Here is your SEC Recap for May 22nd.
Alabama Sweeps Tennessee, 9-7
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama scored three runs in the eighth inning to overcome a one-run deficit en route to a 9-7 win over Tennessee to complete the three-game sweep of the Volunteers at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in the 2010 regular season finale Saturday afternoon.
Alabama (34-21, 15-15 SEC) has won four of the last five series against Tennessee, including sweeps in 2006, 2009 and 2010. The Tide has won 12 of the last 15 meetings in the series.
Tennessee (30-26, 12-18 SEC) lost its last five SEC games to close the year. Trailing by a run in the eighth inning, Alabama scored three runs to take the lead and complete its second straight sweep of Tennessee.
Freshman right fielder Andre Miller and senior catcher Cody Trotter reached on back-to-back one-out singles and junior pinch-hitter David Kindred walked to load the bases. Senior Cal Tinsley pinch-ran at first for Kindred before sophomore centerfielder Taylor Dugas was hit by a pitch to force Miller home from third base with the tying run.
Junior shortstop Josh Rutledge snapped the 7-7 with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Trotter with the go-ahead run. Rutledge had two hits and three RBI for the Tide in the win. Junior second baseman Ross Wilson followed with an RBI single to left to score Tinsley with a key insurance run as the Tide held a 9-7 lead.
Alabama junior right hander Brett Whitaker (2-3) worked a scoreless seventh inning for his second win of the season. Freshman right-hander Tucker Hawley worked two scoreless innings for his first career save on the mound.
UT senior right-hander Steve Crnkovich (6-2) allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings out of the bullpen. Alabama needed the eight-inning comeback after Tennessee scored five runs in the sixth to take a 7-6 lead.
The Crimson Tide led 6-2 entering the bottom of the sixth as junior left-hander Adam Morgan limited the Vols to two runs on four hits in five innings with two strikeouts and three walks.
The Alabama bullpen, which had logged only two innings in the previous four games, could not hold the lead. The bullpen combination of junior right-hander Jason Townsend and junior left-hander Jonathan Smart walked three batters in a five-run sixth inning as Tennessee took a 7-6 lead.
Townsend began the inning in relief of Morgan and walked Forsythe and Duffy on nine pitches as UT put the first two men on base. Smart replaced Townsend and gave up an RBI single to Matt Ramsey as the Vols trimmed the lead to 6-3. Chris Fritts reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases when Smart’s throw did not retire Duffy at third base on a close play. Kyhhan Norfork drew a four-pitch walk to score Duffy from third as UT cut the lead to 6-4. After Zach Osborne fouled out to catcher Cody Trotter, UT left fielder P.J. Polk lined a bases-loaded triple into the right field corner to give Tennessee a 7-6 lead.
The Crimson Tide took a 6-2 lead with a five-run third inning against left-hander Bryan Morgado. The Tide batted around in the inning and chased the UT junior after a two-out walk. Dugas drew a leadoff walk and Rutledge followed with a two-run home run to left-center field to put the Tide in front 3-1. Wilson followed with a walk and scored when Jones lined a double into the right-field corner to push the lead to 4-1. Smith followed with another double into the right field corner as Jones easily scored from second to make it 5-1. Smith moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Kelton and scored on a wild pitch by Morgado to extend the lead to 6-1.
Tennessee got a run back in the fourth when Forsythe led off the frame with a solo home run that just cleared the wall in right center field to make it 6-2. Tennessee grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a pair of two-out base hits by Blake Forsythe and Matt Duffy’s sharp ground ball struck Morgan on the leg and caromed through the left side of the infield as Josh Liles, who reached on a one-out walk, scored from second base.
Alabama got the run back in the top of the second inning when Jones drew a leadoff walk and scored on Kelton’s RBI double down the left field line to tie the game at 1-1.
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Razorbacks Win Regular-Season Finale, 7-5
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – TJ Forrest pitched six shutout innings and Monk Kreder drove in a career-high four RBI as the No. 14 University of Arkansas baseball team defeated Vanderbilt, 7-5, Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale at Hawkins Field. Andy Wilkins reached base five times with a pair of singles and three walks and Bo Bigham hit a home run to add to the Hogs’ offensive output. With the win, Arkansas (40-16, 18-12 SEC) secures the No. 4 seed for next week’s SEC Tournament.
"We played hard all weekend," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "It’s like I told them, we knew seven runs would be a good lead but it may not be enough because (Vanderbilt) has a very good bullpen and they can hit without striking out much. We knew they’d make a run at us and they did. We helped them with the walks but we held on."
After going in order in the first inning, the Hogs strung together four consecutive hits—all singles—in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead. Wilkins got things started with a base hit through the right side of the infield and after a passed ball, he stood at second base. Travis Sample drove in game’s first run with a single up the middle. Designated hitter Tom Hauskey followed with a flare single just out of the reach of the Commodores’ shortstop and Arkansas had runners on first and second. Kreder capped the scoring with an RBI single.
Making his third start of the season, and second during conference play, Forrest eased through the first inning but gave up a pair of one-out singles in the home half of the second to run into his first bit of trouble. The right-handed senior induced a groundball off the bat of Joe Loftus and the Hogs turned a double play, their sixth of the series, to get out of the inning unscathed.
Bigham led off the top of the third with a solo shot to right field off Vanderbilt starter Jack Armstrong. The opposite-field dinger was Bigham’s third home run of the season. With one down, Wilkins and Sample drew back-to-back walks and Vanderbilt (40-15, 16-12 SEC) went to Chase Reid out of the bullpen. Hauskey moved the runners up to second and third with a groundout and Kreder came through again with a two-run single to left field to push the Razorbacks’ lead to five.
Arkansas took advantage of a throwing error by Aaron Westlake to build on its lead with two unearned runs in the fifth. With runners on the move from first and second on a bunt by Sample, Westlake’s throw to second ended up in center field allowing Brett Eibner to score and Wilkins to move get around to third. Kreder lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Wilkins and the Hogs led, 7-0.
Forrest was strong against the Commodores in Saturday’s ballgame. He held Vanderbilt scoreless and surrendered just two hits in a season-high six innings. Forrest retired 10 of 11 hitters at one point and didn’t allow a runner past second during his outing. His previous long appearance was 4.1-inning relief effort at Ole Miss on May 8.
Vanderbilt broke through for three runs in the bottom of the seventh off Geoffrey Davenport and Jordan Pratt. Westlake led off the inning with a home run to center field, his 11th long ball of the season. With one down, the Commodores loaded the bases after a pair of singles and a walk. Pratt entered the game and issued back-to-back walk to give the home team two more runs. Arkansas used its second double play of the game to get out of the jam.
The Commodores added a run in the eighth but Pratt struck out Bryan Johns with the bases loaded to limit the damage. With two down and runners on first and second, Loftus sent a chopper up the middle to plate Westlake, Vandy’s fourth run of the ballgame. After a walk to Connor Harrell, the bases were loaded for a second consecutive inning but Pratt got Johns to wave at strike three for the third out.
Anthony Gomez brought his team to within two with a solo shot in the ninth as Vanderbilt made a final push. With one down, Jason Esposito doubled to right field on a ball that Collin Kuhn appeared to lose in the sun. With the tying run at the plate, Pratt responded to strike out Westlake for the second out. Casali lifted a flyball to right that Kuhn put a squeeze on to close out the game.
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Glad’s Two-Out, Three-Run Homer Lifts UK To 14-11 Win
ATHENS, Ga. — After Kentucky allowed Georgia to tie the game with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, senior Gunner Glad launched a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning, lifting the Wildcats to a wild 14-11 win over the Bulldogs, in front of 2,577 fans Saturday afternoon at Foley Field.
Kentucky (31-25, 13-17 Southeastern Conference) took a two-run lead into the bottom of the eighth inning but the Bulldogs got a leadoff home run from Zach Cone to cut the lead to one and UGA plated a run with two outs to even the game at 11-11 entering the top of the ninth. Georgia called on flame-throwing closer Cooper Moseley to start the top of the ninth. Kentucky freshman leftfielder Brian Adams led off the inning with a single ripped through the middle, his career-high fourth hit of the game, moving to second on Neiko Johnson’s sacrifice bunt and advancing to third after Chris Bisson flied out to shallow centerfield. That brought up Chad Wright with Adams at third base, and Wright took a pitch off the leg, with Adams scoring on what appeared to be a wild pitch before it was ruled as a hit-by-pitch. Glad then strolled to the plate and belted a three-run homer to give UK a 14-11 lead entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Nick Kennedy, who got the final three outs of the eighth inning, retired Georgia’s 1-2-3 hitters in order to seal the win.
A native of Gainesville, Ga., Adams had a career game in helping UK pound out 16 hits and 14 runs in the regular-season finale. The 6-foot-4, 217-pound scholarship wide receiver on the football team, totaled a career-best 4-for-5 game, with a career-high six RBI and his first career triple and home run, with his homer coming as a grand slam in the second inning.
The win secures a ninth-place finish for the Wildcats in the rugged SEC, falling just shy of making the conference tournament, as Alabama and LSU secured the final two spots in the tournament, to be held beginning Wednesday at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. UK will await the NCAA Tournament selection, to be held following conference tournaments on May 31.
Kentucky boasts a strong resume for NCAA Tournament inclusion, owning a total of 16 wins over teams that entered Saturday ranked in the top 46 in the latest NCAA RPI projections on BoydsWorld.com. The Wildcats entered the weekend series owning a No. 20 RPI. Kentucky owns a total of 14 wins over teams ranked ahead of UK in the RPI, including series wins over No. 14 South Carolina, No. 16 Alabama and the defending NCAA champions, No. 25 LSU. All told, UK leads the SEC with 12 wins over top-25 opponents. In addition, UK has wins over No. 3 Florida, at No. 4 Coastal Carolina, No. 6 Louisville, at No. 10 Arkansas, at No. 15 Auburn, No. 27 Ole Miss and at No. 22 San Diego. UK also has a win over Virginia Tech, ranked No. 12 in the latest Baseball America top 25. The Wildcats have also suffered walk-off losses on the road at ranked opponents where UK entered the final inning owning a lead, at Arkansas, at Auburn, at No. 15 Vanderbilt and at Louisville. UK has a total of 13 games lost by a margin of one or two runs in the 2010 season. Kentucky was also victim of some tough-luck scheduling, as the lone team it missed on the 2010 conference schedule was 11th-place Mississippi State, a team sporting a 5-24 conference record, with a school-record 11 consecutive conference losses entering the final game of the season.
UK also got three hits from Bisson, with seniors Keenan Wiley and Marcus Nidiffer each charting two hits, with Lance Ray adding two hits. Wright, Johnson and Glad each totaled a hit, with Glad’s hit coming as the game-winner. The home run for Glad was his team-high 12th of the season.
Kentucky true freshman starter Taylor Rogers went four innings, allowing six hits and five runs – four earned – walking a career-high three and striking out one. Rogers was relieved by Logan Darnell, who went three innings, allowing nine hits and five runs – two earned – not issuing a walk and striking out two. Darnell was relieved by Kennedy (4-1) who went the final two innings, allowed two hits and one run, striking out one.
Georgia (16-37, 5-23 SEC) starter Michael Palazzone lasted four innings, allowing seven hits and six runs, walking one and striking out seven. Chase Hawkins came on for Palazzone, getting two outs and allowing three hits and three runs, before Steve Esmonde relieved Hawkins. Esmonde went 1.1 innings with one hit in his final game of his collegiate career. Tanner Cecil took over for Esmonde and hit the first batter he faced and walked the second, ending his day. Justin Earls relieved Cecil and tossed two scoreless innings, allowing three hits. Moseley (0-5) took the loss, allowing two hits and three runs in his inning of action.
Just like the first two games in the series, the Bulldogs started the scoring in the first inning sparked by Johnathan Taylor who blasted a one-out triple over the head of Wiley in centerfield. Levi Hyams then plated the first run, chopping a ball over the head of Ray at first to plate Taylor. Zach Cone then singled to rightfield, advancing Hyams to second for Kyle Farmer who hit a blast to centerfield to advance Hyams to third. With Kevin Ruiz batting, Rogers tossed a wild pitch, allowing Hyams to score and Cone to advance to third. The inning ended when Ruiz struck out swinging with UGA leading 2-0.
Kentucky loaded the bases with no outs to start the second inning after Nidiffer doubled to left, Black walked and Wiley hit a bunt single. Adams then stepped up and hit a no-doubt blast over the left-centerfield wall to give the Wildcats a 4-2 lead, their first lead of the series. UK added another run when Bisson reached on a single, stealing second and scoring when Wright singled through the left side of the infield to give UK a 5-2 lead.
The Bulldogs answered the Wildcats rally by loading the bases with no outs to start the second. With the bases loaded and Peter Verdin up, Verdin grounded softly to second for what looked to be a fielder’s choice with runners advancing to third and home but interference was called, making the play a 4-6-3 double play with both runners having to go back to second and third. UGA would still start a two-out rally, getting an infield single by Taylor and Hyams to each score a run and cut the UK lead to 5-4.
Kentucky plated a run in the fourth inning when Johnson started the inning with a bunt single, advancing to second on a stolen base. Johnson then advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Bisson struck out and Wright was out on a bunt to the right side, Johnson came home to score on a wild pitch to give UK a 6-4 lead.
The Wildcats scored two more runs in the top of the fifth inning behind a two-run two-out triple from Adams. The inning started with Ray grounding out to second before Nidiffer singled to left and after a black lineout, Wiley singled to leftfield to put two on for Adams. Adams then sent a line drive to the opposite field that hit off the top of the wall for a two-run triple. With Johnson batting and Adams at third, the ball bounced a mere six feet away from the catcher with Adams braking for the plate and scoring to give UK a 9-4 lead.
UGA scored two runs in the bottom of fifth inning after Cone started the inning with a single to center that chased Rogers from the game. Darnell would be the new UK pitcher, giving up a leadoff single to centerfield before getting a fielder’s choice at third on a great play by Glad. Brett DeLoach then singled to score Farmer and Robert Shipman then singled to score Ruiz and cut the UK lead to 9-6.
The Bulldogs tied the game at 9-9 in the sixth inning. The frame started when Verdin reached on an error by Glad and then Taylor singled to put two on and no out for Hyams, who struck out swinging. Verdin and Taylor then each stole a bag to get into scoring position for Cone, who grounded out on a high chopper to second to score Verdin. Farmer then doubled to leftfield to score Taylor and cut the UK lead to one. With Farmer at second, Ruiz singled to left to score him and tie the game.
UK loaded the bases with no outs to start the seventh inning when Black got hit by a pitch, Wiley walked and Adams singled to leftfield. After Johnson flied out to shallow rightfield, Bisson hit an infield single up the middle to score Black and give UK back the lead. Wright would plate the second run of the inning when the second baseman made a diving snap to take a hit away from Wright even though Wiley came home to score, giving UK a 11-9 lead.
UGA scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a solo homer by Cone to cut the UK lead to one. The Bulldogs would tie the game when Kennedy relieved Darnell and gave up a single to Farmer, who advance to second on a wild pitch and then to third on the ground out by DeLoach. Shipman would then single through the left side to plate Farmer and tie the game at 11-11.
The Wildcats took a three-run lead in the top of the ninth inning when Glad launched a three-run homer well over the leftfield fence. The inning started when Adams singled up the middle, moving to second on the bunt by Johnson and to third when Bisson flied out to center. Wright was then hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Glad who simply crushed the offering from Moseley for a three-run blast and the UK lead.
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MSU Closes 2010 With A Victory
BATON ROUGE, La. — Mississippi State freshman right-hander Chris Stratton threw seven innings of three-hit baseball as the Bulldogs trimmed LSU 2-1 in the final game of the 2010 Southeastern Conference baseball regular season played Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
"We needed to win this one for the seniors," said Stratton, a true freshman from Tupelo. "They have been a great encouragement to me all year. We have learned so much from them. They have competed all year and deserved to win the last one."
The Bulldogs snapped a 14-game losing streak inside conference play and actually won for the first time against a Western Division opponent. MSU finishes 23-33 overall and 6-24 in league play. LSU secured the eighth spot in the SEC Tournament by winning the weekend series. The Tigers enter postseason at 36-20 and 14-16.
While LSU looks to next week, the Bulldogs were able to enjoy the moment Saturday. Stratton drew 14 starts in his freshman campaign and compiled a 5-3 record. After working around a pair of first-inning hits, Stratton allowed only one hit over the next six innings of play.
"We threw two freshman who were throwing in high school a year ago," MSU head coach John Cohen said. "You know that’s exciting for us. I’m glad Chris went out and finished the season like this. His curveball was working. He got a lot of chases on elevated fastballs."
"Our kids played as hard today as they did on day one." The Bulldogs scored in the opening inning on an RBI-single by Ryan Duffy. M-State then stretched the lead with a critical insurance score on an infield error in the eighth inning. In the eighth inning, the Bulldogs bunched a walk, hit batsman and Wes Thigpen single with the throwing error to plate another run.
After throwing 108 pitches, Stratton gave the ball to Kendall Graveman who threw the final two innings for his first save. Stratton faced 30 batters, recording seven strikeouts but walking six.
Graveman was promptly greeted by a single from Blake Dean and a double from Austin Nola. A walk then loaded the bases. A critical double play ground ball did plate the Tigers a run but it also helped Graveman and the Bulldogs escape the eighth inning.
In the ninth inning, Graveman issued a one-out walk but got back-to-back groundouts to close out the final victory of the 2010 season. The Bulldogs finished with six hits – one hit apiece by Connor Powers, Duffy, Russ Sneed, Jet Butler, Thigpen and Jonathan Ogden. The Tigers finished with five hits, including a multi-hit game by Nola.
Chris Matulis (5-3) worked the first two innings and took the loss. Four additional Tigers were used on the mound in the contest.
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South Carolina Defeats Florida 11-6 In Series Finale
Columbia, S.C. – Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a grand slam home run and Adam Matthews tallied three hits and homered for the second straight as South Carolina defeated Florida 11-6 on Saturday afternoon in the final game of the three-game SEC baseball series at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks are now 43-13 and 21-9 in the SEC while the loss drops Florida to 40-13 and 22-8 in conference play. South Carolina heads to the SEC Tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face the No. 6 seed Ole Miss Rebels in game two of the tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one, which begins at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Gamecock offense was strong all day tallying 16 hits with eight of nine position starters recording at least one hit on the afternoon. Bobby Haney tied his career-high in hits with a 4-for-5 day at the plate and scored three runs. Matthews 3-for-5 day also tied a season-high and he scored twice and also drove in two runs. Bradley, Whit Merrifield and Christian Walker had two hits apiece as well. Florida was led by Josh Adams, who was 3-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI.
South Carolina starter Jay Brown worked 6.1 innings and allowed two runs on five hits to pick up the win. He is 3-0 on the year. He struck out four and walked one batter. Florida starter Brian Johnson suffered the loss and is now 5-3 for the season. He allowed one run on two hits in one inning of work.
South Carolina broke ahead 1-0 on a solo home run by Matthews. The Gamecock left fielder crushed his second home run of the series and sixth of the season to center field to give the Gamecocks a one-run lead. That lead extended to 2-0 in the second inning as Haney singled with two outs followed by a walk to Scott Wingo and a RBI base hit by Whit Merrifield scoring Haney.
It would remain that way until the bottom of the sixth when Carolina put up a six spot to increase the lead to 8-0. After loading the bases with one out, Merrifield delivered with a RBI single up the middle scoring Adrian Morales. With the bases still loaded, Bradley delivered as he crushed a grand slam home run to right center off of Gator reliever Matt Campbell, his ninth home run of the season. After a single by Adam Matthews and a double from Christian Walker, the Gamecocks would score the sixth run of the frame on a RBI ground out off the bat of Nick Ebert.
Florida responded though and scored six runs in the top of the seventh cutting Carolina’s lead to two runs. Hampton Tignor had a two-run single, Cody Dent tallied a RBI base hit that scored Tignor with Ben McMahan also driving in two runs with a single and Josh Adams adding a RBI single as well.
South Carolina extended the lead back to four runs in the sixth inning scoring two more off of Campbell in the bottom of the seventh. Haney opened the inning with a single and with two outs, scored on a wild pitch. After Bradley doubled, Matthews again came through with a RBI base hit that plated home Bradley. South Carolina made it 11-6 in the bottom of the eighth on Nick Ebert’s solo home run, his seventh homer of the year.
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No. 16 Auburn Completes Regular Season With Sweep At No. 17 Ole Miss, Winning 11-1
OXFORD, Miss. – No. 16 Auburn started its Southeastern Conference season with a three-game sweep at Georgia and ended it the same fashion in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday afternoon, besting the host No. 17 Ole Miss Rebels, 11-1, to complete the team’s run to the SEC West Division title with a 39-17 overall record and a school record 20-10 SEC mark.
"There is a lot of confidence in this club right now. We continue to talk about the performance on the mound. You throw Grant Dayton out there and Michael Hurst and they issued no walks. We made them put it in play and they did an outstanding job," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said.
Already locked into the number two seed in next week’s conference tournament by virtue of Friday night’s 18-4 division-clinching win, Auburn completed its first sweep of Ole Miss (36-20, 16-14 SEC) since 1988 and its first in Oxford since 1976. It marked the first time since 2006 that anyone had swept Ole Miss in conference play and the first time that anyone did it at Oxford-University Stadium since 2003.
Joining Auburn and sixth-seeded Ole Miss in its half of the bracket will be third-seeded South Carolina (43-13, 21-9 SEC) and seventh-seeded Alabama (34-21, 15-15 SEC). Auburn and Alabama will play in the first game of the tournament on Wednesday at 9:30am CT at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. The game will be televised live in SportsSouth.
Most of the damage on Saturday was done in the third inning as Auburn scored seven times on seven hits, a walk and an error to go up 9-1 after two-and-a-half innings.
With Auburn’s bats showing why the team has the best batting average in the SEC, Dayton continued his dominance in series finales, holding Ole Miss to just three hits over the first five innings before giving way to Michael Hurst to start the sixth. Having won his last three starts, Dayton improved to 8-2 on the year and won his seventh in league play, tying for the league lead in SEC wins. The only blemish on his stat line on Sunday came on Snyder’s second-inning home run as he struck out three, didn’t walk any and worked around two fourth-inning singles as Auburn finished the year 9-1 in SEC series finales.
"I knew today was going to be a challenge. Ole Miss has good hitters. It always helps when we jump on their pitching early and we were able to.
That makes for a comfortable day on the mound," Dayton said. "Our pitching staff has made great strides, and right now we can carry that to the post season, which is new for us. It’s great to end like this; pitching well and hitting well. We have a lot of momentum going into the post season."
Already up 2-1 after Trent Mummey (3-for-6, 2 2B, 4 RBI) and Matt Snyder (3-for-3, 2B, HR), traded home runs, with Mummey’s scoring two in the first, Auburn battered Ole Miss starter David Goforth for three runs in the top of the third before he left with men on first and third, both of which would come around to score. Goforth would be charged with seven runs (five earned) in 2 1/3 innings to fall to 1-5 on the season.
"We came out yesterday and we won the West and we wanted to put ourselves in the best possible position to host a regional and I think we did that today with the sweep over Ole Miss," Mummey said.
Brian Fletcher (1-for-4, R) started the third with a double and then singles by Hunter Morris (2-for-5) and Kevin Patterson (1-for-6) followed, with Patterson’s scoring Fletcher. A sac bunt by Casey McElroy (0-for-2) put both runners in scoring position for Tony Caldwell, who squeezed home Morris to put Auburn up 4-1. An errant pickoff attempt of Caldwell (2-for-4) at first allowed Patterson to score and Caldwell to get to second for Dan Gamache (1-for-4), whoput runners on the corners and end Goforth’s afternoon.
Auburn greeted reliever Rory McKean with a second successful squeeze play and then was aided by a fielding error at first that allowed Justin Fradejas (3-for-5, 3 R, 2 SB) to reach safely. Mummey followed with a two-run double and scored on Morris’ single to cap the scoring on the inning.
"Offensively we put up a big inning, a seven-run inning. Sometimes we overlook the little things we do offensively. We had two successful squeezes. We continue to find ways to do things," Pawlowski said.
Hurst finished the game by throwing a season-high four innings, allowing a sixth-inning double but otherwise keeping the Ole Miss hitters off base, sitting them down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth to pick up his second save of the season.
"It’s really exciting. For us coming in here and getting a sweep is really big for the team and it’s a big confidence builder going into the SEC Tournament," Hurst said. "I just came in and tried to do the best I can. I threw strikes and let the defense work behind me and they did a great job today."
Auburn’s final two runs came in the top of the ninth as Fradejas singled, Mummey doubled and both scored when Ole Miss first baseman Matt Snyder couldn’t handle a Morris liner.
The last time Auburn had three league sweeps in SEC play was in 2001 when it also completed three sweeps in the season, though all three of those sweeps came at home while only one of Auburn’s sweeps this season took place at Plainsman Park. The last time Auburn closed out a SEC season with a sweep was in 1999 while the last time it happened on the road was in 1988.
