The two best teams in the 2026 College World Series met, and it wasn't in the finals. The Athens Super Regional featured an epic battle between Georgia and Mississippi State, who showed why the SEC is still the conference to beat when it comes to baseball.
Georgia took the series 2-0 over the "other" Bulldogs, but don't let that sweep fool you. Both games were hotly contested with multiple lead changes and a featured a staggering 21 total home runs between the two teams.
Apparently, Bulldogs dig the long ball.
Georgia will still have to face some quality teams in Omaha -- starting with another SEC powerhouse, Texas -- but clearly the toughest challenge for the Dawgs has already been overcome. Texas and the other teams remaining in the tournament can't be taken for granted, but none of them have the deep lineup Georgia faced against Mississippi State.
Omaha better be ready because Georgia is arriving with serious CWS momentum
The one thing a tough series like that can do for a team is give them momentum. In showing they came come back from even a 7-run deficit, Georgia served notice that they are in steamroller mode and won't back down from any challenge.
Golden Spikes Award winner Daniel Jackson sealed the deal for the Dawgs and he'll be the one Georgia is counting on to set the tone and keep the momentum going in the series with Texas.
The Longhorns are probably the second most difficult challenge Georgia will have in this year's College World Series, and the way things are set up in the rest of the bracket, the Bulldogs may have a path of least resistance after the first round. And it's entirely possible Georgia will see nothing but SEC teams in this year's tournament.
The ideal path for Georgia to have an all-SEC slate would be, Texas and then Oklahoma/Alabama out of Bracket 2, followed by Ole Miss out of Bracket 1 in the championship series.
What is Georgia's record against the remaining SEC teams in the CWS?
Against the SEC teams who remain in the tournament, Georgia is 2-1 against Ole Miss, with no regular season games played against Alabama, Oklahoma, or Texas.
This means that three out of the four potential matchups would not have faced Georgia's powerful offense at all this season. Of the teams who have not faced Georgia this year, Texas was 13th nationally with a team earned run average (ERA) of 4.08, Alabama finished 15th nationally with a 4.11 ERA, and Oklahoma struggled to a 78th spot nationally with an ERA of 5.15,
Bloated ERAs don't typically fare well agains a team who finished second in the nation in runs (595) and was first nationally in home runs per game (2.76) and total homers (174).
The burning question for the remainder of this CWS is, will Georgia's pitching hold up? The Dawgs were battered by Mississippi State's lineup, but none of the teams reamining have quite the bat power the Bulldogs did.
The Georgia pitching staff finished 58th in the nation with a 4.92 team ERA, so it may be up to Jackson and the rest of the sluggers in this Georgia lineup to keep the momentum squarely on the Dawgs' side.
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