Here is your SEC Recap for April 16th.
LSU 12 Alabama 5
BATON ROUGE, La. – First baseman Blake Dean’s two homers, including a three-run dinger in the second that erased a 4-3 deficit, powered No. 6 LSU to a 12-5 victory over Alabama in the series opener Friday night in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (28-6, 9-4) erupted for five runs with two outs in the second inning after trailing 4-1 entering the frame. Alabama (22-13, 5-8) would not regain the lead after LSU’s five-run barrage was capped by Dean’s three-run homer.
Arkansas 10 Georgia 2
FAYETTEVILLE – Behind a complete-game performance by Drew Smyly, the No. 7 University of Arkansas baseball team won its ninth-consecutive game with a 10-2 win over Georgia Friday night in front of an announced crowd of 9,047 at Baum Stadium. Smyly struck out seven Bulldog hitters and walked none en route to posting the first complete game of his career. Andy Wilkins led the Hogs’ offensive charge with four RBI, while Bo Bigham reached base five times and scored three runs.
"In the first inning, (Smyly) got a couple pitches up," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "He settled in from the second inning on, obviously, and he gave us a chance to settle in a little bit, too. In the first inning, both teams got after it, offensively, but then after a couple of innings, we just started chipping away. Two here, one there and we got a couple of two-out hits that us a three-run lead. We played a solid game and slowly pulled away. But the key to the game was Drew Smyly. He did a good job for us."
Florida 10 Kentucky 8
Despite enduring a 90-minute rain delay in the top of the eighth inning, No. 7 Florida (24-9/9-4 SEC) posted a 10-8 victory over Kentucky (21-13/4-9 SEC) in the opener of the Eastern Division rivals’ weekend series on Friday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium. It was the 100th victory for third-year head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
Gator freshman Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) (3-for-5) snapped a 6-6 tie with a towering three-run homer with two down in the seventh and senior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) (2-for-3) opened the eighth with a round-tripper before the game was delayed at 9:35 p.m.
South Carolina 5 Ole Miss 0
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina senior right-handed pitcher Blake Cooper hurled a four-hit complete game shutout and the Gamecocks scored all five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on its way to 5-0 victory over Ole Miss on Friday night at Carolina Stadium. The win improves Carolina to 27-7 and 10-3 in the SEC while the loss drops Ole Miss to 23-12 and 7-6 in conference play. Game two of the series on Saturday is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET and will be televised live on SportSouth.
Cooper struck out a career-high 10 batters in the victory, his fifth complete game of his career but his first career complete game shutout. He allowed just four hits and one walk in the victory. He is now 7-0 on the year. The complete game shutout was the first by a Gamecock pitcher since Aaron Rawl on May 13, 2005 in a 2-0 win at Ole Miss. It is the second consecutive shutout by the Gamecocks in SEC play (Carolina defeated Vanderbilt 2-0 last Sunday). Ole Miss reliever Trent Rothlin suffered the loss and is now 3-4 on the season.
South Carolina Recap
Ole Miss Recap
Vanderbilt 11 Auburn 6
NASHVILLE— After scoring a combined 10 runs in three games last weekend, Vanderbilt’s offense came alive in an 11-6 win over Auburn Friday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores plated four runs in both the second and third innings and never looked back in improving to 28-8 overall and 7-6 in Southeastern Conference action.
The Tigers dropped to 23-12 and 7-6 in league play with the loss.
Tennessee 15 Mississippi State 13
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – It took over four hours, but the University of Tennessee baseball team was able to finish off a series-opening win against Mississippi State on Friday, claiming a 15-13 victory in a back-and-forth slugfest at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville. The Volunteers tied their season-high with five home runs in the contest, scoring a total of 11 runs on longballs.
By the end of the game, which lasted a season-long four hours and eight minutes, the two teams combined for 37 hits, 28 runs, 11 pitchers, eight doubles, six home runs, three sacrifice flies, two stolen bases, two errors, one hit batter and one ejection in front of 5,124 fans.
Tennessee Recap
Mississippi State Recap
