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Tennessee Volunteers catcher Stone Lawless thought he had given his team the lead in the top of the ninth inning against the Georgia Bulldogs on Sunday, but his dramatic batting was in vain.
Lawless drove Bulldogs pitcher Justin Byrd’s pitch deep into left field. He hit the ground with his bat and began celebrating with his teammates in the dugout. However, Georgia left fielder Cole Johnson jumped onto the wall and stole the home run.
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Tennessee’s Stone Lawless at bat against Nicholls during an NCAA college baseball game on Feb. 13, 2026, in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Johnson and his Bulldogs teammates celebrated the 8-7 victory. Lawless was stunned.
“At first, I didn’t think it was safe. I thought he caught the ball on the end of the bat,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said after the game, via the team’s website. “When Cole came back, he worked on those things. He goes after him in batting practice and works on it. Then when I saw him make the catch, I couldn’t believe it.”
Cole Johnson said he knew if the ball was going to be a home run, it would have been out of his reach.
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Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless (27) hits a fly ball during the SEC baseball tournament semifinal game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Vanderbilt Commodores on May 24, 2025, at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama. (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“I knew I was going to be against the wall, and if it was a home run, I wasn’t going to be out by much,” he said. “I was just trying to get my back to the wall as fast as I could.”
Tennessee had a 6-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning, but a five-run inning in the bottom of the frame put Georgia on top. Bryce Callaway’s three-run homer helped give Georgia the lead.
A Georgia baseball cap during the men’s college baseball game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on March 3, 2024 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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The Bulldogs are 17-4 on the year. Tennessee fell to 14-6.
