Here is your SEC Recap for May 8th.
#6 Florida 14 Alabama 8
No. 4 Florida (33-11/17-6 SEC) used a pair of five-run innings to post a 14-8 win over Alabama (28-19/9-14 SEC) on Saturday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Gators’ season-high seventh-straight triumph clinched UF’s sixth-consecutive SEC series and marked the team’s first series victory at Alabama since 2004 and just the second since 1995. The Crimson Tide had not lost a league series at home to an Eastern Division opponent since the Gators accomplished the feat in ’04, ending a stretch of 14-straight wins.
Freshman Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) (2-for-3, two runs) belted his second grand slam, freshman Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) (2-for-4, two runs) clubbed a three-run shot and sophomore Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (3-for-5, two RBI) had a solo homer to support the pitching of sophomore left-hander Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) (8-2), who worked into the seventh. Florida went 6-for-6 on the basepaths and has 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts over the two games.
#15 Ole Miss 3 #10 Arkansas 2
OXFORD, Miss. – Aaron Barrett pitched a career-long 8.0 innings and held the Razorbacks to one run, while Brett Huber picked up his eighth save as No. 11 Ole Miss (34-14, 15-8 SEC) defeated No. 9 Arkansas (36-11, 15-8 SEC) by a score of 3-2 on Saturday.
The win evened the weekend series at a game each heading into Sunday’s contest with both teams tied for the SEC Western Division lead.
Barrett (7-2) picked up the win in the career-long outing as he allowed one run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Huber then came in and worked the ninth to pick up his eighth save of the year – all in conference play – and allowed only one run on a solo home run from pinch hitter Tom Hauskey.
Ole Miss Recap
Arkansas Recap
Kentucky 2 #11 South Carolina 1
LEXINGTON, Ky. — In just his third career conference start, Kentucky freshman Jordan Cooper outdueled South Carolina junior starting pitcher Sam Dyson and UK closer Matt Little tossed the final 2.1 innings for the save, as UK picked up a series-evening 2-1 win over the fourth-ranked Gamecocks, on Saturday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
With the Kentucky starting pitching rotation decimated by injury and illness the last four weekends, UK has turned to Cooper to fill a void in the pitching staff, with the freshman right-hander making his third career Southeastern Conference starting assignment against the SEC-leading Gamecocks. A native of Shelbyville, Tenn., Cooper (3-4) turned in the best outing of his young career, picking up the win with a career-high 6.2 innings pitched. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, allowed only four hits and walked two, striking out a career-high five in a dominating performance matched up against Dyson, one of the top pitchers in college baseball. Cooper tossed first-pitch strikes to 13 hitters in the game and allowed only a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning that gave USC a short-lived one-run lead.
Kentucky Recap
South Carolina Recap
#19 Vanderbilt 6 #17 LSU 2
BATON ROUGE, La. – A day after 16 runs and 19 hits were given up by Vanderbilt pitching, Taylor Hill allowed two runs on seven hits in his first career complete game in the Commodores 6-2 win Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium.
VU evened the series and improved to 33-14 overall and 11-10 in the Southeastern Conference, while LSU dropped to 34-14 and 12-11 in league play.
Hill was stellar on the night, carrying a shutout into the ninth inning. Wet Delatte’s two-out two-run single in the frame prevented the Commodores first complete game shutout of the year. Hill ended up allowing two runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and just one walk to move to 5-3 on the season.
Auburn 16 Mississippi State 14
AUBURN, Ala. – Not even a nine-run deficit was too much to stop the Southeastern Conference’s top offensive club as No. 19 Auburn claimed a 16-14 come-from-behind win over Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park. Auburn trailed 9-0 after the top of the second but used a school-record seven home runs to claim a third straight SEC series win and inch one step closer to the school’s first SEC Tournament berth since 2003.
"I don’t even know where to start. The biggest thing is the perseverance of this club. We were down 9-0, the first three (AU hitters) struck out and we had absolutely nothing going in the dugout," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "The next thing you know, we keep chipping away and we cut it to a run. The guys found a way to win today and that is a win that can only help boost your confidence as we try to attain our goals."
Auburn Recap
Mississippi State Recap
Tennessee 25 Georgia 5
ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Tennessee baseball team scored 13 runs on 12 hits, including four home runs, and four walks. And that was just in the third inning.
In all, the Volunteers sent 19 batters to the plate in the frame, scoring nine runs before recording the first out. The Big Orange used the half-inning, one of the most productive in school history, to cruise to a series-clinching victory over Georgia, 25-5, on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon at Foley Field in Athens.
