While he drilled a huge home run on Sunday night, Tre Phelps didn’t make it to the end of Georgia’s 6-1 win over Liberty.
Phelps, after hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning of the NCAA regional final game at Foley Field in Athens, was actually thrown out of the game. Right before Phelps turned to round first base, he was seen making hand signals and celebrating toward the Liberty dugout.
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It’s not exactly clear what Phelps said in the moment, or whether he was talking to the Liberty dugout or the Georgia fans sitting above it. The game was held at Georgia’s home field, so the crowd was mostly Bulldogs fans. Phelps kept celebrating all the way around the bases to his own dugout, too, and didn’t seem to realize that he was ejected until much later.
But clearly, the umpires had seen enough of a celebration to warrant his ejection. Georgia head coach Wes Johnson followed suit after he came out and erupted at the umpires over the call. After a few moments, Johnson then left the field with his player.
Phelps has hit 19 home runs this season. The junior earned first-team All SEC honors this season.
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His home run sparked a huge rally for the Bulldogs. They added four more runs in the eighth inning, thanks in part to a home run from Michael O’Shaughnessy, who replaced Phelps the rest of the way. The five-run win sent the Bulldogs into the super regional round, where they’ll take on the winner of the Starkville regional.
Because of his ejection, Phelps will have to miss the Bulldogs’ next game.
But the Bulldogs are moving on, and Phelps, even if his celebration got out of hand, sparked that comeback to help them move into the next round. Their hopes for a College World Series appearance, which would be the program’s first since 2008, are still alive.