NCAA baseball tournament: Michael O’Shaughnessy steps up for Georgia

Georgia booked a spot in the NCAA baseball Super Regionals with a 6-1 win over Liberty last Sunday, with standout third baseman Tre Phelps delivering the runs the Bulldogs needed with a two-run blast in the sixth inning. But Phelps was ejected from the game for celebrating the home run, meaning he would sit out Saturday’s first Super Regional game against Mississippi State.

Enter Michael O’Shaughnessy.

Stepping into the spot vacated by Phelps, all O’Shaughnessy did was blast a pair of home runs, including the go-ahead three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth, as the Bulldogs outlasted Mississippi State 13-12 to take Game 1 of their Super Regional matchup and move to within one win of a spot in the Men’s College World Series.

The visitors took an early six-run lead, hanging six runs on the board in the top of the second against Georgia starting pitcher Joey Volchko. But the Bulldogs stormed back with a five-run fourth inning, to make the score 7-5 heading into the fifth.

After Georgia held Mississippi State scoreless in the top of the fifth, the Bulldogs hung four more runs on the board in the bottom of the frame, with O’Shaughnessy belting this two-run blast to right field:

That blast tied the game at 7-7, but when O’Shaughnessy came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, the Bulldogs trailed 12-10. And he was facing lefty Dane Burns.

But O’Shaughnessy got a pitch to hit, and did he hit it:

O’Shaughnessy turned on a 90-mph pitch on the inner half of the plate, hammering it to deep right-center for a three-run home run to give Georgia a 13-12 lead.

Georgia closed the game out in the ninth, but not without some drama. MLB Draft prospect Ace Reese lined a shot to center field with one out, which bounced over the head of center fielder Rylan Lugo, giving Mississippi State the potential tying run in scoring position. Then Justin Byrd walked Noah Sullivan, bringing Georgia coach Wes Johnson out of the dugout to talk to his pitcher.

Byrd responded by getting freshman Jacob Parker to fly out to left field for the second out, which brought Vytas Valincius to the plate, he of the two-HR inning during the SEC tournament. Byrd punched him out on a swinging strikeout, ending the threat and completing the comeback.

With the win, the Bulldogs became the first team in the last three years to come back and win an NCAA baseball tournament game after trailing by seven or more runs. Teams in that situation were 0-149 prior to today.

The two-HR game comes as O’Shaughnessy was working through a tough stretch at the dish. Over his last 12 games, O’Shaughnessy had struck out 17 times, including nine over his seven previous games.

But today, when the Bulldogs needed him, O’Shaughnessy delivered a game to remember.