Tennessee had the college baseball world laughing on Friday night with a viral moment during the Vols’ win over Georgia in Athens.
With the Bulldogs leading 4-2 in the top of the sixth inning, the Volunteers were at the plate with runners on first and second and no outs. Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless popped up a high fly ball into foul territory with a trajectory heading straight for the Volunteers’ dugout on the first base line.
Tennessee’s players didn’t flinch, though. They didn’t move to get in the way of the Georgia players trying to catch it, but instead stood tall like statues. The ball ended up bouncing off Tennessee freshman catcher Trent Grindlinger in the dugout, and Georgia could not come up with the catch for the out.
Tennessee’s players went wild in the dugout as they celebrated their moment.
Vols dugout loses their mind standing ground in the dugout 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/XNyeRPitgg
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) March 13, 2026
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This play prompted Georgia head coach Wes Johnson to stride out of the dugout and plead his case for dugout interference, but the umpires did not review anything after the conversation. Tennessee’s players did not actively move to get in the way of the foul ball, but simply just stood their ground and let the ball land wherever it might. As it would turn out, that landing spot was the shoulder of Tennessee’s freshman catcher behind the dugout railing.
The play itself, plus the unsuccessful negotiation from Georgia at home plate, combined to fire up the Vols’ dugout. Tennessee had new life that was pouring out onto the field, which helped spur Manny Marin into hitting a two-run double just two batters later to tie the game at 4-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Georgia failed to score any more runs for the rest of the game, while Tennessee added three more runs in the final three frames to pick up the 7-4 opening win in the series in Athens.
The road win over Georgia is the first SEC victory in the Josh Elander era for Tennessee. The Vols will be back in action for Game 2 of the series on Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m. ET in Athens.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live coverage of the game on Saturday evening.
