Here is your SEC Recap for May 21st.
Florida 5 South Carolina 2
Junior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) snapped a 2-2 tie with a two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning as No. 4 Florida (40-12/22-7 SEC) clinched its first Southeastern Conference title since 2005 with a 5-2 victory over No. 6 South Carolina (42-13/20-9 SEC) before a record crowd of 8,242 fans at Carolina Stadium on Friday night. Freshman Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) (1-0) earned his first career win by working 1.1 scoreless innings in which he registered three strikeouts and junior Kevin Chapman (Coral Springs, Fla.) nailed down the victory with 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings to collect his 10th save, second in as many nights.
Florida Recap
South Carolina Recap
#14 Arkansas 4 #16 Vanderbilt 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Staked to a four-run lead, the No. 14 University of Arkansas baseball team held on for a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt Friday night at Hawkins Field. Home runs by Collin Kuhn and Monk Kreder led the Razorbacks’ offensive charge and Mike Bolsinger matched his career high with an eight-inning performance against the 15th-ranked Commodores. The win snaps Arkansas’ five-game losing streak and gives Dave Van Horn his 900th career victory as a collegiate head coach.
Kuhn led off the game with his 12th home run of the season, a solo shot over the 35-foot in left field. The score was the first lead-off home run by a Razorback since Chase Leavitt went yard against Louisiana-Monroe on April 15, 2009. The first inning also featured the return of Zack Coxto the Arkansas lineup. In his first at-bat since last Sunday’s series finale against South Carolina, Cox singled through the right side of the infield but was left stranded as Vanderbilt starter Taylor Hill retired the next three Hogs in order. Cox was 1-for-2 before being replaced by Matt Vinson in the fifth inning.
Arkansas Recap
Vanderbilt Recap
#21 Auburn 18 #19 Ole Miss 4
OXFORD, Miss. – Last weekend No. 16 Auburn clinched its first SEC Tournament berth in six years. On Friday night Auburn one-upped itself, pounding No. 17 Ole Miss for 19 hits in a decisive 18-4 win that clinched the program’s first SEC Western Division Championship since the 1995 season. The top hitting team in the SEC in both team batting average and home runs, Auburn collected 10 extra-base hits on the night, including five home runs, to move to 38-17, 19-10 SEC.
"The guys deserve this championship and winning the SEC West," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "We have been swinging the bats well and we also pitched well. These guys came out today with an intensity level that has been consistent. We didn’t do anything differently."
#27 LSU 17 Mississippi State 3
BATON ROUGE, La. – After exploding for eight runs in the third inning, No. 27 LSU never looked back, as a seven-inning masterpiece by Austin Ross and three homers from the LSU offense powered the Tigers to a 17-3 victory over Mississippi State Friday night in Alex Box Stadium, clinching a berth for LSU in the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers (36-19, 14-15) earned a spot in the SEC Tournament with Friday’s win and Kentucky’s 20-0 loss at Georgia. Mississippi State fell to 22-33 overall and 5-24 in the SEC.
LSU Recap
Mississippi State Recap
Alabama 4 Tennessee 2 (11 innings)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama rode the bat and right arm of senior third baseman/pitcher Jake Smith to a berth in the 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament with a 4-2 series-clinching win over Tennessee on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Alabama (33-21, 14-15 SEC) clinched its SEC Tournament berth with its third extra-inning win of the season and Georgia’s resounding 20-0 win over Kentucky in Athens, Ga. Alabama will either be the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in next week’s tournament at Regions Park in Hoover.
“This was one those team wins,” Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said following the Tide’s win. “We just found a way to get the job done. I thought (junior shortstop Josh) Rutledge made some great defensive plays. We got good pitching. Jake’s home run was the key. It was just a good team win all the way around.
Georgia 20 Kentucky 0
ATHENS, Ga. — A trio of Georgia hurlers combined on a seven-hit shutout and the Bulldogs used 22 singles to pound Kentucky 20-0 Saturday at Foley Field.
Georgia (16-36, 5-22 SEC) clinched its first Southeastern Conference series of the season and registered its largest margin victory in an SEC game since 1994 when it beat the Wildcats 25-2. Kentucky, who came into the series on a four-game winning streak including sweeping LSU, dropped to 30-25 overall and 12-17 in the SEC.
