Tre Phelps ejected, faces suspension as Georgia beats Liberty, advances to Super Regional
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Tre Phelps belted a huge home run for Georgia in its quest to get to the Super Regionals, but he might have taken himself out of Game 1 of that Super Regional with what he did immediately after the homer.
The Bulldogs star third baseman sat on a 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning of Sunday’s Athens Regional game against Liberty, sending the offering deep to left field for a 2-run home run that lifted the No. 3 national seed to a 2-1 lead. Georgia was being blanked by Liberty up to that point, and with the Dawgs on the brink of a trip to the Super Regionals with a victory, it served as a huge turning point in the game and maybe in Georgia’s season.
But then Phelps injected some controversy into the moment — or, just maybe, the umpiring crew did. Because after smacking the home run, Phelps turned and looked at the Liberty dugout as well as the crowd down the first-base line before going on his trot around the bases.
Now, there were many Georgia fans sitting behind the Liberty dugout on that first-base side, but the umpires still decided to eject Phelps from the game. Suddenly, a celebratory moment for the Dawgs became a frustrating and confusing one, and Dawgs head coach Wes Johnson went crazy, flying out of the dugout to vehemently argue the umps’ decision.
Not only could Phelps not help his team for the rest of the game on Sunday, but now he’ll be facing a suspension for Georgia’s next game, which will indeed be Game 1 of the Super Regionals after the Dawgs finished off Liberty on Sunday in a 6-1 victory that clinched the Athens Regional.
Here is the heroic home run by Phelps, followed by the controversial celebration and Johnson’s subsequent tirade:
Georgia tacked on 4 more runs in the bottom of the 8th in closing out Liberty, improved to 49-12 during a season that’s already included SEC regular-season and SEC Tournament titles, but now faces the prospect of playing its Super Regional opener without Phelps.
The Dawgs will try to get past this Phelps controversy and maintain their focus on getting to Omaha for the College World Series. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Bulldogs’ chances to be playing for everything in a few short weeks:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
