Here is your SEC Recap for May 14th.
#6 Florida 4 Georgia 3
A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by freshman Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) in the bottom of the ninth enabled No. 4 Florida (35-12/18-7 SEC) to pull out a 4-3 victory over Georgia (14-34/3-20 SEC) in front of a season-high 5,363 fans on Friday night at McKethan Stadium. Down 3-2 entering the final frame, the Gators capitalized on a pair of Bulldog errors and scored twice without any hits to earn the win. UF kept pace with No. 7 South Carolina (39-11/18-7 SEC) on top of the league standings, as the Gamecocks nipped No. 10 Arkansas (38-12/16-9 SEC) in Fayetteville, 3-2.
#13 South Carolina 3 #10 Arkansas 2
Fayetteville, Ark. – Jackie Bradley Jr.’s one-out double in the top of the seventh inning broke a 2-2 tie and Gamecock starting pitcher Blake Cooper allowed just two runs on three hits in seven innings of work to improve to 10-0 on the year as South Carolina defeated Arkansas 3-2 in the first game of a three-game SEC baseball series on Friday night. The Gamecocks are 39-11 and 18-7 in the SEC while the loss drops Arkansas to 38-12 and 16-9 in conference play. The two teams will meet in game two of the series scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on Saturday and can be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network and at GamecocksOnline.com.
South Carolina Recap
Arkansas Recap
#17 Vanderbilt 13 Mississippi State 8
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Down 5-1 in the second, Vanderbilt exploded for 12 runs on 15 hits to cruise past Mississippi State 13-8 Friday night at Dudy Noble Field.
The Commodores won their fourth straight game to move to 37-13 overall and 13-10 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Bulldogs dropped to 21-29 and 5-20 in league action.
VU pounded out 19 hits in the contest, a new season high in league play. Connor Harrell came out of a slump that saw his batting average below the .300 mark for the first time this season after Tuesday night’s game and went 4-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored. Anthony Gomez went 4-for-6 and Jason Esposito, Aaron Westlake and Andrew Giobbi each added two hits in the winning effort.
Vanderbilt Recap
Mississippi State Recap
#18 Ole Miss 5 Alabama 4
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Brett Huber held the Crimson Tide hitless over the final two innings of play and struck out three batters to pick up his 10th save of the season as No. 14 Ole Miss (36-15, 16-9 SEC) defeated Alabama (29-21, 10-15 SEC) 5-4 on Friday night.
Huber entered the game to start the eighth inning with the Rebels leading by one run and worked the final 2.0 innings, striking out three batters and allowing only one base runner on a fielding error to save the game. It was his ninth save in SEC play this season and second of the week.
Kentucky 11 #20 LSU 9
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the ninth against No. 20 LSU – the defending NCAA champions – Kentucky plated one run to cut the lead to one then got a walk-off, three-run home run from junior Lance Ray, his second three-run homer of the game, lifting UK to a 11-9 series-opening win, Friday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky (27-23, 10-15 Southeastern Conference) came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth trailing by two runs, with the 9-1-2 hitters due up to the plate and LSU All-American closer Matty Ott on the mound, with Ott leading the SEC with 11 saves and owning 27 career saves in his two-year career.
Tennessee 9 #23 Auburn 3
AUBURN, Ala. – The University of Tennessee baseball team (29-21, 12-13 SEC) beat No. 18 Auburn (33-17, 15-10) at its own game on Friday night, blasting three home runs to down the Tigers, 9-3, at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. The Volunteers have now won seven straight games, including six straight Southeastern Conference contests. It is just the third time in the last 40 years and eighth time in school history that UT has won six straight league matchups.
"Auburn has a good club, but we were about to get out to an early lead and had our guy on the mound," UT Head Coach Todd Raleigh said. "Stephen (McCray) gave up some hits, but he makes big pitches when he has to. He really knows how to pitch out of trouble. It’s big for us to win on Friday night, but we still have a long way to go in this series. We need to come in tomorrow, focused and ready to go.
