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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 swing was to no avail.
Lawless pushed Bulldogs pitcher Justin Byrd deep to left field. He hit the ground with the bat and started celebrating with his teammates in the dugout. However, Georgia outfielder Cole Johnson jumped 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 indisputable. I thought he caught the ball on the end of the stick,” Georgia head coach Wes Johnson said after the game, via the team’s website. “When Cole was coming back, he was working on that stuff. He takes it 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 semifinals 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 it was going to be against the wall, and if it was a home run, it wouldn’t go out by much,” he said. “I was just trying to get my back to the wall as quickly as possible.”
Tennessee had a 6-3 lead entering the seventh inning, but a five-run run in the bottom of the inning gave Georgia the lead. 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 this year. Tennessee fell to 14-6.
