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Georgia captures series over No. 1 Arkansas via extra-innings walk-off from Henry Hunter
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Georgia and Arkansas produced another brilliant battle for SEC baseball this weekend. The top-10 series in Athens lived up to the hype, including an extra-innings affair for Sunday’s rubber match between the two sides.
On Friday, the series opened with Arkansas delivering a dominant statement. The Razorbacks took Game 1 with a 13-3 blowout while looking like the best team in the country.
Georgia responded in Game 2, scrapping together a 7-6 win to force the pivotal Game 3. That matchup was not short on drama with both sides delivering pivotal blows.
Behind a 3-run 2nd inning, the Bulldogs carried a 5-3 lead into the 9th inning, looking to win the series. However, the Razorbacks rallied with 2 runs to tie things up at 5 apiece and force extras.
Initially, it looked like Arkansas might win things in the 11th after taking a 6-5 lead in the top half, but Georgia responded in the bottom of the 11th. That’s where things stood heading into the bottom of the 12th when Henry Hunter stepped to the plate.
With 2 outs, Hunter worked a 3-1 count and did not miss a hittable pitch in the zone. Here’s how it all went down:
The win gives Georgia the series win and sends Arkansas to its first series loss in SEC play. It also means there is a solid chance we get a new No. 1 on top of the D1Baseball and Baseball America rankings on Monday morning.
Regardless of the results in Athens, both programs are in a position to serve as potential host sites in the NCAA Tournament for the race to the College World Series in Omaha. We’ll see how the rest of the conference race shapes up down the road.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
