Georgia scrapes by Texas to keep season alive at College World Series

They’ll face Oklahoma 7 p.m. ET Wednesday night for the Bracket 2 championship. To make the CWS finals and have a chance at its first national championship since 1990, Georgia will need to win Wednesday and again Thursday in a winner-take-all game.

Their bats quieted for the third game in a row at Charles Schwab Field, the Bulldogs humbled themselves to play small ball to eke out their two runs.

They were enough because of a career performance by starter Dylan Vigue and dominating relief performance by Justin Byrd, who closed out the game with a strikeout of Ashton Larson. Bulldogs players spilled out of the dugout and the bullpen to celebrate on the infield, serenaded by chants of “UGA!” from the stands.

And Georgia, after a dispiriting 4-3 loss to Oklahoma in a winner’s bracket game on Monday that kicked the Bulldogs into the loser’s bracket, will keep going.

Before a packed house on an idyllic Midwestern night, the Bulldogs were the picture of desperation against the Longhorns. Texas starter Luke Harrison had no-hit Georgia through four innings with 10 strikeouts.

The Bulldogs, arguably the top offense in Division I, remained in the funk that had trailed them since their arrival in Omaha.

But in the top of the fifth in a scoreless game, Brennan Hudson worked a walk on a 3-2 count and got to third without the ball leaving the infield – taking second on just the Bulldogs’ third sacrifice bunt of the season (by Kolby Branch) and then reaching third on a groundout to Harrison.

All-American Tre Phelps brought him home with an actual base hit, a double to score Hudson and break up the no-hitter.

Did it help that, throughout that half-inning, Bulldogs relievers pressed up against the right-field fence in their bullpen, arms and legs splayed to form a series of X’s, in an apparent appeal to the baseball gods?

It did not hurt.

The Bulldogs added a second run against national stopper of the year Sam Cozart in the top of the seventh. Ryan Black led off with a single that was first ruled a catch and then overruled on a challenge to be a base hit. Phelps hit a seeing-eye single that advanced Black to third. Black scored on a sacrifice fly to shallow left, scoring on a headfirst dive just ahead of the throw.

The pair of cobbled runs were enough because of Vigue keeping the Longhorns scoreless in his four innings (two hits, eight strikeouts and two walks) and Byrd taking the baton for the final five innings, matching his season high.

Georgia is now one of the last four teams standing, joining Oklahoma in Bracket 2 and North Carolina and West Virginia in Bracket 1. (The Tar Heels need to win once to advance.)

Beating the scorching-hot Sooners twice will be a tall order, particularly as they were off Tuesday and only need to win once to end Georgia’s season.

Teams in Oklahoma’s position have won their bracket 76% of the time over the past 25 College World Series.

But a Bulldogs season that has often been described as magical breathes yet.

You can now get my column sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter here.