Daniel Jackson has come through with some clutch hits during his two seasons of college baseball, but never quite like this.
In a tie game in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Georgia baseball outfielder/catcher smashed an 0-1 pitch on the outside corner of the plate off Auburn reliever Jett Johnston that he deposited into the night sky to right field that landed near the Foley Field scoreboard.
The three-run homer Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader walked off a 9-6 win for the No. 3 Bulldogs and completed a series sweep of the No. 12 Tigers before a sell-out crowd of 3,633.
“I was actually thinking for a split second in the box, it was definitely the loudest at-bat I’ve ever had in my life,” Jackson said. "I was just trying to breathe and slow the game down.”
Jackson, from Sandy Springs, came to Georgia after being named a second-team freshman All-American at Wofford last season after clubbing 12 homers and driving in 69 runs.
One of those homers came in a three-hit performance in the Southern Conference championship against Samford.
Jackson, who now has eight homers, said he thought this was his first walk-off hit in college.
With runners on second and third and one out, Jackson was just trying to get a ball in the air for a sacrifice fly to bring home the winning run. The Bulldogs had tied the game after trailing 6-4 heading to the bottom of the 10th.
“I didn’t realize how far I hit it, but adrenaline and I was feeling pretty awesome,” Jackson said.
DAWGS WIN!!!!!#GoDawgs | @Djackson2100pic.twitter.com/tB4gEBtMl3
— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) March 29, 2025
It was Georgia’s first back-to-back sweeps of ranked opponents since 2008 when it did it against a No. 9 South Carolina and a No. 8 Kentucky.
This one needed heroics in the bottom of the 10th.
“We didn’t panic, we came in, and like I said, ‘Guys, hey, they’ve got to get us out three times too, now,'” coach Wes Johnson said. “It’s hard in this league in extra innings to do that, especially at home.”
Jackson is one of a Georgia lineup filled with impact transfers.
He caught a ceremonial first pitch from former Georgia football safety Dan Jackson earlier this season but now is making a name for himself in his own right for the Bulldogs.
“This is why I wanted to come here,” he said. “Be part of stuff like this. It feels awesome to get that win. Especially down by two.”
Johnson said he talked to Jackson a couple of weeks ago that in big moments, if you can slow the game down, you won’t chase at ...
