Georgia fell just short Monday night, losing 4-3 to Oklahoma. The Bulldogs will now move to the loser’s bracket, where they will play Texas in an elimination game at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Georgia fell behind 3-0 in the first and could not overcome the early deficit thanks to the efforts of OU starting pitcher Xander Mercurius’s 7.1 quality innings pitched.

Georgia hit three solo home runs, but stranded 12 runners on base, including three in scoring position.

Following the loss, UGA coach Wes Johnson spoke to the media; here is everything he said.

Wes Johnson talks Georgia baseball loss to Oklahoma

Wes Johnson opening statement...

“Yeah, I thought a really good ball game tonight. We had some opportunities to get back into the game. We didn’t cash in on those. I thought Caden [Aoki] was awesome tonight. We had a hiccup there in the first and for him to finish the game for us was massive as you look forward and saving your bullpen. And yeah, so from that standpoint, I mean, we’ve got to clean up a few things, but we’ll be back and ready to go tomorrow night

On what he saw out of Caden Aoki...

“Yeah, well, I disagree. I thought his stuff was just okay in the first two innings and then I thought he settled in and we got the stuff that we’ve seen from Caden Aoki all year. I just allowed him to get some quick outs and roll over ground balls and kept his pitch count low enough that when you’re in those kind of games, you’ve got to have that mindset of when you’re behind, you’ve got to be careful and you feel like you’ve got to have him keep it there to keep it within striking distance. I felt like, obviously, he did that and we had some opportunities and just didn’t cash you in.”

On Xander Mercurius...

“Yeah, you’ve got to tip your hat. I told Skip [Johnson] after the game, hey, Xander was impressive tonight and really dominated us with the fastball. We’ve got to be ready to hit the fastball. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight, obviously, and then I thought the command of the fastball for him tonight was really good. He was able to run it in on us, was able to elevate it at times and then he stuck a couple down and away. When you’ve got a guy who’s commanded his fastball to those three quadrants, it does make it tough.

On the lack of extra base hits in Omaha...

“Well, we faced a first-team all-SEC guy game one. And then we faced a guy tonight who was executing his fastball. So, you know, our game’s hard. There is that saying that good pitching can stop good hitting. I mean, we could talk about, say, history of the game and history of time and, you know, tip your hat to Xander tonight. Like I said, he threw the ball exceptionally well, executed it. When he needed some off speeds, he got it. And yeah.”

On Oklahoma’s lineup...

“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s any team in this tournament, right? I mean, you get down to the final eight and you make mistakes in the middle of the plate and up, you know, guys are going to hit them. It doesn’t matter who you’re, you know, what team you’re on. Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, you know, whoever. It doesn’t matter. And so they’re doing a really good job of when they’re getting the mistake up of getting off a good swing. And, you know, quite frankly, that was the difference in the game tonight.”

On Georgia playing from behind...

“Yeah, no, I mean, we’re going to get up. I mean, you know, I mean, tomorrow we get another chance to play this game. It’s nine innings. There’s, you know, it’s when guys start to press that things go bad and we’re going to come out and play our game. We’re going to, you know, try to do it at a slow pace, be ready to hit a little more than we were tonight. And yeah, but we’re not, we’re not, I mean, there’s no need to hype up elimination games or winner’s bracket games.

Like I said, I think that’s when players get tight. We’re going to go out and play Georgia Bulldog baseball the way we’ve been doing it all year. And hopefully we’ll play it a little cleaner tomorrow.”