Georgia
Hugh Freeze believes Auburn can win out, sounds off on Georgia talent after 31-13 loss
ATHENS — Hugh Freeze doesn’t believe his Auburn team is that far off, but the scoreboard at Georgia and the Tigers’ record suggests otherwise.
The No. 5-ranked Bulldogs handed Auburn a 31-13 defeat at Sanford Stadium on Saturday, dropping the Tigers to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in SEC play.
Georgia out-gained Auburn, but only by a 381 yards to 337, and neither team turned the ball over.
“I keep saying we’re not that far off, because, you know, I think — they’re the No. 5 team in the country, and we should have been in this game,” said Freeze, who’s in his second season on The Plains. “We’re not playing winning football in critical times and moments. We, as coaches – it’s our job, it’s my job – to get that fixed.”
Freeze said before the game he felt Auburn could be 5-0 if not for ranking last among Power 4 teams in turnover margin — something Kirby Smart said he agreed with him.
Freeze said after the game his expectation for the Tigers is “to win every game,” even though Auburn has remaining SEC games with Missouri, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Alabama.
“I think we are capable; I think our team’s capable of doing that, (and) I’ll refuse to believe otherwise,” Freeze said. “We’ve shown too many signs that we can be, even as young as we are, that we can be a competitive football team.
“But you’ve got to make winning plays in critical situations … “
Indeed, Georgia converted on both of its fourth down attempts while Auburn was 0-for-2 and had a field goal blocked.
Freeze also continued to voice his displeasure with Auburn’s quarterback play, even though Payton Thorne was a respectable 16-of-27 passing for 200 yards with no interceptions and also rushed for 22 yards.
What Thorne didn’t do, however, was run a fourth-and-1 play at the Auburn 44 correctly on the first play of the fourth quarter with the Tigers’ trailing 21-10.
“Yeah, he absolutely didn’t go with what we had called,” Freeze said. “Payton’s a thinker. He knows football. He decided to try to run some type of zone read there.
“I think everybody was a little confused. But we definitely weren’t on the same page there.”
Freeze summed things up accurately enough.
“Obviously, a disappointing season, and today is another step not in the direction that we had hoped,” he said. “Georgia’s a good football team, and Kirby and them do a great job. Obviously, they’ve recruited a roster that’s really talented from top to bottom, and deep.
“I think they get really good quarterback play. He understands the game. They have a really good team.”
ATHENS, Ga. – Designated hitter Daniel Jackson and centerfielder Rylan Lujo combined for nine RBI Sunday, leading fifth-ranked Georgia to a 12-1 win over LSU at Foley Field.
Georgia improved to 41-11 overall, 21-6 in the SEC, while LSU dropped to 29-24 overall and 9-18 in conference play.
The Tigers return to action at 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday when they play host to Florida in Game 1 of a three-game SEC series in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. Thursday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and streamed on SEC Network +.
“Georgia won the moments in this series,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “They’re going to score, so you’ve got to capitalize against them when you have scoring opportunities on offense.”
Georgia starting pitcher Caden Aoki (8-0) was the winner, limiting LSU to one run on four hits in 5.0 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.
LSU right-hander Casan Evans (2-3), making his first appearance since April 17 versus Texas A&M, started the game Sunday and was charged with the loss, working 1.2 innings and allowing four runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
“I thought Casan’s stuff looked great, and that’s good for him from a health standpoint,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy that the more he pitches, the better he is, so there might have been a little bit of rust, but I thought he competed fine.”
Georgia struck for four runs in the bottom of the second inning in an outburst highlighted by Jackson’s two-out, two-run single and an RBI single by second baseman Ryan Black.
The Tigers narrowed the gap to 4-1 in the third when designated hitter Omar Serna Jr. delivered an RBI single.
Georgia extended its lead to 7-1 in the fourth as Jackson launched a two-run homer and centerfielder Lujo lined a run-scoring single.
Lujo unloaded a grand slam in the fifth, giving the Bulldogs an 11-1 advantage.
The Georgia baseball team had long since poured out of the Foley Field home dugout and the water bottles that were thrown on the field in jubilation had been cleaned up.
The Bulldogs celebration that carried into center field after a 13-8 victory on Saturday night over LSU on May 9 had ended and players had doused coach Wes Johnson with blue sports drink.
Now, some 20 minutes later, it was postgame photo time for the freshly minted 2026 SEC regular season champions.
They gathered in front of the spot on the right field wall where the previous seven seasons of Georgia SEC championships were listed, the last in 2008. Above them on the video board was a graphic that recognized this year’s team as SEC champions.
“Watching the program grow in such a shot amount of time, it’s awesome,” said pitcher Paul Farley, who has been with the Bulldogs for all three seasons with Johnson and got the win in relief Saturday. “We’ve got four SEC games left and to be able to hang that up there the SEC champs already it’s amazing.”
Farley was speaking figuratively because the 2026 numbers weren’t on the outfield fence just yet.
Fifth-ranked Georgia (40-11, 20-6 SEC) still has a chance to put a College World Series trip up there in left field for the first time since 2008 and in a best case scenario add another national championship year in right field with the 1990 season.
“SEC champs is great, but obviously we want to do bigger and better things,” Farley said.
LSU, the team that won it all last season, was still around having a postgame talk on the artificial turf field long after the game ended.
Johnson was with LSU in 2023 as pitching coach when it won another College World Series.
“It’s massive,” Johnson said of this latest championship. “Anytime you can win this league, man, it’s so hard. Then win it outright. It’s something you want to check off on your list of things you’ve ever accomplished. It’s 10 weekends of just meat house grinding.”
Johnson said he didn’t know that the dominoes had fallen Saturday to set up Georgia being able to clinch except that he saw that Texas lost at Tennessee as the result flashed on the scoreboard.
Texas A&M also lost twice at Ole Miss to set up the clinch for Georgia.
“I’m calling pitches, I’m locked in,” Johnson said.
He said assistant coach Will Coggin told him when the game ended that ‘We’re champs.’”
Many of the players knew.
“We had a few inside operatives, I’d say, tell us,” Farley said.
Shortstop Kolby Branch said he didn’t know “until the water bottles started flying.”
Branch said another Georgia team loaded with transfers grew closer in the fall and built relationships that have turned into wins this season.
Johnson said winning the regular season title in his third season as coach in the age of the transfer portal and NIL “means a lot.”
Johnson mentioned Farley, Branch and Tre Phelps being at Georgia for all three of his seasons.
“Seeing where we were in the first fall, we forget this used to be dirt and grass,” Johnson said standing on on turf field. “And we didn’t have the cool building and we only had one batting cage, all the stuff we’ve been able to do since we’ve been here. The other side is just understanding true belief and understanding what guys can do.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. –Georgia Tech softball (30-27, 10-14 ACC) collected its second postseason conference honor as first baseman Addison Leschber was named to the 2026 ACC All-Tournament Team, as was announced by the conference following the 2026 ACC Softball Championship game on Saturday.
Leschber is Tech softball’s first All-Tournament honoree since Emma Kauf during the 2023 season. During the First Round of the ACC Championships, Leschber was nothing short of exceptional as she went 2-for-4 with one home run, one double, and five RBI. Leschber’s first-inning home run brought her to 13 home runs this season, the third most of any Yellow Jacket this season. In Tech’s fourth meeting of the season with Notre Dame, Leschber saw her 12th multi-RBI game and ninth multi-hit game of the season. The senior finished the season with 26 runs, 37 hits, seven doubles, 13 home runs, 42 RBI, and 83 total bases.
2026 ACC Softball Championship All-Tournament Team
Jessica Oakland, Duke
Addison Leschber, Georgia Tech
Bri Despines, Louisville
Madison Pickens, Louisville
Bree Carrico, Virginia Tech
Michelle Chatfield, Virginia Tech
Emma Mazzarone, Virginia Tech
Jasyoni Beachum, Florida State
Ashtyn Danley, Florida State
Jazzy Francik, Florida State (MVP)
Isa Torres, Florida State
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets will await their fate in the NCAA Tournament Selection show on Sunday, May 10, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech softball team, follow us on Twitter (@GaTechSoftball), Facebook, Instagram (@GaTechsoftball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
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