University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
South Carolina
No. 4 Georgia Welcomes USC For An SEC Series
March 26, 2026 | Baseball
Game two of the series will be Saturday at 2 p.m. ET (SECN+) and the final game of the series Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. ET (SECN+).
*Georgia (20-6, 4-2 SEC), ranked as high as No. 4 in the national polls this week, is tied for the SEC lead with a 4-2 league mark. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks (13-13, 1-5 SEC) are coming off midweek losses. The Bulldogs fell to Kennesaw State 10-7 in Athens while No. 13 UNC defeated USC 9-1 in Charlotte. Georgia was leading the nation in fielding at .989 but made three errors Tuesday (two by pitchers, one by an INF) to drop to second overall at .987.
*Last weekend in the SEC, the Bulldogs went to No. 21 Texas A&M and registered their first ever series win in College Station. Also, the Aggies were 14-0 at home this year before the series with the Bulldogs. Georgia hit .283 with 11 home runs during the Texas A&M series with Sunday's 18-5 loss skewing the pitching numbers after 9-4 and 8-2 wins in the first two games. Redshirt junior Justin Byrd (4.1 IP, 2H, 0R, 4K) and Matt Scott (5 IP, 5H, 1R, 6K) provided stellar relief to earn wins in the first two games.
*Meanwhile, USC dropped a home series to No. 4 Arkansas 2-1. After the Razorbacks 22-6 win last Friday, the Gamecocks made a leadership change as Paul Maineri and USC agreed to part ways. Monte Lee was named interim coach. In his first game in that role last Saturday, USC led 2-1 going to the ninth only to have Arkansas tie it up and then win 3-2 in 10 innings. USC avoided a sweep with a 9-4 win on Sunday.
*The Bulldogs are 17-5 at home this year. USC holds a slim 71-69 edge in the series over the Bulldogs that dates to 1896. The last series came in 2024 when Georgia posted a sweep in Columbia over the then No. 14 Gamecocks.
Georgia-USC Pitching Rotation
Game 1: Joey Volchko (4-0, 4.23 ERA), RHP, Jr., vs. Josh Gunther (2-1, 6.33 ERA), RHP, Jr.
Game 2: Dylan Vigue (3-1, 2.30 ERA), RHP, Jr., vs. Amp Phillips (2-2, 2.32 ERA), RHP, Jr.
Game 3: Kenny Ishikawa (1-1, 9.35), LHP, So., vs. TBA
*Georgia's rotation will be the same for the third straight league series.
*The Bulldogs have a 4.29 ERA with 276 strikeouts and 98 walks. Opponents are hitting .233.
*Georgia ranks 3rd nationally with five shutouts and 11th nationally in strikeouts/nine innings (11.5).
*USC has a 4.65 ERA with 348 strikeouts and 125 walks. Opponents are hitting .259.
Georgia Leads Nation In Home Runs And Slugging Percentage
*Georgia has an NCAA-leading 82 Home Runs and .676 SLG% plus is second in Fielding% (.987). Also, the Bulldogs rank fifth in runs (258) and OB% (.460), sixth in HPB (62) and eighth in scoring per game (9.9) and batting average (.333).
*Junior C Daniel Jackson leads the team with 15 home runs followed by senior SS Kolby Branch with 13, senior 1B/C Brennan Hudson with 11 and junior 3B Tre Phelps with 10. Branch ranks tied for seventh in Georgia history with 43 home runs and has 49 for his career counting the six he had for Baylor in 2023.
*Georgia is averaging an NCAA-leading 3.15 Home Runs per Game (HR/G) in 2026. The 2025 squad averaged 2.40 HR/G while the 2024 team averaged 2.52 HR/G. Georgia's past two squads ranked 1-2 in school history in HR, Last season, the Bulldogs had a school-record eight players with double-digit HR as the team finished with 144. In 2024 when Georgia set a school mark with 151 HR, the Bulldogs had six players with 10+ HR including an NCAA-best 37 by Golden Spikes Award winner Charlie Condon who was the third overall pick in the MLB Draft that year (Colorado Rockies).
*USC is batting .259 with 34 home runs and fielding .962. They average 5.5 runs per game.
Bulldog Quotes On The Upcoming Series
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson
On the offense...
"We've talked a lot in post games about our approach in certain counts. This team has the ability to do a lot of things when it comes to power. But it also has to be very, very disciplined in how they approach and understand what's going on. It's like I say, the scoreboard's real cool, but when the opposing team knows that Daniel Jackson is on deck and he has this cool .400 batting average and 15 homers and you're hitting in front of Daniel, the other team is probably not going to try to walk you. You go back and look at 2024, what made Corey Collins and Charlie Condon so special is Corey really, really understood that. He understood that 'hey, I'm hitting in front of this guy named Condon, who's really good, and he's hitting .500 and he's got all these homers. They're probably not going to put me on base intentionally to get to him.' That's what those are, the things that we need to ramp up offensively. Another example, let's look at Kolby Branch. He is still a threat down there in the lineup. He has so many homers, he's got a lot of big hits. Understanding where you are in the lineup and then taking that approach to the game is something we have to get better at."
#1 Tre Phelps | 3B | Jr.
On what he continues to learn about the team after two conference series…
"We are resilient. No matter if it's a series or a midweek, this team is never out of the fight. Though we did lose on Tuesday, the way we performed in that seventh inning, hats off to the offense and getting those six outs. Obviously, we needed that earlier in the game. I think it's being able to look at the small things that you do and still be able to learn from that as well."
#3 Daniel Jackson | C | Jr.
On the challenge of the upcoming series against South Carolina…
"It's about taking care of business at home. You want to rack up your wins at home because you know going on the road is going to be harder. The important part is going in on Friday and taking care of business and going to each game from there."
Links To Follow The Bulldogs
Friday @ 6 p.m. ET
Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4983&type=Live
SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs): https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/033a6072-a6a2-40f9-acd9-69b712058577
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631897
Saturday @ 2 p.m. ET
Radio: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4984&type=Live
SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs): https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/3d003fa9-8130-45e7-b132-f285d8c6f4d5
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631898
Sunday @ 1 p.m. ET
Radio/TV: 960TheRef (Jeff Dantzler & David Johnston): https://georgiadogs.com/watch/?Live=4985&type=Live
SECN+ (Matt Stewart & Jason Jacobs): https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/33af8d43-a122-4511-8ce7-4d45b69b0aea
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631899
Foley Field In 2026
· Foley Field Gates Open 1 hour before first pitch
· Tickets –Limited Availability; Also Available on SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.com/georgia-bulldogs-baseball-tickets
· UGA STUDENTS: Free Admission and please enter at 3rd Base Gate
· Promotions For USC Series:
· Friday: Paint It Black Night and t-shirt giveaway
· Saturday: It's Saturday In Athens flag giveaway
· Sunday Pregame: Anthem Buddies; American Flag shirsey giveaway; Postgame: Kids Run The Bases
FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS: For the latest Georgia baseball news, visit www.georgiadogs.com and follow the Bulldogs on X (@BaseballUGA), Facebook (@GeorgiaBaseball) and Instagram (@baseballuga).
