Here is your SEC Recap for April 18th.
#6 LSU 6 Alabama 5 (14 innings)
BATON ROUGE – Third baseman Grant Dozar blasted a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 14th inning, as No.6 LSU topped Alabama, 6-5, to complete the series sweep Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (30-6, 11-4) swept the Crimson Tide (22-15, 5-10) for the first time since 2002. The 14-inning game was LSU’s longest contest since a 15-inning match with UNO at Zephyr Field in Metairie, La. in 2008.
#7 Arkansas 13 Georgia 5
FAYETTEVILLE – The No. 7 University of Arkansas baseball team extended its winning streak to 11 games with a 13-5 victory over Georgia Sunday afternoon at Baum Stadium. Bo Bigham was 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and Andy Wilkins tallied three RBI in the finale against the Bulldogs. Monk Kreder hit his second home run of the season to push his hitting streak to 19 games, while Zack Cox extended his own hitting streak to 12 contests.
"It was a great weekend for our team," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "We played two solid games on Tuesday and Wednesday that propelled us into this weekend. I was wondering at the beginning of the week if we’d have enough pitching to get through New Mexico. I figured there would be some high-scoring games out here (against Georgia) where we’d have to go through some pitching, but, really, it was high scoring where we did most of the scoring. We pitched well, played pretty good defense, were very aggressive on the bases and, obviously, we did a great job offensively."
#30 Kentucky 6 #9 Florida 5
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Freshman Walter Wijas made his first career start and combined with fellow freshman Jordan Cooper to handcuff No. 7 Florida to two runs over the first six innings, helping lead No. 30 Kentucky to a 6-5 win, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky (22-14, 5-10 Southeastern Conference) was without sophomore pitcher Alex Meyer, UK’s usual Sunday starter due to illness. After exhausting its bullpen in the first two games of the series, Kentucky entered the Sunday game without an idea as to who would take the mound to start the contest. UK turned to Wijas, a freshman right-hander with 8.2 innings and seven relief appearances in his career entering the game. Wijas, a native of Elk Grove Village, Ill., turned in a gem, retiring the first 10 hitters he faced, carrying a perfect game into the fourth inning. In the top of fourth, Wijas allowed his first hit, giving up a single and a double to start the frame. In all, Wijas went a career-long 3.1 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run, while walking one and striking out three.
#19 Ole Miss 6 #13 South Carolina 5
COLUMBIA, S.C. – David Phillips and Matt Smith both homered and the Rebels put together a big inning in the fifth as No. 14 Ole Miss (24-13, 8-7 SEC) rallied to defeat No. 5 South Carolina (28-8, 11-4 SEC) by a score of 5-4 on Sunday.
With the win, the Rebels salvaged the weekend and avoided the sweep.
Matt Tracy (2-2) picked up the win in relief as he worked 3.2 scoreless innings and allowed one hit with one walk and two strikeouts. Brett Huber picked up his fourth save of the season as he worked the ninth and allowed one hit with a strikeout. Starter David Goforth struck out a career-high eight batters in 4.1 innings of work while allowing four runs on five hits and three walks.
Ole Miss Recap
South Carolina Recap
#18 Vanderbilt 3 Auburn 2
NASHVILLE – Aaron Westlake’s walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Vanderbilt a 3-2 win over Auburn Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
Westlake led off the ninth against Tiger starter Grant Dayton and crushed a 0-1 pitch inside of the foul pole in right to win the game. It was the first walk-off homer for the Commodores since Curt Casali blasted one against Middle Tennessee on March 26, 2008.
"It was nice to see Aaron get a hit like that," said Corbin. "He’s been struggling a bit as of late and you can kind of see him trying to figure it out."
The Commodores claimed the series and improved to 29-9 overall and 8-7 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Tigers fell to 24-13 and 8-7 in league action.
Mississippi State 14 Tennessee 6
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State continued its offensive tear Sunday afternoon, as the Baseball Bulldogs pounded out 15 hits while taking a 14-6 win over the Tennessee Volunteers at Dudy Noble Field.
With the victory, MSU captured the Super Bulldog Weekend Southeastern Conference series, two games to one. The Bulldogs have now taken three straight home series against the Volunteers. M-State’s two series wins this year already match the total number of league series won in each of the last two seasons.
More importantly, the Bulldogs moved into a three-way tie for eighth place in the overall league standing. At the official midway mark of the league race, this bodes important, because the top eight teams advance to the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., in late May.
Mississippi State Recap
Tennessee Recap
