SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs sweep LSU

ATHENS — Less than 24 hours after celebrating an SEC regular season championship, the Georgia Bulldogs showed Sunday they are nowhere close to finished.

The fifth-ranked Bulldogs overwhelmed LSU 12-1 in seven innings at Foley Field to complete a historic three-game sweep of the Tigers and continue one of the most impressive seasons in program history.

A day after clinching the SEC regular season title, Georgia returned to the field with the same intensity and focus that carried the Bulldogs to the top of the conference standings.

“We’ll celebrate tonight, but the job’s not finished,” junior Daniel Jackson said. “Just because we won the SEC regular season does not mean we stop doing what we are doing.”

That mentality showed from the opening innings.

Georgia improved to 40-11 overall and 20-6 in SEC play while recording the program’s first-ever series sweep of LSU.

Senior right-hander Caden Aoki continued his outstanding season by improving to 8-0 after allowing one run on four hits over five innings while striking out seven.

“It just shows what the team’s all about,” Aoki said. “We enjoyed it on the field yesterday, but we got back in the clubhouse and then we had work to do today.”

The Bulldogs wasted little time taking control.

Georgia plated three runs in the second inning as Brennan Hudson drove in the game’s first run with a groundout before Ryan Black and Jackson each delivered RBI hits.

LSU answered with its lone run in the third inning on an RBI single from Omar Serna Jr., but the Bulldogs quickly slammed the door.

Jackson delivered another huge swing in the fourth inning, crushing his 25th home run of the season — a two-run blast that energized the crowd at Foley Field and extended Georgia’s lead.

Later in the inning, Rylan Lujo added an RBI single before delivering the game’s knockout punch in the fifth.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Lujo launched a grand slam to left field, the Bulldogs’ eighth grand slam of the season, blowing the game open and pushing Georgia closer to another run-rule victory.

Freshman Cole Johnson added an RBI double in the sixth inning to score Ryan Wynn and cap the Bulldogs’ offensive outburst.

Georgia’s dominant day also featured the long-awaited return of Bryce Calloway to the mound.

Calloway, who underwent surgery in December, made his season debut in the sixth inning and immediately flashed the electric stuff that made him one of Georgia’s most important pitchers before the injury. He retired the side in order and struck out two batters.

“We have been penning him for probably two and a half weeks,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said. “We know what he can do on the mound when he’s healthy, and we’re getting there. That fastball is different, it is heavy. The slider was good. He came in, got some outs, didn’t give up a run, so good.”

For Georgia, Sunday’s performance felt like another statement from a team rapidly building momentum heading into the postseason.

The Bulldogs not only celebrated an SEC championship weekend — they dominated one of college baseball’s premier programs while showing no signs of complacency.

Georgia will close the regular season with a massive SEC road series against sixth-ranked Auburn beginning Thursday night.