Texas to face Georgia in Tuesday elimination game

· Yahoo Sports

ATHENS, GA - JUNE 07: Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson(3) in the dugout after scoring in the first inning of the NCAA Super Regional college baseball game between the Georgia Bulldogs vs Mississippi State Bulldogs on JUNE 7, 2026 Foley Field in Athens, GA. (Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The national title favorite in Sunday’s PEARatings suffered a big blow on Monday when the Georgia Bulldogs, the highest-seeded team in the College World Series, dropped into the loser’s bracket with a 4-3 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, setting up a Tuesday rematch with the Texas Longhorns.

Skip Johnson’s Oklahoma team, which eliminated No. 2 Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional, might be the hottest squad in Omaha with seven straight wins after the Demon Deacons put them on the edge of elimination with an opening-game loss in the regional. Since then, OU buzzed through Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional by a combined score of 22-3 and continued that momentum at Charles Schwab Field.

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The Sooners opened the CWS with a dominant 9-0 win over the Crimson Tide on Saturday, then upset the Diamond Dogs after taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Monday.

A leadoff double and a hit batter put Georgia starter Caden Aoki in immediate trouble, quickly exacerbated by Aoki’s throwing error to put the runners on second and base, allowing a groundout to result in an RBI. OU delivered the big blow in the game when shortstop Jaxon Willits delivered a two-run home run, just clearing the wall in right center for his seventh home run this season.

In a significant development for UGA heading into Tuesday’s matchup, however, Aoki recovered from the early struggles to work all eight innings without giving up another run until left fielder Brendan Brock delivered a solo shot in the fourth.

The Dawgs stayed in the game in characteristic fashion, hitting solo homers in the fourth, fifth, and eighth innings against Sooners starter Xander Mercurius, who worked into the eighth, allowing those three runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.

Securing a ninth save wasn’t easy for Oklahoma closer Jackson Cleveland. The Miami transfer gave up a single to the first batter he faced and then issued a two-out, full-count walk, but induced a fly out to right field to strand two runners in the eighth. In the ninth, Georgia got the leadoff runner on with a single prior to a one-out hit batter. Cleveland left two more runners on base when he sealed the victory with a strikeout and a fly out to center to star Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, who left four runners on base in going 1-for-5 with a solo homer in the eighth.

The Bulldogs finished 0-for-12 with runners on and 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, advancing the runner only two times in 14 opportunities.

With Oklahoma in command of Bracket 2, the Horns and Dawgs face off again on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Central on ESPN.

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