State's Season Ends After Extra-Inning Loss In Athens Super Regional
June 07, 2026 | Baseball
ATHENS, Ga. — Mississippi State proved it had one more comeback in it. Georgia, however, had the final answer.
No. 17 Mississippi State erased a five-run deficit and took a late lead, but No. 3 Georgia pushed across the tying run in the ninth and Daniel Jackson delivered a two-run homer in the 10th as UGA beat MSU 11-9 on Sunday at Foley Field to win the Athens Super Regional and advance to the College World Series.
State's season ended at 43-19, one win shy of Omaha, after a wild 10-inning game that featured nine combined home runs, 25 hits and multiple momentum swings.
Mississippi State trailed 7-2 after five innings before its offense came alive. Vytas Valincius homered in the sixth, Bryce Chance added an RBI single later in the inning and MSU followed with three straight solo shots from Ace Reese, Noah Sullivan and Jacob Parker in the seventh to pull within 8-7.
State completed the comeback in the eighth. Reese doubled with one out and Parker hammered a two-run homer to center field — his second of the game — to give Mississippi State a 9-8 lead and put the maroon and white six outs away from a trip to Omaha.
UGA tied it in the ninth when Kenny Ishikawa walked and Brennan Hudson singled him home. Georgia then retook the lead in the 10th after Tre Phelps reached on an error and Jackson followed with a two-run homer to left field.
Mississippi State finished with 14 hits, including six home runs. Parker went 2-for-6 with two homers and three RBIs, Reese was 3-for-6 with a double, homer and two runs scored, Sullivan added two hits and a solo homer, Valincius homered and scored twice, and Kevin Milewski hit a two-run homer in the second.
Georgia built its early lead with runs in each of the first five innings. UGA scored twice in the first, twice more in the second, then added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth to move ahead 7-2. Kolby Branch homered twice, Hudson homered and drove in two, and Jackson finished with two hits and two RBIs.
Ryan McPherson started for Mississippi State and allowed four runs over 1 1/3 innings. Duke Stone gave State 5 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, striking out five, while Tyler Pitzer took the loss after allowing three runs, two earned, in 2 1/3 innings.
Justin Byrd earned the win for Georgia, throwing two hitless innings with two walks and two strikeouts. Caden Aoki started for UGA and struck out nine over 5 2/3 innings.
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