Here is your SEC Recap for March 7th.
#1 LSU 9 Brown 2
BATON ROUGE – Freshman left-hander Jordan Rittiner allowed only one earned run in six innings, and centerfielder Leon Landry went 3-for-4 with two triples, as No.1 LSU topped Brown, 9-2, Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (11-0) will host UL-Monroe in a mid-week contest beginning Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium. LSU will then travel to Shreveport to take on Northwestern State Wednesday at 6 p.m. before returning home to play host to Kansas in a three-game series beginning Friday at 7 p.m.
#3 Florida State 17 #29 Georgia 5
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Third-ranked Florida State (10-0) registered its third series sweep of the season defeating No. 25 Georgia (6-6) 17-5 on a beautiful Sunday afternoon on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. For the 15th consecutive game, the Seminole bats reached double figures in hits with 11, while showing some patience at the plate drawing a season-high 14 walks.
The 12-run victory by the Noles on Sunday tied for the largest margin of victory in the series as the Garnet and Gold defeated the Bulldogs 16-4 back on March 19, 1959.
#5 Florida 4 #10 Miami (FL) 2
The duo of redshirt sophomore Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) and junior Kevin Chapman (Coral Springs, Fla.) limited No. 10 Miami (7-3) to four hits and junior Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) bashed a three-run homer to lift No. 5 Florida (7-2) to a 4-2 victory in the rubber game of the teams’ series on Sunday afternoon at Alex Rodriguez Park. The Gators captured the regular-season series between the Sunshine State rivals for the first time since 2007 and took a series in Coral Gables for just the fifth time since 1960.
“This was a tremendous series win on the road for us,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It was great to see two guys who had tough 2009 seasons in Tommy (Toledo) and Kevin (Chapman) come through the way they did. Success is a product of hard work and we were very happy with their outings. I thought our team showed a lot of resiliency by coming back from the difficult loss last night. To beat Miami on the road is a heck of an accomplishment.”
Florida Recap
Miami (FL) Recap
#9 Clemson 19 #24 South Carolina 6
Columbia, SC – Behind five home runs and 14 hits, #9 Clemson trounced #15 South Carolina 19-6 in front of 8,214 fans at Carolina Stadium on Sunday afternoon. It was Clemson’s most runs scored against the Gamecocks since 1962 and the Tigers’ largest margin of victory since 1997. The Tigers, who won the series 2-1, improved to 9-1, while South Carolina fell to 6-4.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and never looked back, as it scored two runs in the fourth, three in the sixth, and eight combined runs in the final three innings. The Tigers totaled five home runs, including two grand slams. Clemson also walked 11 times, one reason the Gamecocks used eight pitchers in the game.
Clemson Recap
South Carolina Recap
Cal 6 #15 Arkansas 0
BERKELEY, CALIF. – Down 2-0 in a three-game series versus No. 17 Arkansas, the California baseball team put together an outstanding pitching and hitting effort in a 6-0 shutout of the Razorbacks Sunday, March 7 at Evans Diamond. The Golden Bears were paced by stellar pitching from junior right-handers Kevin Miller and Brian Diemer, and clutch hitting from junior first baseman Mark Canha and sophomore left fielder Danny Oh to improve to 7-3 on the year. Arkansas dropped to 8-2 after winning the first two games of the series, 7-3 and 9-5.
Sunday’s game marked the fifth shutout for Cal’s pitching staff this season. The Bears opened the year shutting out Southern Utah in a three game series (14-0, 22-0, 10-0), shutting out Cal State Bakersfield (13-0) Feb. 28 in Bakersfield, and now against the Top 20-ranked Razorbacks.
Tulane 12 #21 Ole Miss 4
NEW ORLEANS – Robby Broach allowed two runs in the second inning, but settled in after that and the Tulane baseball team claimed a 12-4 victory over #19 Ole Miss behind twenty hits from their offense. All nine starters collected hits, with seven posting multi-hit games, and eight of them drove in RBI’s to propel the Olive and Blue to their sixth victory of the season.
"Robby Broach did a really good job today. He gave us quick innings in the fifth and sixth and after turning the double play, that was a momentum turner for us," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "You get back into the dugout and have a chance to stretch your lead. Pepitone came in and got the double play ball in the seventh in a big situation."
#27 Vanderbilt 6 Indiana 5 (11 innings)
NASHVILLE— Freshman infielder Anthony Gomez’ RBI single in the bottom of the 11th lifted Vanderbilt to a 6-5 win over Indiana in the final game of the Music City Classic Sunday evening at Hawkins Field.
Connor Harrell reached on a bunt single to third to leadoff the 11th. He then stole second and advanced to third on Riley Reynolds grounder to the right side. Joe Loftus grounded out to short for the second out in the frame, before Gomez’ sharp single through the right side off of Indiana closer Chris Squires (0-1).
Vanderbilt Recap
Indiana Recap
College of Charleston 7 #28 Alabama 6
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Junior RF Baker Knox (San Mateo, Fla./Daytona Beach CC) ripped a two-run double down the right-field line and came around to score on a throwing error by Alabama’s Ross Wilson to give College of Charleston a 7-6 come-from-behind win over the Crimson Tide Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point. The Cougars improve to 9-3 on the season and hands #28 Alabama their first loss of the year, dropping the Tide to 8-1.
Down 6-5 entering the bottom of the ninth, senior 1B Justin Brewer (Greer, S.C./Spartanburg Methodist College) hit a two-out single through the right side and freshman pinch runner Dre Watts (Laurens, S.C./Laurens) replaced Brewer at third. Knox came to the plate at stroked a 2-2 pitch off the wall in right and scoring Watts. Wilson took the relay from right field and overthrew third base, allowing Knox to score and set off the Cougars’ celebration.
College of Charleston Recap
Alabama Recap
Tennessee 3 Kennesaw State 2 (11 innings)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For the first 8 2/3 innings on Sunday, Kennesaw State kept Tennessee off the scoreboard. That wasn’t long enough, however, as the Volunteers scored a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the ninth and another in the 11th on a walk-off single by junior Blake Forsythe to finish off the weekend with a 3-2 win over the Owls at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville.
"We were fortunate to get the win today," UT Head coach Todd Raleigh said. "It shouldn’t have to be that close all the time, but we just had too many double plays and left too many runners on. The thing is that we are getting chances with our key people at the plate, but we just aren’t producing for some reason right now.
Tennessee Recap
Kennesaw State Recap
Auburn 5 Miami (OH) 4
AUBURN, Ala. – Hunter Morris collected four hits, including a home run, for the second straight day and Cole Nelson continued to baffle opposing hitters as Auburn defeated Miami (Ohio), 5-4, on Sunday afternoon to sweep a three-game series and improve to 9-2 on the season. Auburn built a 5-2 lead after seven but had to hold off a late Miami rally to win its sixth straight game.
Morris, who on Saturday was 4-for-5 with a home run and two doubles, had his second four-hit game of the season on Sunday, hitting a two-run home run off the light pole in right field in the first and then collecting three more singles to raise his batting average to .423.
Mississippi State 14 Michigan State 6
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Connor Powers hit a pair of three-run home runs helping power the Mississippi State Baseball Bulldogs to a 14-6 win over Michigan State in the final game of the 2010 MSU BankFirst Baseball Challenge played at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldogs completed the three-day, three-team double round-robin event with a perfect 4-0 record. Michigan State placed second in the event with a 2-2 record. The Spartans defeated Southeast Missouri 9-0 in Sunday’s early game. For the season, Mississippi State improved to 8-3, while Michigan State fell to 6-4.
Mississippi State Recap
Michigan State Recap
