HOOVER, Ala. — Georgia is ranked at No. 4 in the Top 25 rankings from May 18, which were published by D1Baseball.com, and Florida is ranked at No. 19. Florida won two out of three games against Georgia on the road in Athens, Ga. from April 11-13.
By the bottom of the third inning at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Saturday afternoon, none of that mattered. The Florida Gators had a 6-0 lead, the conference’s leading home-run-hitting team had been silenced, and Florida starter Russell Sandefer was working through one of the best outings of his year. The Georgia Bulldogs — the No. 1 seed, the SEC regular-season champion, the team with the conference’s Player of the Year behind the plate and a 25-25 catcher in Daniel Jackson — had three hits and zero runs.
And then Georgia did something that, by head coach Wes Johnson’s own admission, had never happened all year.
They won without hitting a home run.
Final: Georgia 8, Florida 7. The No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs (45-12) advance to Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game at 2 p.m. ET on ABC — the first SEC Tournament championship game appearance in program history. The No. 5 seed Florida Gators (39-19) — the program with two SEC Tournament titles and Kevin O’Sullivan’s now-18th tournament appearance — are eliminated. The Gators await Monday’s NCAA Tournament selection show as a potential top-eight national seed.
A rain delay, a line drive off an ace’s pitching arm, four sacrifice flies, two RBI doubles, and one Wes Johnson postgame line — “we actually won a game and didn’t homer” — defined the afternoon.
Florida pounces early
Florida did not hesitate to get on the board early on Saturday afternoon. Left fielder Blake Cyr cranked a solo home run, which traveled 427 feet and an exit velocity at 107 mph, over the left-center field wall for his 13th of the year and to take the lead at 1-0.
Then the night turned strange. Gators starting pitcher Russell Sandefer left the semifinal game against Georgia after getting hit by a ball in his right arm.
Florida starting pitcher Russell Sandefer has left the semifinals game against Georgia after getting hit by a ball in his right arm. He has a huge knot.
LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/MKMTTiJ1Uo pic.twitter.com/tAUp0ZuvFG
— Zach Abolverdi (@ZachAbolverdi) May 23, 2026
After the game, O’Sullivan delivered the relief.
“It was unfortunate that Russ got hit with that line drive,” O’Sullivan said. “But fortunately enough for us, it’s not broken. That’s probably as best his stuff has looked all year long. I’m looking up at the board, he’s throwing 96, 97 and he is throwing his fastball to both sides of the plate. He’ll be ready to go next week.”
For the moment, though, Florida had to replace its ace. The Gators turned to junior right-hander Josh Barberi, and the offense kept piling on.
Cyr continued his hot bat in the top of the third inning, when he drove a two-run single up the middle, scoring Cade Kurland and Hayden Yost to extend the board to 3-0.
Florida starting pitcher Russell Sandefer has left the semifinals game against Georgia after getting hit by a ball in his right arm. He has a huge knot.
LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/MKMTTiJ1Uo pic.twitter.com/tAUp0ZuvFG
— Zach Abolverdi (@ZachAbolverdi) May 23, 2026
Shortly after, Caden McDonald cranked a two-run home run over the left field wall, which sat at 421 feet, scoring Brendan Lawson and Cyr and making it 6-0.
THE DOCTOR CALLED 🩺🤙
🎥 SECN pic.twitter.com/X6BD0TRjYO
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 23, 2026
Six runs, six minutes of game time, four hits, two home runs. Florida starter-by-default Barberi had given up the Caden McDonald 3-run blast that turned a one-run game into a six-run game. By the end of the third, the Gators looked like the No. 1 seed and Georgia looked nothing like the regular-season conference champion.
“Florida came out and got a really good punch in on us,” Johnson said in his postgame. “I thought Dylan Vigue actually threw the ball fine, just left a couple balls out over the plate. Tip your hat — they got off a couple good swings on some fastballs we left in the middle of the zone. That’s what good teams and good players do.”
The Dawgs chip back
Georgia did not get on the board until the bottom of the fourth inning. Rylan Lujo was hit by a pitch. Kenny Ishikawa singled through the right side and stole second. Brennan Hudson lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Lujo at 6-1.
The next batter, Kolby Branch, smacked an RBI double to left-center field, scoring Ishikawa to marginalize the board at 6-2.
https://x.com/BaseballUGA/status/2058256925444239694
Ryan Black followed with a double to left field, scoring Branch to make it 6-3.
Three runs across the inning, all built on what Johnson called the chip-away approach. None of them came on a home run.
“We have a model that we try not to panic at any time,” Johnson said. “And I just kept telling our guys, just stay with the process. Just need to keep it right here.”
In the fifth, Daniel Jackson — the 2026 SEC Player of the Year, the first catcher in Division I history with a 25-25 season — doubled to left center off Caden Aoki and scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-4. The Bulldogs were within striking distance with the rain on the way.
The rain delay
The rain delay was one hour from 2:51 p.m. CT until 3:51 p.m. CT, which stopped the game with one out in the top of the seventh inning on Saturday afternoon.
Florida added an insurance run before the rain came. In the top of the seventh, with two outs, Brendan Lawson — the Toronto, Ontario native and one of the most prominent Canadians in SEC baseball this season — doubled down the right-field line, and Blake Cyr’s RBI single to left scored him to make it 7-4. The cushion looked like enough.
It wasn’t.
When play resumed at 3:51 p.m. CT, the Bulldogs were waiting in the dugout — and so was a rested arm. Daniel Jackson singled to right center to start the bottom of the seventh. Rylan Lujo singled down the left field line. Then Kenny Ishikawa doubled to left center for two RBIs, scoring Lujo and Jackson to bring Georgia within one, 7-6.
“We had DJ on the base before the rain delay, so we already knew that we were gonna have to score some runs after the rain delay,” Ishikawa said in the postgame. “So me and Lujo just stayed locked in. And yeah, we were able to make that inning a big one.”
It was the swing. The chase was on.
Byrd, and the eighth
Wes Johnson made one of the day’s most consequential moves between the seventh and eighth innings: he brought in right-hander Justin Byrd. The redshirt sophomore had been waiting through the rain delay along with everyone else.
“I thought Justin was electric today,” Johnson said. “His fastball had some really good ride on it today. He’s got that kind of carry, and that kind of velocity — we’re going to attack with his fastball, it plays really, really good. And Andy’s a strike thrower.”
Byrd threw a 1-2-3 top of the eighth. Georgia came up needing one to tie, two to lead.
Kobe Branch — the All-SEC shortstop who hit 17 home runs on the season — reached on a fielding error by the Florida third baseman. Ryan Black doubled to left center to advance Branch to third. With one on, no outs, the heart of the order due up, the moment turned to Tre Phelps.
Phelps lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. Branch scored, unearned. 7-7.
The next batter was Daniel Jackson. With first base open. O’Sullivan had a choice: walk Jackson and load the bases for the next hitter, or let his pitcher face the SEC Player of the Year head-to-head.
“You pick your poison,” O’Sullivan said in the postgame. “For me, the thought did cross my mind, but those are the opportunities. Like Josh needs to face Jackson in that spot. If he comes out successful, boy does he feel really good about himself. So those are the type of battles within the game that you go: you know what, let’s go mano a mano. Let’s go head to head and see what happens.”
What happened: Jackson flied out to left field. Sacrifice fly. Ryan Black scored from third. 8-7 Georgia.
Two sacrifice flies. Three runs across one inning. Zero home runs. The lead changed hands for the first time all afternoon, and it was the Bulldogs who held it.
The lineup that didn’t quit
Branch — talking in the postgame about the bottom of the lineup that drove the comeback — refused the framing.
“I hate calling it the so-per-se bottom of our lineup,” Branch said. “I mean, Kobe has 17 homers, 50 home every year. Black is hitting 300 with almost 10 homers. And so I hate calling the bottom. I just say that’s just where we happen to be. And I mean, you had a guy that was up there, you had a good fastball, had a good cutter, and what we’ve been seeing all fall, spring, and just trusting ourself and getting in the box and going in and battle and getting our swings off at strikes and taking the ball and went our way.”
The Bulldogs out-hit Florida 12-8 on the night. They walked one and put up eight runs. They struck out 11 times. They never hit a home run.
“We took our singles,” Johnson said. “Kenny had a really good day. Ryan Black, Trey Phelps getting off of just a professional at-bat right there. We needed to get the ball to the outfield with the runner at third in less than two — he did. We got the tag-up and was able to tie the game with that. So yeah, all in all just really proud of our guys for hanging in there and not panicking and staying with our approach and the way we do things.”
Then he laughed. The line that’s been earning T-shirt energy for an hour: “We actually won a game and didn’t homer.”
Kenny Ishikawa, the Japanese-American outfielder from Seattle, finished 3-for-4 with the two-RBI double that turned the game and a stolen base. Rylan Lujo went 2-for-3 with two runs and the hit-by-pitch that started the fourth-inning rally. Daniel Jackson was 2-for-4 with a double, a run, and the game-winning sacrifice fly. Tre Phelps was 2-for-5 with the tying sac fly. Ryan Black was 2-for-4 with two doubles and the game-winning unearned run.
The bottom of the order — Branch, Black, Phelps — combined to go 4-for-13 with one walk, two doubles, three RBI, and the unearned run that gave Georgia the lead.
The full top of the order — Lujo, Ishikawa, Wynn, Hudson — combined to go 5-for-13 with two walks, a stolen base, two doubles, and four runs scored.
The middle — Jackson, Branch — combined for 3-for-8 with a double and the game-winning sac fly.
Not one home run.
What Florida takes home
For Kevin O’Sullivan — in his 18th SEC Tournament appearance, with a now-32-26 all-time record at Hoover and two titles (2011, 2015) — the loss does not change the Gators’ fundamental NCAA Tournament outlook.
“I’m really proud of the way our team played this week,” O’Sullivan said. “I think we maybe opened up some eyes to other people around the country that may not have seen them play. We’ve come such a long way and I think this weekend kind of puts us in a position for our team to be ready for the postseason.”
