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Georgia 11, Arkansas 1 (7 inn.): Bulldogs Run-Rule Razorbacks to Capture First-Ever SEC Baseball Tournament Championship in Program History

Matt TallariniMay 25, 202614 MIN READ
Georgia 11, Arkansas 1 (7 inn.): Bulldogs Run-Rule Razorbacks to Capture First-Ever SEC Baseball Tournament Championship in Program History

HOOVER, Ala. — The original start time for the SEC championship game was scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and was delayed for two hours and forty-five minutes, with first pitch coming at 3:45 p.m. CT due to inclement weather over the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Georgia is ranked at No. 4 in the Top 25 rankings that were published by D1Baseball.com on May 18 and Arkansas is ranked at No. 15. This was the first NCAA conference tournament to use the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) — the robot-umpire technology in its first conference championship.

When the game began, it took the No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs (46-12, 24-7 SEC) one inning to put it away. The Bulldogs scored five runs in the bottom of the first, two more in the second and third innings, and three more in the sixth to run-rule the No. 7 seed Arkansas Razorbacks (39-20, 18-13 SEC) by an 11-1 final in seven innings — claiming the first SEC Tournament championship in Georgia program history.

The first inning

Georgia’s offense went straight through the order in the bottom of the first inning, when second baseman Rylan Lujo pounded an RBI double down the left-field line scoring SEC Player of the Year Daniel Jackson to take the lead at 1-0.

The next batter, first baseman Brennan Hudson, kept the bats rolling — smacking an RBI double to left field, scoring Lujo to extend the lead to 2-0.

A few moments later, Kenny Ishikawa cracked an RBI single to center field, scoring Hudson and advancing to second base on the bobble from Maika Niu to mark it at 3-0.

The Bulldogs struck their fifth and final run of the bottom of the first inning when designated hitter Jack Arcamone lasered a two-run home run over the right-center field concourse area, traveling 415 feet for his third of the year, scoring Ishikawa to extend the lead to 5-0.

In the bottom of the second inning, Jackson continued to put the program on his back, with an RBI single to right field, scoring third baseman Tre Phelps to push the lead to 6-0.

The third, the fourth, the fifth

In the bottom of the third inning, Tre Phelps doubled to right field with one out. Daniel Jackson followed and was hit by a pitch, putting two on with one out. Lujo singled to left field on a 0-0 pitch, scoring Phelps and advancing to second on a fielding error to make it 7-0. After Hudson flied out to center field, Ishikawa drew a walk and Phelps’s stolen-base run capped on a throwing error by the catcher, scoring Ishikawa unearned to extend the lead to 8-0.

The Bulldogs put together their final scoring inning in the bottom of the sixth. Phelps walked. Jackson fouled out to first base. Lujo walked. Hudson flew out to center field, advancing Phelps to third. Lujo stole second. Ishikawa walked to load the bases. Ryan Wynn walked on a 3-2 count, scoring Phelps to extend the lead to 9-1. Arcamone followed with an RBI single through the right side, scoring Lujo and Ishikawa to push the score to 11-1.

The Bulldogs’ lead reached the 10-run differential at the end of the sixth inning, which triggers the SEC Tournament’s run-rule format. After Arkansas was retired in the top of the seventh, the game was final after seven innings of play.

The lone Arkansas run

Arkansas’s only run came in the top of the sixth inning, when freshman center fielder Maika Niu — the Honolulu native and one of three Hawaiian student-athletes on the Razorback roster — homered to center field off Chris Jameson. The blast was the first home run of Niu’s college career and came on a 1-1 count.

The Razorbacks finished with nine hits and one run. Damian Ruiz finished 2-for-4, with a double down the right-field line in the top of the third. Cam Kozeal finished 1-for-3 with a walk. Ryder Helfrick finished 2-for-4. Niu finished 2-for-3 with the home run.

Asked about the game in his postgame, Dave Van Horn — Arkansas’s head coach since 2003 and in his 23rd SEC Tournament appearance — was direct.

“Congratulations, Georgia. They played great,” Van Horn said. “Starting pitcher did a great job against our offense. We got a few hits here and there. We just couldn’t get the hit, couldn’t get over the hump. It was tough that we spotted them a couple of runs there in the first, and then they had the big three-run homer. All of a sudden we’re down five. It’s one of those games where we knew that we had to have a lot of things go our way with where we were with our pitching. You can see we’re a little sluggish, a little tired. No excuse, Georgia just got after us. We’re gonna get back. We haven’t been home in about 12 days, so get back, regroup, and get ready to make a run.”

Asked about the Arcamone home run as the back-breaker: “Yeah, two runs down to five — we’ve been swinging the bat fairly well, really for the last five, six games and hit some balls out of the park. When you’re five, it’s a lot different than two. It was a change-up. He left it right up there and he hammered it. But you know, the game wasn’t over. We need to come in and score. They score five, you need to score at least one. We didn’t do it. Farley just — he didn’t give us anything. He didn’t walk anybody, didn’t hit anybody. We got six hits on him, but we didn’t get a hit when we needed it. We had runners — I don’t know how many we left on — but we had some innings where we had a couple on, we had a couple on with no outs, didn’t score. That was the difference in at least getting back in the game.”

Paul Farley starts strong

Georgia right-hander Paul Farley — the redshirt sophomore from Kennesaw, Ga., and Mount Paran Christian School, the lone homegrown starter on the Bulldog 2026 roster — got the championship-game ball. He delivered. Farley worked 4.0 innings, gave up six hits, walked none, struck out six, and allowed zero runs on 62 pitches.

He has now given up one earned run across his last 12.2 innings (five appearances).

Zach Brown followed with 1.0 inning, allowing two hits and striking out two. Chris Jameson worked 1.0 inning and gave up Maika Niu’s home run. Jordan Stephens closed it with 1.0 inning, no hits, no runs, and two strikeouts.

The Bulldog pitching staff finished 7.0 IP, 9 hits, 1 run, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K — a remarkable strikeout-to-walk performance against a Razorback lineup that had won three straight elimination games to reach Sunday.

For Arkansas, Tate McGuire got the start and went 1.0 inning, allowing five earned runs on four hits — the Lujo double, the Hudson double, the Ishikawa RBI single, and the Arcamone home run. Parker Coil followed for 1.2 innings and allowed two earned runs. Steele Eaves got 0.1 inning of relief. Cole Gibler — the senior closer who has anchored Arkansas’s run all week — worked 2.0 scoreless innings. Joshua Kircher gave up three earned runs in 0.2 innings in the sixth. Collin Fisher closed it with 0.1 inning.

The MVP and the All-Tournament Team

Daniel Jackson — the SEC Player of the Year, the first Division I catcher in baseball history with a 25-25 season, and a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award — was named the 2026 SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Jackson went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored in the championship game.

“What does it mean to be an SEC champion, getting the first in program history?” Jackson was asked in his postgame. “It means everything. This is what you practice all season for, and you do everything just for the moments like this.”

Asked about head coach Wes Johnson — the 2026 SEC Coach of the Year and the first head coach in Georgia program history to win the SEC Tournament: “Massive. There’s not a part of the game that he can’t help you get better at. Mentality-wise, there’s no one better who’s gonna pump you up to be the best version of yourself. He got us where we are.”

The 2026 All-SEC 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).

The Arcamone home run

The home run that set the tone Sunday 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 platooning for limited at-bats in recent weeks. With two outs and a runner on third in the first inning, Arcamone turned on a 2-2 count and crushed a 415-foot two-run home run to right field. It was Arcamone’s third home run of the year.

“I knew when the coaches put me in there today, they wanted me to succeed. They knew I could succeed,” Arcamone told WBN’s Matt Howard after the celebration. “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.”

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. They’re great.”

Wes Johnson’s Arkansas connection

For Wes Johnson, Sunday’s championship game carries a layer of Arkansas history. Johnson is a former Arkansas pitching coach — five seasons in Fayetteville (2018-2022) — before leaving for the Minnesota Twins, then LSU, then Georgia. In his second SEC Tournament championship-game appearance — the first came with Arkansas in 2017 — he finally has the trophy.

“It is just a combination of a lot of hard work, right?” Johnson said in his postgame. “Over the years you just put your head down. We’d be here all day if I could thank the people that I need to thank to be where I’m at today. When I took the job at Georgia, I was so passionate — Josh Brooks and President Morehead, just so passionate about their vision for athletics. There are a lot of good coaches out there. You need support and you need good people behind you to do it. As I’m walking around out there, I’m thinking about all the people who have impacted me along the way. It’s more about them than it is about me.”

On winning both the SEC regular season and the SEC Tournament in the same year — a feat only nine SEC programs have accomplished: “Yeah, you know, this is my second — I was at obviously Mississippi State in 2016 when we won the league. I was at Arkansas when we got to the finals in this tournament in ’17, lost to LSU like maybe five to two, five to three, somewhere in that ballpark. And I remember looking back at both of those — it’s almost harder to accomplish one of those than it is probably to get to Omaha at times, just because the league is so unforgiving. Nobody in this league lets you up off the mat. It’s really, really hard to do.”

What’s next

The Bulldogs head home as SEC Tournament champions and likely top-three national seeds for the NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks head home with a strong hosting case at Baum-Walker Stadium and a tournament run that ended one win short of a championship.

The 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament selection show airs Monday, May 25 at noon ET on ESPN2.

Regional play begins Friday, May 29 at 16 host sites. 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’s bracket reveal — see our complete NCAA Tournament breakdown.

By the Numbers

Score: Georgia 11, Arkansas 1 (7 inn., run-rule FINAL)
Hits: Georgia 10, Arkansas 9
Errors: Arkansas 2, Georgia 0
Walks: Georgia 5, Arkansas 1
Strikeouts: Arkansas 11, Georgia 6
Home runs: Georgia 1 (Arcamone, 3rd). Arkansas 1 (Niu, 1st career).
With runners in scoring position: Georgia 6-for-12. Arkansas 1-for-11.
Rain delay: 2 hours, 45 minutes (start delayed from 1 p.m. CT to 3:45 p.m. CT)
Game time: 2 hours, 25 minutes (playing time)
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.

D1Baseball rankings (May 18): Georgia No. 4, Arkansas No. 15. Final national rankings published Monday, May 25.

Georgia pitching: Paul Farley (W) 4.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 62 pitches. Zach Brown 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 21 pitches. Chris Jameson 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 19 pitches. Jordan Stephens 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 18 pitches. Total: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 120 pitches.

Arkansas pitching: Tate McGuire (L) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 26 pitches (started). Parker Coil 1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 30 pitches. Steele Eaves 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 7 pitches. Cole Gibler 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 32 pitches. Joshua Kircher 0.2 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 23 pitches. Collin Fisher 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 12 pitches. Total: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, 130 pitches.

Georgia hitting leaders: Jack Arcamone 2-for-3, HR (3rd), 4 RBI, 2 R. Tre Phelps 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HBP. Rylan Lujo 2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB. Brennan Hudson 1-for-4, 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI. Daniel Jackson 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB. Kenny Ishikawa 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB. Ryan Wynn 0-for-3, 1 RBI (bases-loaded walk), 1 BB. Kolby Branch 0-for-3, 1 BB. Ryan Black 1-for-3, 1 R.

Arkansas hitting leaders: Maika Niu 2-for-3, HR (1st career), 1 RBI, 1 R. Damian Ruiz 2-for-4, 2B. Ryder Helfrick 2-for-4. Cam Kozeal 1-for-3, 1 BB. Zac Stewart 1-for-4. Carter Rutenbar 1-for-3.

SEC Tournament MVP: Daniel Jackson (Georgia).

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).

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. First SEC Tournament played with the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS).

For More on the 2026 SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament

2026 SEC Baseball Tournament Schedule

All times Eastern.

Tuesday, May 19 — First Round (SEC Network)
Game 1: Missouri 10, Ole Miss 8 — FINAL
Game 2: Vanderbilt 8, Kentucky 5 — FINAL
Game 3: Tennessee 11, South Carolina 6 — FINAL
Game 4: LSU 6, Oklahoma 2 — FINAL

Wednesday, May 20 — Second Round (SEC Network)
Game 5: Mississippi State 12, Missouri 2 (7 inn.) — FINAL
Game 6: Florida 8, Vanderbilt 3 — FINAL
Game 7: Arkansas 8, Tennessee 4 — FINAL
Game 8: Auburn 3, LSU 1 — FINAL

Thursday, May 21 — Quarterfinals (SEC Network)
Game 9: Georgia 5, Mississippi State 3 — FINAL
Game 10: Florida 13, Alabama 3 (8 inn., run rule) — FINAL

Friday, May 22 — Quarterfinals (SEC Network)
Game 11: Arkansas 8, Texas 1 — FINAL
Game 12: Auburn 7, Texas A&M 0 — FINAL

Saturday, May 23 — Semifinals (SEC Network)
Game 13: Georgia 8, Florida 7 — FINAL
Game 14: Arkansas 2, Auburn 1 — FINAL

Sunday, May 24 — Championship (ABC)
Game 15: Georgia 11, Arkansas 1 (7 inn., run rule) — FINAL

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