Here is your SEC Recap for April 8th.
#1 Vanderbilt 11 #24 Alabama 3
Nashville, Tenn, – Top-ranked Vanderbilt cruised by No. 21 Alabama Friday night at Hawkins Field behind 15 hits and a gutsy outing from starter Sonny Gray.
The Commodores clung to a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning when the Tide loaded the bases with no outs against Gray. The junior battled back striking out the next two batters before a weak grounder to second base ended the threat. The Vanderbilt offense responded scoring three runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to put the game away.
VU jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the second inning with Curt Casali’s RBI-double and Riley Reynolds’ RBI-groundout. After Alabama tied the game in the third Vandy plated two more runs in the bottom of the inning and never trailed again. Anthony Gomez paced the Dores’ 15-hit attack with three hits extending his hitting streak to 26 games with a first-inning single. Casali knocked in three runs going 2-for-4. Mike Yastrzemski and Aaron Westlake each had two hits and two RBI in the win. Jared Reaves led the Tide with two hits.
Vanderbilt Recap
Alabama Recap
#3 South Carolina 2 Tennessee 0
Knoxville, Tenn. – South Carolina sophomore right-hander Colby Holmes worked a career-high seven innings and struck out career-high seven batters and Christian Walker’s two run homer in the top of the sixth inning was enough to lift Carolina to a 2-0 victory over Tennessee in game two of a three-game SEC baseball series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. It was Carolina’s second straight shutout over Tennessee, as the Gamecocks clinch the series vs. the Volunteers. The series finale is set for Noon on Saturday with the game televised live on SportSouth.
Holmes was stellar the entire night as he limited Tennessee to just three hits and no walks. He is now 3-0 on the year. Senior right-hander John Taylor worked 1.2 scoreless innings and had two strikeouts and sophomore closer Matt Price came on to preserve the game with a strikeout to pick up his ninth save of the season, second of the series. Tennessee starter Steven Gruver had a quality outing but suffered the loss. He is now 3-4 for the season. He allowed two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and a walk in eighth innings pitched.
South Carolina Recap
Tennessee Recap
Mississippi State 7 #4 Florida 5
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State improved to 6-2 versus ranked opponents this season with a stunning 7-5 victory over fourth-ranked Florida in a Southeastern Conference baseball game played Friday night at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldogs have now won all four conference home games this season – all against ranked opponents. With the victory, MSU improved to 21-9 overall and 5-5 in league play, while Florida fell to 24-7 and 7-3. The Maroon and White are now back in sole possession of second place in the Western Division standings.
The tone was established early much to the delight of a season-best crowd of 7,123. The Bulldogs scored four times in the home half of the first inning and did not trail the remainder of the way. The turning of events was quite stunning since Florida ace Hudson Randall had entered the game with a 5-0 record, 0.54 ERA, and two complete games.
Mississippi State Recap
Florida Recap
Full Recap coming soon
Arkansas Recap
LSU Recap
Auburn 12 Kentucky 9
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Casey McElroy finished the night 4-for-5 with a career-high five RBIs, including a two-run double in Auburn’s six-run eighth as, the Auburn baseball team claimed a 12-9 win at Kentucky on Friday night, snapping a six-game conference losing streak.
“I thought our team battled back, they grinded out this win tonight,” Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. “We needed a win and it’s great to see these guys get a W tonight.”
Trailing 7-6 after Kentucky (16-15, 2-9 SEC) scored three times in the seventh on a pair of home runs, Auburn (16-14, 3-7 SEC) ran through four different Kentucky pitchers in the eighth, collecting four singles, a double, two walks and an error by Kentucky right fielder Lucas Witt on a Creede Simpson pop-up down the line to take a commanding 12-7 lead..
OXFORD, MISS.—-The 30th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs won their sixth straight SEC contest, posting a 9-8 road win over Ole Miss Friday in front of a crowd of 9,103.
The Bulldogs have won six in a row to improve to 17-14 overall and 7-3 in league play while the Rebels dropped to 19-12, 4-6 in the SEC. Georgia overcame an early 3-0 deficit and took the lead for good in the fourth. Junior Tyler Maloof notched his national-leading 12th save but not before the Rebels made some noise in the final frame.
“We almost gave it away in the first inning, we made several mistakes and gave up three runs on one hit,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We came right back and got back in it in the middle innings and got a number of two-out hits and then some big defensive plays including from Conor Welton, who we just put in the game in the eighth and he makes two good catches. We got through it, and now we have a chance to win a series after a big Friday win.
