. 5), Alabama (Sewell-Thomas, No. 6), Georgia (Foley Field, No. 8), Florida (Condron Family Ballpark, No. 11), and Mississippi State (Dudy Noble Field, No. 12). Auburn and Athens are both confirmed host sites; the others await the Monday bracket reveal. (Full breakdown here.)
The Kenny Ishikawa story (and the 1 a.m. Zoom call)
The Bulldog who set up the championship-clinching comeback Saturday — Kenny Ishikawa, Georgia’s sophomore left fielder with the 2-RBI double out of the rain delay in Game 13 — is a Yokohama, Japan native who transferred to Georgia from the University of Seattle before the 2026 season.
The story of how he got to Athens was told in August 2025 by WBN’s Alfred Ezman, who sat down with Ishikawa shortly after his transfer.
“I had a deadline, like within a week,” Ishikawa told Ezman last summer. “Day one, Coach Coggins called me. I told him I wanted to talk to the head coach — and Coach Johnson got on Zoom with me that night, like 1 a.m. Georgia time.”
Johnson — the former Arkansas pitching coach who spent four seasons with the Minnesota Twins (2018-22) and coached LSU pitcher Paul Skenes (the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year) — made the case to a two-way prospect that very few college head coaches could make.
“I told him I want to be a full-time two-way player,” Ishikawa said. “And he made it clear — we’ll do that. He’s coached guys like Paul Skenes before. He had a plan.”
The cultural angle is also rich. Ishikawa grew up playing baseball in Yokohama, attended high school in Seattle, and now plays Power 5 college baseball under a head coach from rural Arkansas.
“It’s more detailed in Japan,” Ishikawa told WBN last summer. “More bunts, more hit-and-runs. Pitchers try to dot corners instead of just throwing hard. Coming to the U.S. was a huge adjustment — but it helped me grow.”
Across the SEC, the 2026 season has been notable for a roster diversity the conference has not historically shown. Arkansas’s roster includes three native-born Hawaiian student-athletes (Kuhio Aloy, Nolan Souza, Maika Niu) — the most in Razorback program history. Florida’s roster includes Toronto’s Brendan Lawson at first base. Georgia’s roster includes Ishikawa from Yokohama and Caden Aoki, the Japanese-American USC transfer who relieved Dylan Vigue on the mound Saturday.
The pipeline is real. The conference is changing.
The transfer-portal roster build (and Kirby’s parallel program)
Of Georgia’s nine position-player starters Sunday, only one — Tre Phelps — was a high school recruit who came to Athens out of high school. Of the other eight starters, every single one joined Georgia through the NCAA transfer portal:
- Daniel Jackson (Sandy Springs, Ga.) — Wofford → Georgia
- Rylan Lujo (Coconut Creek, Fla.) — Dayton → Georgia
- Brennan Hudson (Cumming, Ga.) — Georgia State → Georgia
- Kenny Ishikawa (Yokohama, Japan) — Seattle → Georgia
- Ryan Wynn (Douglasville, Ga.) — Wofford → Georgia
- Jack Arcamone (Trumbull, Conn.) — Richmond → Georgia
- Kolby Branch (Lucas, Texas) — Baylor → Georgia
- Ryan Black (Grand Prairie, Texas) — UT Arlington → Georgia
The pattern continues with depth players: Caden Aoki (USC transfer), Justin Byrd (USC Aiken transfer), Bryce Calloway (New Orleans graduate transfer), Zach Brown (Ohio State transfer), and Caleb Jameson (Baylor transfer).
The starting pitcher Sunday — redshirt sophomore Paul Farley — was the rare homegrown Bulldog, a Kennesaw, Ga. product who came to Athens out of Mount Paran Christian School.
Georgia’s transfer class was ranked No. 1 by 64 Analytics ahead of the 2026 season.
This is part of a broader Georgia athletic department identity. Kirby Smart’s football program has built its 2026 transfer class around the same efficiency — multiple anonymous college football general managers told On3 in February that the Bulldogs got the “bang for their buck” in transfer portal additions. Wes Johnson’s 1 a.m. Zoom call with Kenny Ishikawa is the baseball-side version of the same institutional approach: identify portal targets, get the head coach on the call, close the deal.
It is the modern blueprint. And on Sunday, it just won the SEC baseball tournament.
The Arcamone story
Sunday’s Bulldog first-inning home run came from a hitter the broadcast had to introduce. Jack Arcamone — the junior infielder/DH from Trumbull, Connecticut, who transferred to Georgia from Richmond — has been working at his craft in recent weeks with limited at-bats. He swung at the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first Sunday and put it into the right-center concourse.
Arcamone spoke with WBN’s Matt Howard after the championship celebration.
“I knew when the coaches put me in there today, they wanted me to succeed. They knew I could succeed,” Arcamone told WBN. “Good fastball, hit ball at the end of the day. Not trying to do too much. And yeah, it worked out.”
On Wes Johnson and the coaching staff: “They’re great motivators every day. Trying to teach you something new, get you a better player. Nothing’s ever stressed out on this team. We never panic. It’s very loose, as you can see with all the fun we have. And the coaches do a great job of keeping us intact and moving forward.”
On catching alongside SEC Player of the Year and 2026 Tournament MVP Daniel Jackson, Arcamone — who came to Georgia from Richmond as a backup catcher — was effusive: “Dan, not only is he a great kid, he’s a great player. Catching alongside him all year, he’s a great dude. He’s teaching me — taught me a lot about how to get better at catching. He’s a great teammate, great leader, and the kid’s unbelievably talented. So he’s gonna make it a long way.”
Asked who he’d like to thank, Arcamone went straight to family. “I’d like to thank my parents. They gave a lot of time and money into my playing career — especially coming to tournaments down here in Hoover for Perfect Game and stuff. So just thank them for all the time and money they spent on me, and their love and support. That’s all I could ask for. They’re great.”
The bracket from here
The 2026 NCAA Tournament selection show airs Monday, May 24 at noon ET (11 a.m. CT) on ESPN2.
The 16 official Regional host sites are: Athens (Foley Field), Atlanta (Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium), Auburn (Plainsman Park), Austin (UFCU Disch-Falk Field), Chapel Hill (Boshamer Stadium), College Station (Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park), Eugene (PK Park), Gainesville (Condron Family Ballpark), Hattiesburg (Pete Taylor Park), Lawrence (Hoglund Ballpark), Lincoln (Hawks Field at Haymarket Park), Los Angeles (Jackie Robinson Stadium), Morgantown (Kendrick Family Ballpark), Starkville (Dudy Noble Field), Tallahassee (Dick Howser Stadium), and Tuscaloosa (Sewell-Thomas Stadium).
Regional play begins Friday, May 29. The College World Series begins Friday, June 12 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.
For complete NCAA Tournament context — including all 16 host sites, automatic bids clinched, and the bubble teams sweating Monday — see our complete NCAA Tournament breakdown.
College World Series odds: where the SEC stands
FanDuel released its updated College World Series 2026 odds Sunday night, with several SEC teams featured among the favorites:
- UCLA Bruins: +480
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: +600
- Texas Longhorns: +700
- Georgia Bulldogs: +1200
- North Carolina Tar Heels: +1200
- Mississippi State Bulldogs: +1400
- Auburn Tigers: +1400
- Florida Gators: +1700
- Texas A&M Aggies: +1800
- Arkansas Razorbacks: +2700
- Ole Miss Rebels: +4000
UCLA, the regular-season Big Ten champion and No. 1 in the RPI, leads the field. Georgia Tech of the ACC, who finished off the conference tournament title against North Carolina earlier Sunday, is right behind at +600. The SEC has seven teams in the top 11 — a remarkable concentration heading into bracket reveal day.
By the Numbers
Score: Georgia 11, Arkansas 1 (7 inn., run-rule FINAL)
Georgia now: 46-12 (24-7 SEC). First-ever SEC Tournament champions. Projected NCAA Tournament top-3 national seed; hosts Athens Regional at Foley Field starting Friday, May 29.
Arkansas now: 39-20 (18-13 SEC). Pending Monday selection show; strong NCAA Regional host case at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Georgia pitching: Paul Farley (W) 4.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. Zach Brown 1.0 IP, 2 K. Chris Jameson 1.0 IP, 1 ER. Jordan Stephens 1.0 IP, 2 K.
Arkansas pitching: Tate McGuire (L) 1.0 IP, 5 ER. Parker Coil 1.2 IP, 2 ER. Cole Gibler 2.0 IP, 0 ER. Bullpen: 5 ER across 5 IP.
SEC Tournament MVP: Daniel Jackson (Georgia).
Historic context: First-ever SEC Tournament championship for Georgia (87 years of program history). First-ever championship game appearance since 1989 (2-1 loss to Auburn). Georgia is the 9th SEC program to win the regular season and tournament double in the same year.
