Here is your SEC Recap for April 2nd.
#1 LSU 4 Georgia 3
BATON ROUGE, La. – A pair of clutch RBI singles by Beau Didier and Austin Nola helped drive the No.4 LSU Tigers past the Georgia Bulldogs 4-3 Friday night in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (22-3) earned their eighth straight victory and improved to 6-1 in SEC play. With the loss, the Bulldogs (9-16) drop to 1-6 in league play.
LSU Recap
Georgia Recap
#9 Florida 3 #18 Vanderbilt 2
Senior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) snapped a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with a two-run homer as No. 8 Florida (19-6/5-2 SEC) nipped No. 17 Vanderbilt (23-5/4-3 SEC), 3-2, on Friday night in front of 4,093 fans at McKethan Stadium. UF’s victory in the opener of the weekend series halted the Commodores’ eight-game winning streak.
“I knew they were a good club and Sonny Gray was really good tonight,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He dials it up when he needs to. We played really good defense throughout the game and made a good play with runners on first and third in the top of the third inning by playing the run-down correctly with a guy at third that hasn’t played a whole lot of third base. They put the ball on the ground with some bunts and the defense did a nice job. We made plays when we needed to and that was the bottom line. When you face Sonny Gray, that’s what it comes down to, one play here, one pitch there.”
Florida Recap
Vanderbilt Recap
#30 Kentucky 12 #10 Arkansas 8
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sophomore Braden Kapteyn charted four hits, including a first-inning home run and the Kentucky offense exploded for 12 runs on a season-high 17 hits, as the 30th-ranked Wildcats posted a 12-8 series-opening win at No. 10 Arkansas, on a rainy Friday night in front of 7,118 fans at Baum Stadium.
Kentucky (18-9, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) had its offense explode for 12 runs on a season-best 17 hits, including homers from Kapteyn, Cory Farris, Andy Burns and Gunner Glad, helping UK to its first win over a top-10 ranked foe of the year. The loss for Arkansas was just the third home loss of the year for the Razorbacks, owning a 15-3 mark at Baum Stadium in 2010.
#14 Ole Miss 7 Tennessee 3
OXFORD, Miss. – Tim Ferguson and Matt Smith both hit home runs Friday night, powering the Rebels past the Volunteers as No. 11 Ole Miss (21-6, 5-2 SEC) defeated Tennessee (13-14, 0-7 SEC) by a score of 7-3 in the series opener.
Drew Pomeranz (5-0) picked up the win as he worked 7.0 innings and held the Volunteers to three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts. The southpaw walked six batters on the night.
Tennessee starter Bryan Morgado (2-3) suffered the loss as he gave up six runs on 10 hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work.
Ole Miss Recap
Tennessee Recap
#19 South Carolina 10 Mississippi State 2
Columbia, S.C. – Brady Thomas hit a pair of two-run homers and starting pitcher Blake Cooper worked into the ninth inning to earn his fifth win of the year as South Carolina defeated Mississippi State 10-2 in the first of a three-game SEC baseball series on Friday night. South Carolina is now 21-5 and 6-1 in the SEC while the loss drops MSU to 14-12 and 2-5 in the conference play. Game two of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday with the game televised live on SportSouth and also available on the Gamecock Radio Network.
South Carolina Recap
Mississippi State Recap
#29 Alabama 10 Auburn 5
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 23 Alabama rode a five-run third inning to a 10-5 win over arch-rival Auburn in front of a season-high 5,112 fans at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Friday night.
The Crimson Tide notched its fifth come-from-behind win of the season, the fourth at home.
Alabama’s offense broke out with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the third inning to take a 5-1 lead. Sophomore center fielder Taylor Dugas led off the inning with a single to right and moved to second on junior shortstop Josh Rutledge’s single to left field. Junior second baseman Ross Wilson followed with a bunt single preceded by two Auburn throwing errors that allowed all three runners to score to give Alabama a 3-1 lead.
