This weekend was close to being the perfect weekend for Georgia baseball. The Bulldogs handled their business in the Athens Regional by going 3-0 without breaking much of a sweat, but Georgia will be without star infielder Tre Phelps who will serve a one game suspension after being ejected during Sunday's 6-1 win over Liberty.
Phelps opened up the scoring for Georgia in the bottom of the sixth inning when he hit a two-run home run that give Georgia their first lead of the game. While jogging to first base he celebrated by gesturing to his parents who were sitting behind the Liberty dugout, but the home plate umpire thought he was taunting Liberty so he threw him out of the game.
Georgia was rightfully livid, and head coach Wes Johnson came to Phelps' defense and was ultimately thrown out of the game as well. But his reaction, even though it got him ejected, was exactly what fans and the team want to see from their head coach.
"I'm going to stand up for our players, no matter what."
— Jed May (@JedMay_) June 1, 2026
Wes Johnson and Liberty head coach Bradley LeCroy give their take on the controversial Tre Phelps ejection from Sunday night's game:
https://t.co/2txQkXCUQV via @on3
Wes Johnson had his players' backs after Tre Phelps' controversial ejection
Johnson didn't think twice about defending Phelps after he was thrown out of the game. He immediately knew how much of a mistake the umpire made, so he made sure to get in his face and let him know how bad he thought this call was.
Johnson was asked about this call during Georgia's press conference after the game, and he echoed the explanation that already went viral about Phelps' parents sitting directly behind the Liberty dugout.
“For the record, Tre’s family was sitting up in the stands,” Johnson said via dawgnation.com. “Tre was waving at his family. The umpires, whatever, I’m not an umpire. They thought he was talking to the dugout.”
This type of passion and energy is exactly what fans and Georgia want to see from their head coach. When things don't go their way and Georgia feels like they aren't being treated fairly this is how great baseball coaches are supposed to respond.
Sure Johnson got thrown out of the game as well, but in baseball that is something coaches have to do at times. If he didn't then his players would wonder if he truly has their backs or not. If he didn't then the team might not have played as hard the rest of the game.
But Johnson stood up for Phelps which let his entire team know that he will always have their backs no matter what.
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