Following a three-run seventh inning for Mississippi State, things looked bleak for the Georgia baseball team.

But the No. 4 Diamond Dogs (19-2, 4-2 SEC) refused to quit as they poured seven runs on their Bulldog brethren in the bottom of the eighth en route to a 10-6 victory.

The insanity however, had just begun and the players were in shock.

“Wow man, I was just in disbelief,” shortstop Levi Hyams said. “Everything that can go wrong or wired in that inning happened and we didn’t know how to react. We were just trying to get our outs and win the game.”

In the top of the ninth, and with closer Dean Weaver unavailable, junior Jeff Walters took the mound in an attempt to close out a Georgia victory.

After striking out the first batter of the inning, second baseman Michael Demperio dove to his right and appeared to throw out MSU’s Ryan Duffy. But the umpires conferenced and overturned the call, awarding Duffy first base.

The next batter, Scott DeLoach, hit a routine fly to right field that Miles Starr, normally an infielder but playing in the outfield because Chase Davidson hit his head in the dugout, misplayed and missed. MSU loaded the bases after a Jet Butler single and up strode Ryan Powers.

The first pitch nearly hit Powers, who was awarded first base, but then called a foul after the umpires ruled the ball struck the bat.

On the second pitch, Powers threw his arm in front of the ball, letting it hit him, only to have home plate umpire rule he forced contact and he remained at bat.

After forcing the count full, Powers struck out swinging and angrily stormed to the dugout.

“I knew it hit his bat and the second one was over the plate and I knew the umpires saw it because they called him back so that didn’t bother me much,” Walters said. “[First baseman] Rich [Poythress] came in there twice and told me not to worry and I know [the infielders] have my back, so it was a lot of help to me out there because thing were going crazy.”

Following a bases loaded walk, MSU’s Conner Powers struck out swinging to end the game and give Georgia a weekend sweep.

POYTHRESS MOVES FROM CLEANUP HOLE

When the season began, Georgia head coach David Perno said he wanted to keep Poythress in the four-hole because it fits the kind of hitter he is.

But on Sunday, Perno opted to move his leading home run hitter and RBI man to the third spot in the order.

“I think we are going to do it more,” Perno said. “I felt like he hadn’t hit with people on base all weekend because our one and two hole hitters have been struggling and I wanted to give him more at bats and it’s a lineup we are going to look at more.”

The move paid off in the eighth as Poythress hit an RBI single to center that tied the game, but the place in the batting order doesn’t matter to the junior from Grovetown.

“I think it’s the same approach either way,” he said. “Whatever works best for the team, I’m for it either way.”

HYAMS STARTING TO WARM UP

After two weekends of SEC play, shortstop Levi Hyams has started to find his groove.

Heading into Sunday’s game, the freshman from Stafford, Va. was second on the team in batting average and on-base percentage in SEC play, .333 and .444 respectively.

Sunday he remained hot as he went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run (2) to give Georgia a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

“I didn’t think it would be like this at all today because [Friday and Saturday] I did not hit well at all,” Hyams said. “I came up today and I said, ‘Have some fun and stay relaxed’ and came out and squared everything up and got lucky a few times.”