No. 4 Georgia Beats No. 14 MSU, Advances To Semifinals

Thursday, May 21

Hoover, Ala.

1:00 p.m. ET

University of Georgia

44-12

Mississippi State

40-17

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Miss. State	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	9	0
Georgia	0	1	0	3	0	0	1	0	X	5	8	0

No. 4 Georgia Beats No. 14 MSU, Advances To Semifinals

May 21, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score Georgia-MSU Game 56

HOOVER, ALA. – Fourth-ranked and SEC champion Georgia advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals after posting a 5-3 win over No. 14 Mississippi State Thursday at the Hoover Met.

Georgia (44-12) will play Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against either Florida or Alabama. Those two teams are playing their quarterfinal contest Thursday evening.

Fast Facts

Junior right-hander Joey Volchko (9-2) started and went five innings for his ninth win. He allowed a pair of runs on seven hits with one walk and one strikeout.
Georgia jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly by senior Kolby Branch, scoring Rylan Lujo.
In the fourth, senior Brennan Hudson broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run blast for his 17^th home run of the year.
Senior right-hander Matt Scott tossed the final four frames for his fifth save, allowing only a solo home run in the ninth to Noah Sullivan.
With one more home run Thursday, Georgia increased its NCAA-leading total to 148 home runs on the year.
Georgia notched its first win at the SEC Tournament since 2021. The SEC Champion Bulldogs have reached the semifinals for the first time since 2019.
Georgia improved to 4-0 against MSU this season including a sweep in Starkville in early April that was a top five showdown.

Key Quotes
Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Wes Johnson
On Thursday's victory…
"I thought Joey's (Volchko) fastball command was really good and he executed a lot of pitches. He landed some sliders when we needed them. Then, we turned the game over to Matt Scott and he settled in and threw the ball really well. He was exceuting his cutter. On the offensive side, Kolby Branch got us our first run. He does what older players in this league do, he took the sacrifice fly to get us on the board. Then Brennan (Hudson) gets off a great swing to put one in the seats in the fourth and that settled the game down for us. Also, I want to point out it's hard to walk sometimes and Kenny Ishikawa drew a bases-loaded walk for our final run and the temperature in the dugout is a little lower when you're up three compared to just one or two runs."

Joey Volchko, Jr., RHP
On the SEC Tournament win and Matt Scott's save…
"I've played with Matt (Scott) for three years now and I know how he goes about his business, and there's nobody I trust more to come out there and finish the game. If I pass it to him in the sixth or seventh, it doesn't matter. After having all these road starts this season, it's been fun, and one of the reasons I'm sitting in this chair is because I'm a competitor and I want to win."

Up Next
Georgia (44-12) plays Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against either No. 9 Florida or No. 10 Alabama. The SEC Tournament semifinal game will be available on SEC Network and the Georgia Bulldogs Sports Network.