No. 3 Georgia beat No. 6 Texas 7-1 Saturday evening at Charles Schwab Field, handing the Longhorns an opening-game loss that immediately shoved Texas into an elimination game and sent Georgia into the winners' bracket.
The game turned on a four-run first inning and a career night from Joey Volchko, who tossed his first career complete game, struck out a career-high 15 batters, allowed one unearned run and gave up four hits while shutting Texas down the rest of the way.
Georgia put the game beyond doubt early. Rylan Lujo capped the first-inning outburst with a two-run homer and later added an RBI double in the seventh, and two batters after Lujo's double Kenny Ishikawa delivered a two-run single to push the lead to 7-1.
Texas had the better pitching line on paper in several respects — Dylan Volantis worked 6 1/3 innings, limited Georgia to two earned runs, struck out nine and threw a career-high 111 pitches — but the Longhorns could not overcome the early deficit and a series of defensive miscues that amplified that first inning's damage.
Volantis retired 16 of the next 18 batters after that explosive start and held Georgia without a hit from the second into the seventh, a performance that underlined how sharply the loss felt for Texas: a dominant follow-up that simply arrived too late in the game's flow to change the outcome.
Offensively, Texas managed only one run. Adrian Rodriguez and Ethan Mendoza each collected two hits, but the Longhorn lineup never recovered enough momentum to trouble Volchko after the opening frame. Georgia improved to 52-12 with the win; Texas fell to 45-14 and is now 88-66 all-time in Men's College World Series play.
The result has immediate tournament consequences: Georgia moves into the winners' bracket and is scheduled to face Oklahoma at 6 p.m. Monday, while Texas must turn around quickly for an elimination game against No. 7 Alabama at 1 p.m. Monday.
The most consequential unresolved question coming out of Omaha is simple and urgent for Texas: can the Longhorns translate Volantis's quality start into a win when they meet Alabama? If Texas cannot shore up its defense and produce earlier offense, the margin for error in the loser's bracket will be minimal, and a strong outing from a starter may not be enough to carry them through.
