Here is your SEC Recap for March 21st.
#6 LSU 5 #14 Arkansas 1
BATON ROUGE, La. – Solo homers by right fielder Mikie Mahtook and left fielder Trey Watkins along with an outstanding performance by starting pitcher Chris Matulis propelled No. 3 LSU to a 5-1 victory over No. 13 Arkansas in an SEC series finale Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.
With the win, the Tigers (16-3, 2-1) captured their sixth straight regular-season series victory over Arkansas (13-5, 1-2). LSU is 15-5 against the Razorbacks in that span.
#8 Florida 4 Mississippi State 1
Freshman Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) cranked a three-run homer in the eighth inning to lift sixth-ranked Florida (16-3/3-0 SEC) past Mississippi State (11-9/0-3 SEC), 4-1, on Sunday afternoon to complete a sweep on the opening weekend of SEC play at McKethan Stadium. It was the first sweep of the Bulldogs by Florida since May 3-5, 2002, and the first by the Orange and Blue over MSU in Gainesville since April 27-29, 2001. UF matched its season-high winning streak of five games in a contest that was delayed for 94 minutes at the outset due to heavy rains.
On the ninth pitch of his at bat against freshman right-hander Ben Bracewell, Maddox connected on his team-leading sixth round-tripper and sent it over the fence in right field. Junior Kevin Chapman (Coral Springs, Fla.) (1-0), who saved Saturday’s 5-4 victory, threw 2.1 scoreless innings and matched his career high of four strikeouts to earn the win. UF’s bullpen worked 3.2 innings without permitting a run and the Bulldogs stranded 13 runners, including 10 over the final four innings.
Florida Recap
Mississippi State Recap
#18 Vanderbilt 5 #23 Alabama 4
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Vanderbilt rallied from a 4-1 deficit, scoring four unanswered runs and Jack Armstrong and Russell Brewer came through on the mound to lead the Commodores to a 5-4 win over Alabama Sunday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The Commodores salvaged the final game of the three-game series to improve to 16-4 overall and 1-2 in Southeastern Conference play, while Alabama dropped to 16-2 and 2-1 in league action.
Vanderbilt Recap
Alabama Recap
#20 Kentucky 12 #22 Ole Miss 3
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sophomore Braden Kapteyn belted two three-run home runs to collect a career-high six RBI and sophomore right-hander Alex Meyer struck out a season-high 10, leading the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats to a 12-3 win over 19th-ranked Ole Miss, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kapteyn, a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder had a career day at the plate, launching a pair of three-run homers, including one in the bottom of the first inning and another in the sixth inning, finishing 3-for-5 with a career-best six RBI. In addition, Kapteyn’s two outs were well struck, both line drive shots caught in centerfield and at shortstop.
#24 South Carolina 4 Tennessee 0
Columbia, S.C. – Four South Carolina pitchers combined for a one-hitter and Whit Merrifield and Scott Wingo each homered as the Gamecocks defeated Tennessee 4-0 on Sunday afternoon to sweep a three-game series. South Carolina has a 10-game winning streak, the longest by the school since Carolina opened the 2005 season with 10 straight wins. The Gamecocks are 16-4 and 3-0 in the SEC while the loss drops the Volunteers to 10-10 and 0-3 on the year.
South Carolina starting pitcher Tyler Webb had his best start of the season as he limited the Volunteers to one hit, a bunt single in the sixth inning by P.J. Polk, and tied a season-high with 5.2 innings pitched. Webb struck out six batters and walked three as well. He is now 1-1 on the year. Sophomore left-hander Michael Roth added a strikeout in a perfect 0.1 inning of relief with Jay Brown also throwing one hitless inning of relief and Matt Price closing the game out with two perfect innings and three strikeouts to earn his first career save. Tennessee starting pitcher Stephen McCray suffered the loss and is now 2-2 on the year. He went 5.2 innings as well and allowed one run on four hits with a strikeout and three walks.
South Carolina Recap
Tennessee Recap
Auburn 19 Georgia 3
ATHENS, Ga. – Auburn accomplished something on Sunday that it hadn’t done in almost seven full conference seasons as it defeated Georgia, 19-3, to complete a three-game sweep of a SEC opponent for the first time since 2003. Auburn outscored Georgia by 34 runs during the three-game series, highlighted by Hunter Morris’ 14 RBI, nine of which came on Sunday in his 5-for-6, two home run performance.
Morris cranked out his 30th and 31st home runs in the sixth and seventh innings, smashing his first career grand slam in the sixth and then lining a three-run home run into the scoreboard in his next at bat. For the weekend the junior was 10-for-16 with a double and four home runs, scoring seven runs.
