Here is your SEC Recap for March 6th.
LSU 3 Pepperdine 2
BATON ROUGE — LSU right-hander Joey Bourgeois allowed only one hit through seven shutout innings and catcher Micah Gibbs delivered two RBI as No. 1 LSU held off a late Pepperdine rally to beat the Waves, 3-2, Saturday night in Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (10-0) is off to its best start since 1997 when the Tigers started that season with a 19-0 mark. Saturday’s win was the Tigers’ 16th-straight home victory, dating back to last season.
#3 Florida State 9 #29 Georgia 2
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Timely hitting and quality pitching were the correct formula on Saturday night as third-ranked Florida State (9-0) rolled to a 9-2 victory over No. 25 Georgia (6-5) in front of a packed crowed of 5,287 on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. Despite falling a run short of reaching double-digits for the ninth straight game, the Seminoles achieved the mark in the hit category posting 13 in game two extending the streak of double-digits hits to 14 straight games.
FSU did all its scoring in the second, third and fourth innings on Saturday night as eight of the nine runs came on two outs. Tyler Holt and Stephen Cardullo paced the offense with three hits a piece, while Stuart Tapley extended his hit streak to a career-best 14 games with an infield single in the fourth. Holt was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle in game two as he collected a double in the first, single in the third and triple in the fourth.
#10 Miami (FL) 9 #5 Florida 6
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Zeke DeVoss, Scott Lawson and Chris Pelaez combined for eight hits and senior closer David Gutierrez came in late in the eighth to shut the door for his third save as No. 10 Miami defeated No. 5 Florida, 9-6, Saturday night at Alex Rodriguez Park. The Hurricanes (7-2) evened their series with the Gators (6-2), setting up the rubber game Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
After falling behind 3-2, the Hurricanes scored three runs in the fifth and another three in the sixth to pull away from the Gators. Lawson put the `Canes ahead for good in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run triple deep down the line in right. An inning later Nathan Melendres – who had just come on defensively in the top half of the inning – smacked a three-run homer to left to give the `Canes all they needed to pick up win.
Miami (FL) Recap
Florida Recap
#24 South Carolina 7 #9 Clemson 5
GREENVILLE, SC – Three two-out RBI hits from Whit Merrifield, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Kyle Enders were part of a three-run ninth inning as 15th ranked South Carolina rallied from an early four-run deficit to defeat ninth ranked Clemson 7-5 on Saturday afternoon at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. Carolina improves to 6-3 on the year while the loss drops Clemson to 8-1 for the season. With the two teams splitting the first two games of the series, it sets the stage for the rubber game on Sunday afternoon at Carolina Stadium with first pitch at 2 p.m. Live video broadcast is available at GamecocksOnline.com with the game also being broadcast on the Gamecock Radio Network.
Trailing 4-0 after the first two innings, the Gamecocks fought back with a pair of runs in the third, a run in the fifth, a run in the seventh and three runs in the ninth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. connected first for the Gamecocks with a two-run homer in the third inning, followed by a RBI base hit in the fifth inning. Merrifield would tie the game in the seventh with a two-out RBI single and then helped start the three-run ninth inning with a RBI double to right center to plate the go ahead run. Bradley followed with his fourth RBI of the game, a RBI single to score Merrifield and after a walk to Christian Walker; the Gamecocks would gain a three-run cushion on Kyle Enders’ RBI single to score Bradley.
South Carolina Recap
Clemson Recap
#15 Arkansas 9 Cal 5
BERKELEY, Calif. – Tim Carver hit two home runs-the first long shots of his career-and drove in four to help the No. 15 University of Arkansas baseball team to a 9-5 win over California Saturday afternoon at Evans Diamond. The victory runs the Razorbacks’ winning streak to seven games, the club’s longest since the 2006 season. Zack Cox was 3-for-4 with two RBI and Drew Smyly worked five innings with seven strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season.
While Carver collected his first home runs, Andy Wilkins hit the 32nd of his Razorback career, a solo shot in the fifth inning. With his home run, Wilkins ties Troy Eklund (1986-89) for 10th place on Arkansas’ all-time home run list.
#21 Ole Miss 5 Tulane 1
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Alex Yarbrough continued to shine at the plate on Saturday, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a run score to help lead No. 18 Ole Miss (9-1) to a 5-1 win over Tulane (5-5) at Turchin Stadium.
The win clinched the weekend series for the Rebels who defeated Tulane 6-4 on Friday night in the series opener.
Vanderbilt 9 Illinois State 2
NASHVILLE— Junior right-hander Taylor Hill continued his stellar start to the season pitching a shutout into the eighth inning and Curt Casali notched four hits with a homer and two RBI to lead Vanderbilt to a 9-2 win over Illinois State Saturday evening at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores improved to 9-1 on the year, while the Redbirds fell to 4-4.
Hill held the Illinois State offense in check until the eighth and ended up allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts to improve to 3-0 on the year.
Vanderbilt Recap
Illinois State Recap
Kentucky 14 Monmouth 13
SAN DIEGO — Trailing by six runs entering the bottom of the seventh inning, No. 23 Kentucky rallied to score seven unanswered runs and posted a 14-13 walk-off win over Monmouth, Saturday afternoon at Cunningham Stadium.
UK trailed by six entering the bottom of the seventh inning but began chipping away with a run in the seventh and four runs in the eighth, before the heroic ninth frame. The Wildcats faced a one-run deficit entering the bottom of the ninth, when 5-foot-9, 160-pound infielder Neiko Johnson ripped a 2-2 offering over the left-centerfield fence for the game-tying home run, his first career homer. The Wildcats then loaded the bases with no out on three consecutive hit by pitches and Braden Kapteyn became the fourth consecutive UK hitter to get hit by a pitch to force the walk-off run to the plate.
Alabama 4 College of Charleston 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The Alabama baseball team got a strong pitching performance from a trio of right-handers and the Tide manufactured enough offense for a 4-0 win over the College of Charleston on a sunny afternoon at Patriots Point Stadium.
Junior right-hander Jimmy Nelson fired six shutout innings with a career high 11 strikeouts, while the bullpen tandem of sophomore right-hander Tyler White and junior right-hander Brett Whitaker blanked the Cougars over the final three innings, giving the Tide its first shutout since a 12-0 win over Alabama A&M on March 18, 2009.
Alabama Recap
College of Charleston
Game 1: Tennessee 19 Binghamton 2
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Behind another superb outing from a starting pitcher, the University of Tennessee baseball team (5-5) absolutely dominated Binghamton on Saturday night, defeating the Bearcats 19-2 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville. Senior right-hander Stephen McCray was brilliant, throwing eight shutout innings, not allowing a hit until his final frame of work and striking out a career-high seven batters.
"Obviously, Stephen McCray was outstanding," UT Head Coach Todd Raleigh said. "He only gave up an infield single and that was it. He’s been almost unhittable all season. The last three games he has pitched are as good as any I’ve seen in a long time. I’m pretty happy with our starting pitching this weekend. You can’t really ask for any more than what they have given us.
Tennessee Recap
Binghamton Recap
Game 2: Kennesaw State 4 Tennessee 2
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Josh Carr pitched 6.2 solid innings in his first start with Kennesaw State, propelling the Owls to a, 4-2, win over Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Carr allowed just one run in his effort, the longest outing for a KSU starting pitcher this season. The sophomore from Snellville, Ga., allowed just seven hits and three walks while striking out three and keeping the Volunteers off balance. The win, however, would go to J.B. Johnson, who came in during the seventh for Carr and allowed just one ninth inning run. Johnson now has a win and a save in KSU’s first two games in Knoxville this weekend.
Kennesaw State Recap
Tennessee Recap
Auburn 13 Miami (OH) 5
AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn bats pounced on the Miami (Ohio) pitching from the get-go, scoring seven runs on nine hits over the first three innings and rode the arms of Grant Dayton and Stephen Kohlscheen to a series-clinching 13-5 win on Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park. The win extended Auburn’s winning streak to five games and moved Auburn’s record to 8-2 on the year.
"The tone was set real early by Grant Dayton. Grant went out there and retired the first 10 hitters of the game and when you can do that and play solid defense, it’s a real good formula to getting off to a good start," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said.
Mississippi State 7 Michigan State 4
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Freshman right-hander Chris Stratton allowed two runs and struck out nine to lead Mississippi State (7-3) to a 3-2 win over Southeast Missouri and a sweep of two Saturday games in the second annual BankFirst Baseball Challenge at Dudy Noble Field. Earlier in the day the Bulldogs turned back Michigan State 7-4.
A season-largest gathering of 4,053 watched the doubleheader action on a cool but cloudless day.
The Bulldogs conclude play in the three-day, double round-robin event Sunday, testing Michigan State (5-3) in a 2:30 p.m. contest.
Mississippi State Recap
Michigan State Recap
