Here is your SEC Recap for February 21st
#2 LSU 4 Centenary 0
BATON ROUGE – Home runs by first baseman Blake Dean and catcher Micah Gibbs, along with a brilliant LSU debut by starting pitcher Joey Bourgeois led the second-ranked Tigers to a 4-0 shutout of Centenary Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.
With the series sweep, the Tigers (3-0) captured their 11th-straight season-opening series victory dating back to 2000. Centenary dropped to 0-3 with the loss.
The Tigers will be back in action Wednesday when they face in-state foe McNeese State at 4 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium.
#10 Florida 7 South Florida 6 (10 innings)
Freshman Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) delivered a walk-off single down the right-field line in the 10th inning as No. 7 Florida (3-0) completed a sweep of USF (0-3), 7-6, on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. The Gators had rallied to force extra innings with three runs in the ninth, including the tying run on a two-out fielding error by sophomore shortstop Sam Mende.
After Gator sophomore Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) (2-0) struck out junior Ryan Lockwood with runners on the corners to end the top of the 10th, sophomore Tyler Thompson (Tequesta, Fla.) led off the bottom of the frame with a walk from junior Kevin Quackenbush (0-1). Senior Jandy Rosabal (Miami, Fla.) went down trying to bunt a third strike and freshman Kamm Washington ( Boynton Beach, Fla.) (3-for-3) collected his third hit of the afternoon for two runners on base. Quackenbush had freshman Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) (2-for-4) fly out to left field, setting the stage for Zunino’s heroics. The rookie, who came in as a defensive replacement behind the plate in the seventh, had struck out twice before coming through with the game-winner on a 0-1 count to bring across Thompson.
Florida Recap
South Florida Recap
#15 Arkansas 9 Ball State 3
FAYETTEVILLE – Monk Kreder had three hits and James McCann drove in three runs as the No. 15 University of Arkansas baseball team downed Ball State, 9-3, Sunday afternoon at Baum Stadium. On the mound, Brett Eibner picked up the victory for the Razorbacks (2-1) in the series finale. The Razorback offense showed balance with eight players getting at least one hit, six players scoring at least once and five players collecting an RBI. The start of Sunday’s game was delayed approximately 15 minutes by rain in the Northwest Arkansas area.
"Today was a fairly well-played game," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "It moved along all right through the first four or five innings and then it slowed down a lot. I’m glad we got it in because both teams needed to play."
Arkansas Recap
Ball State Recap
Kentucky 3 #17 Coastal Carolina 2
CONWAY, S.C. — With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the ninth, Kentucky pushed across the game-winning run and sophomore right-hander Braden Kapteyn closed out the win, as the Wildcats sprang a 3-2 upset over the No. 12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, Sunday in front of 1,133 fans at Charles Watson Stadium at Vrooman Field.
“Well, anytime you beat a ranked team on the road it is a big win for the program,” UK head coach Gary Henderson said. “I was extremely pleased with the poise that we showed after the second inning. I was really proud of Logan Darnell and Braden Kapteyn on the mound. I thought our hitters, although they certainly weren’t sharp today, they did a great job of hanging with it, staying tough and competing until the very end. I am just really proud of the program.”
Kentucky Recap
Coastal Carolina Recap
#20 Mississippi 13 Louisiana-Monroe 2
OXFORD, Miss. – David Phillips belted out his third home run in as many games to help power No. 17 Ole Miss (2-1) to a series win over Louisiana-Monroe (1-2) with a 13-2 victory at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field on Sunday.
Phillips was 2-for-3 on the afternoon with two runs scored and two RBI. He also drew a walk to pace a Rebel offense that tallied 14 hits on the afternoon. Zach Miller also had a solid outing, going 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, two RBI, a walk and was hit by a pitch.
Trent Rothlin (1-0) picked up the win in his debut for the Rebels, working 6.0 innings and allowing only one run on two hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Brett Huber and David Goforth then combined for the final 3.0 innings, holding the Warhawks to one run on two hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
Ole Miss Recap
Louisiana-Monroe Recap
#21 South Carolina 5 Duquesne 3
Columbia, S.C. – Adam Matthews homered and drove in a pair of runs and Christian Walker was 2-for-4 with a RBI as well as South Carolina defeated Duquesne 5-3 to sweep a three-game non-conference series at Carolina Stadium. Carolina is now 3-0 on the year while the loss drops Duquesne to 0-3. The Gamecocks return to action over the weekend with a three-game series at East Carolina beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
South Carolina was holding on to a 1-0 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning when Matthews connected with a two-out solo homer to left center. It was his first homer of the year and the Gamecocks’ sixth of the season. With a 2-0 lead, South Carolina struck for three more runs in the eighth inning including a second RBI from Matthews as well as a RBI single from Walker and Adrian Morales’ sacrifice fly RBI to go up 5-0 entering the ninth inning.
South Carolina Recap
Duquesne Recap
Game 1: #26 Georgia 10 Duke 5
Game 2: Baylor 5 #26 Georgia 2
WACO, TEXAS—–The 22nd-ranked Georgia Bulldogs split a doubleheader Sunday at the Baylor Ballpark, beating Duke 10-5 and falling to Baylor 5-2. The Bulldogs finish the opening weekend 2-2, going 1-1 against the host Bears and 1-1 with the Blue Devils.
"We’ve got a chance, we played pretty well, but one thing we have to cut down on is the number of walks because that’s not the type of pitching staff we have," said Georgia coach David Perno "We pitched around them Friday but it hurt us in our losses Saturday and Sunday. Offensively, we’re missing a couple of pieces this weekend but when we get healthy, we’ll be fine. I liked what I saw from our starters today in Michael Palazzone and Chase Hawkins. At the plate, Zach Cone had a tremendous weekend, he’s a future Big Leaguer. Also, Peter Verdin and Johnathan Taylor had a pretty good showing and we liked what freshman Todd Hankins did too. Overall, I think we can pitch better and that will be huge for us, and we’re looking forward to getting home and playing at Foley Field."
Georgia Recap
Baylor Recap
Duke Recap
#29 Vanderbilt 21 Niagara 3
NASHVILLE— Vanderbilt exploded for 10 runs in the second inning and cruised to a 21-3 win over Niagara Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (3-0) swept the season opening series outscoring the Purple Eagles 46-5 in the three games. VU recorded 24 hits on Sunday and had 46 hits for the weekend.
"I think we started getting more comfortable today offensively," said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. "I think we made some adjustments with the different speeds that we faced this weekend and we made our own bed a little bit more today than taking advantage of their mistakes."
Vanderbilt Recap
Niagara Recap
Alabama 5 South Alabama 3
MOBILE, Ala. – The Alabama baseball team scored four runs in the final two innings to erase a two-run deficit and post 5-3 come-from-behind over South Alabama in front of 3,273 fans at Stanky Field in Mobile to complete the two-game sweep. It was the Crimson Tide’s first series sweep over South Alabama since 2000 and the Tide’s first win in Mobile since 2006.
Alabama Recap
South Alabama Recap
Mississippi State 12 Rhode Island 6
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A Ryan Duffy grand slam highlighted a seven-run fourth inning as Mississippi State blew past Rhode Island 12-6 in a college baseball game played Sunday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldogs completed a season-opening sweep of the Rams by rallying from an early 3-0 deficit. For MSU, it was its first three-game series sweep since taking all the games from Auburn in May of 2007. The Bulldogs also move to 3-0 for the first time since the 2007 squad won its first five games.
"You just want to survive in the beginning of the season," MSU head coach John Cohen said. "Winning like this proves our ability to compete. I like our will and our want to win."
Mississippi State Recap
URI Recap
Auburn 6 Southeast Missouri State 1
AUBURN, Ala. – Cole Nelson’s Auburn debut was a memorable one as the junior college transfer kept Southeast Missouri off the board for 6 1/3 innings in Auburn’s 6-1 series-clinching win on Sunday. He surrendered just three hits and four walks during his outing and never allowing Southeast Missouri to get a runner to third.
"My fastball felt really good and I established the slider in the second and third inning. From then on I felt I could keep people off balance," Nelson said. "It really helps to have (Ryan) Jenkins back there, a proven leader behind the plate."
Auburn Recap
SE Missouri State Recap
Tennessee 17 Xavier 1
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee scored early and often once again on Sunday, as it finished off a three-game sweep in its season-opening series over Xavier with a dominating 17-1 victory at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Volunteers put the game out of reach with an eighth-run fifth inning, punctuated by a pinch-hit grand slam by sophomore Charley Thurber, the first by a Big Orange player since 2003.
"Xavier has a good program– they didn’t lost three in a row at all last season," UT Head Coach Todd Raleigh said. "That was a great sweep for us. It’s important for our guys to learn how to play all three days. Some people think some of these games are automatic–but they aren’t at all. Look around the SEC this weekend and a lot of teams just won two of three. We have some young guys but we have some with a lot of experience, too. Sweeping this series definitely gives us a lot of confidence."
