Saturday morning delivered game one of the most anticipated Super Regional matchup in recent memory as the Mississippi State Bulldogs went into Foley Field to take on the SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs for what could likely be an all-out war between the two programs. Some even consider this best-of-three Super Regional series as the unofficial start to the 2026 College World Series, with the winner of this weekend likely being the favorite to win the National Championship. 

Unless you live under a rock, you know these two conference foes have had some battles this season, with Georgia taking all four matchups with Mississippi State by a combined eight runs across the four games. About as close a matchup as one can get, as both are considered among the two best out of the Southeastern Conference this season. On one side, you have the Georgia Bulldogs looking to continue the domination of Mississippi State this season, while Mississippi State came into game one looking to continue the unbeaten streak since starting the Starkville Regional last week, while also trying to earn the first win of the year over Georgia. 

Starting on the mound today for Mississippi State would be Tomas Valincius, while Georgia went with Joey Volchko. Neither guy had their stuff today as the bats were rolling on both sides. Tomas would be the first replaced as he gave 4.1 innings, giving up eight hits, seven runs, with only four strikeouts. Jack Bauer would be his replacement in the bottom of the 5th inning. For Georgia, Joey Volchko got through five complete innings, giving up seven hits, seven runs with six strikeouts. Matt Scott would come in to replace him, but he lasted 0.1 innings before Dylan Vigue came to clean up the mess. 

To no surprise of anyone, the bats for both Mississippi State and Georgia were going crazy on Saturday morning. Mississippi State jumped to an early 6-0 lead in the top half of the second, before extending the lead to 7-0 in the 4th inning. Georgia would add five runs in the bottom of the 4th and four runs in the bottom of the 5th to take a 9-7 lead over Mississippi State with the nine unanswered runs. Mississippi State would tie things with two runs in the top half of the 6th. Georgia would add another run in the bottom of the 6th to retake a 10-9 lead over Mississippi State. Mississippi State would run in the 7th to the game at ten, before scoring two more in the 8th to take a 12-10 lead over Georgia into the final two innings of the game. Michael O’Shaughnessy would hammer a three-run home run to retake a 13-12 Georgia lead heading to the 9th. 

Saturday was the day for the long ball for both teams, as they combined for 25 runs, with 11 runs between them. Something to monitor as the calendar turns to Sunday for game two, Tre Phelps will be back in the lineup for Georgia, but most importantly, who will be pitching for Georgia the rest of the weekend as they turned to weekend starters today to get out of messes to keep Mississippi State from adding on more runs to keep the Georgia offense from mounting a comeback. 

At the end of the day, it wasn’t pretty, but Georgia got the job done, and the Bulldogs are now one win away from reaching the College World Series. Georgia remained patient at the plate, then picked off the weakness of the Mississippi State bullpen, and now the Georgia Bulldogs are one win away from Omaha. 

Photo Credits- Georgia baseball on X