Lance Lynn of Ole Miss picked upwhere David Price left off in 2007, representing the SEC as one of the nation’s most starters. Lynn struckout the first 8 batters en route to a 5IP, 2H, 12K performance in Ole Miss’ 8-1 win over Minnesota.
Meanwhile UGA won a slugfest over Arizona (raked #1 by some publications) after beating up preseason All-American Preston Guilmet. Josh Fields impressed with a HR and the big save. Fields is this correspondent’s 1st Team Preseason AA closer.
As posted below, Vandy used a potent offense and brilliant pitching from Mikie Minor and Caleb Cotham to topple two-time defending champion Oregon State.
Two SEC squads featuring new coaches started out new eras on the right foot. Todd Raleigh’s Volunteers opened the season with a 9-4 win over Morehead State behind an 11 hit attack. Raleigh will have to work on some defense, as Steve Crnkovich was charged with 4 unearned runs, despite surrending just 4 hits to Morehead State.
Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan also opened his SEC career with a victory, as the Gators downed Siena 10-7 in Gainesville. It wasn’t pretty as Siena jumped out to a 5-0 lead early before Florida rallied behind a potent offense led by Senior John Townsend.
In Baton Rouge, dominant Senior righty Jared Bradford shut down Indiana with 8K in a 7-1 victory.
In other SEC scores:
Auburn topped East Tennessee State, 6-3
Arkansas came from behind to beat Wright State, 9-4
Mississippi State defeated North Florida, 8-2
Alabama crushed Cal Poly, 10-1
UK and Xavier were rained out.
Get all the SEC recaps at SECSports’ daily baseball roundup, here.
