Here is your SEC Recap for May 9th.
Alabama 10 #6 Florida 8
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama junior shortstop Josh Rutledge had three hits and drive in a career-high six runs, leading the Crimson Tide to a 10-8 win over No. 3 Florida in the series finale at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Rutledge knocked in five of the Tide’s first six runs, including a three-run home run in the second inning that gave Alabama its first leads of the series, and then added a key insurance run in the seventh inning that extended UA’s lead to three runs.
"When the guys got on base for me today I was able to come through with some hits, thankfully,” Rutledge said following his career-high six RBI performance.
#10 Arkansas 7 #15 Ole Miss 0
OXFORD, Miss. – Mike Bolsinger pitched a career-high eight innings and Andy Wilkins tallied three RBI to lead the No. 10 University of Arkansas baseball team to a 7-0 win over 11th-ranked Ole Miss Sunday afternoon at Oxford-University Stadium. By taking two of three from the Rebels over the weekend, the Razorbacks move back into sole possession of first place in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. The shutout is Arkansas’ second of the season; on March 13, the Hogs beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 7-0.
Making his first start since April 2, Bolsinger limited the Ole Miss offense to two hits, singles in the second and eighth innings. The senior right hander also tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts and walked just three Rebel hitters. Bolsinger struck out the side two times and only allowed two runners to advance to second during Sunday’s ballgame. His previous high for strikeouts came last season when he fanned eight against California.
Kentucky 9 #11 South Carolina 3
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After missing three weeks due to illness, Kentucky sophomore right-handed pitcher Alex Meyer returned to the mound and turned in a dominating performance, leading UK to a 9-3 win over No. 4 South Carolina, clinching a series win over the Southeastern Conference front-running Gamecocks, on Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
A 6-foot-9, 220-pound sophomore, Meyer (5-2) missed the last three weeks of the season due to mononucleosis. The native of Greensburg, Ind., returned just in time to turn in his best outing of the season in a must-win situation for the Wildcats. Meyer turned in seven innings, allowing four hits and three unearned runs, walking three and striking out six. The Aflac High School All-American took the mound in his final inning of work with UK leading 4-3 and struck out the side in order, putting UK in position to grasp the lead. All told, Meyer filled up the strike zone throughout the game, tossing first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 31 hitters he faced in the game.
Kentucky Recap
South Carolina Recap
#19 Vanderbilt 4 #17 LSU 3
BATON ROUGE, La. – Joe Loftus’ two-out, two-run single in the top of the eighth, broke a 2-2 tie game, and the Commodores held off a late ninth-inning rally by LSU to earn a 4-3 win over LSU at Alex Box Stadium on Sunday. Vanderbilt took two of three from the Tigers this weekend, marking their third straight regular season series win over LSU.
With the win, Vanderbilt improved to 35-13 overall and 12-10 in the Southeastern Conference while the loss drops LSU to 34-15 overall and 12-12 in league play.
#28 Auburn 11 Mississippi State 8
AUBURN, Ala. – No. 19 Auburn used two home runs off the bat of Brian Fletcher and another by Kevin Patterson to claim an 11-8 win over Mississippi State on Sunday, completing Auburn’s first three-game series sweep of its SEC West rival since 1987. With its win, Auburn (33-15, 15-9 SEC) moved into a tie with Ole Miss for second in the SEC West, one game behind Arkansas.
"We knew Mississippi State wasn’t going to go away. That club is a very good offensive club and they tested us," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "They tested our arms. Grant Dayton didn’t have his best stuff today but when you look at the bottom line, he got us into the sixth inning again today and this is certainly a good win for us."
Auburn Recap
Mississippi State Recap
Tennessee 14 Georgia 11
THENS, Ga. – Paced by a two home run, eight-RBI performance by junior Cody Hawn, the University of Tennessee baseball team was able to shrug off an eighth-inning comeback by Georgia, scoring seven times in the top of the ninth to finish off its first Southeastern Conference series sweep of the season with a 14-11 triumph on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Foley Field in Athens, Ga.
"You have to give credit to Georgia, they really fought back today, but I was really proud of our team for coming back in the ninth and responding like they did," UT Head Coach Todd Raleigh said."When we look back at this game when the season is over, I think it will be a huge win for us. Cody was obviously locked in today and he did a tremendous job. He’s a special hitter and he carried us today."
