Georgia comes back to beat Florida, 8-7; plays for championship Sunday

HOOVER, Ala. — Georgia looked finished by the third inning.

Florida had built a 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs’ ace had been knocked out early. The Gators appeared ready to spoil Georgia’s SEC Tournament run once again.

Instead, the Bulldogs delivered their biggest comeback of the season.

Fourth-ranked Georgia erased the six-run deficit Saturday afternoon at the Hoover Met, rallying past eighth-ranked Florida 8-7 to advance to the SEC Tournament championship game for the first time since 1989.

“We have a motto that we try not to panic at any time,” Georgia coach Wes Johnson said. “I just kept telling our guys, just stay with the process.”

Georgia (45-12), the SEC regular season champion, will face either No. 6 Auburn or No. 10 Arkansas in Sunday’s championship game at 2 p.m.

For a while, it looked as if the Bulldogs might never get there.

Florida hammered junior right-hander Dylan Vigue early, launching two home runs and scoring six runs in the first three innings. Vigue entered the game having allowed just one homer all season in 53 innings.

But Georgia’s bullpen steadied the game long enough for the offense to slowly claw its way back.

Junior Zach Brown delivered 1.1 scoreless innings before senior graduate transfer Caden Aoki tossed three innings while allowing just one run. Junior Justin Byrd closed the door with two scoreless innings to improve to 4-2 on the season.

The Bulldogs finally broke through in the fourth inning.

A sacrifice fly from Brennan Hudson got Georgia on the board before back-to-back doubles by Kolby Branch and Ryan Black cut the deficit to 6-3.

Georgia trimmed it to 6-4 in the fifth when Daniel Jackson doubled and later scored on a wild pitch.

After a one-hour rain delay, Florida extended the lead to 7-4 in the seventh inning, but Georgia immediately answered. Kenny Ishikawa delivered one of the game’s biggest swings with a two-run double that brought the Bulldogs back within one run.

Then came the decisive eighth inning.

Branch reached on a leadoff error before Black doubled to put runners at second and third. Tre Phelps tied the game with a sacrifice fly, and moments later Jackson lifted another sacrifice fly that gave Georgia its first lead of the afternoon.

Byrd retired the Gators in order in the ninth to complete the comeback.

“I’m proud of our guys for hanging in there and not panicking,” Johnson said. “We stayed within our approach.”

Georgia finished the comeback without hitting a home run — unusual for one of the nation’s top power-hitting teams.

“We actually won a game and didn’t homer,” Johnson said with a smile. “That’s just a running joke within our locker room.”

Phelps said the Bulldogs never lost confidence despite the early deficit.

“We haven’t been this far in this game in a long time,” Phelps said. “We just stayed where our feet were and kept fighting.”

The victory evened Georgia’s season series with Florida at 2-2. The Gators remain the only team to win a regular-season series against the Bulldogs this year.

Now Georgia will try to finish its remarkable SEC Tournament run with its first tournament title in more than three decades.