Georgia wins SEC Tournament in dominant fashion

HOOVER, Ala. – It was delayed but never denied as Georgia captured its first SEC tournament championship in program history, run-ruling Arkansas 11-1.

The victory caps a historic season for Georgia, as it becomes the first team to sweep the regular season and tournament championship since Tennessee did in 2021.

Which is an accomplishment that head coach Wes Johnson doesn’t take for granted, given his prior history in the tournament.

“I was obviously at Mississippi State in 2016 when we won the league, was at Arkansas when we got to the finals in this tournament, ’17 lost LSU, like maybe 5-2, 5-3, somewhere in that ballpark,” Johnson said. “I remember looking back at both of those, as you’re moving forward and going, ‘Wow, man, it’s almost harder to accomplish one of those than it is probably to get to Omaha at times.'”

The Bulldogs were dominant on Sunday, making quick work of an Arkansas team that took one game in the three-game series earlier in the season.

The beatdown was on from the first inning, as starting pitcher Paul Farley produced a scoreless top half, then Georgia’s bats put five runs on the board in four hits.

Daniel Jackson reached on a walk, following a Tre Phelps flyout, before a pair of RBI doubles from Rylan Lujo and Brennan Hudson put Georgia up 3-0. Kenny Ishikawa would have kept the RBI double streak going if it wasn’t for a fielding error that saw him reach second base, scoring Hudson for Georgia.

Then Jack Arcamone hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat in Hoover.

“I think it was three zero at the time, runner on, and kind of a big spot in the game,” Branch said of the home run. “You take that next jump, it’s a big deal. You go up 5-0 compared to 3-0. It kind of determines whether Arkansas is in the game or out of the game.”

After a one-hit top-half from Farley, Georgia added one more in the second inning, with Daniel Jackson netting an RBI scoring Phelps. Phelps would come up again with an RBI single in the third inning, before Ryan Black came home on a scoring error.

Arcamone added two more to the board to secure the run-rule with a two RBI single into right field.

Farley pitched through four innings, recording six strikeouts while allowing six hits, before he handed the ball off to the bullpen.

“I thought Paul Farley did a phenomenal job,” Johnson said. “Arkansas came out again, they were maybe one for 7, 6, or 8 somewhere in there with runners in scoring position in those first four innings. So you know that just speaks to how he was able to maneuver and guide through traffic, make pitches when he needed to….”

Zach Brown, Caleb Jameson, and Jordan Stephens saw action from there, each pitching an inning. Jameson was the only pitcher to give up a run, as a solo shot in the sixth inning from Maika Niu put the Razorbacks on the board.

Yet, while Georgia will certainly celebrate its first SEC tournament championship in program history, the celebrations won’t linger for very long.

“We’ll celebrate this, you know, for the bus ride home, but then tomorrow we’ve got to turn the page and get ready for Friday,” Johnson said.