Here is your SEC Recap for April 24th.
#2 South Carolina 13 Mississippi State 4
Starkville, Miss. – Second ranked South Carolina batted around in the fourth and fifth innings to score nine runs on its way to a 13-4 win over Mississippi State to win the rubber game of a three-game SEC baseball series. Carolina is 31-8 and 14-4 in the SEC while MSU drops to 24-16 and 7-11 in the SEC.
Down 3-2 entering the top of the fourth, the Gamecocks made their move, batting around to score four runs on five hits and take a three-run lead. All four runs in the fourth would come with two outs. With runners on first and third, Christian Walkergot it started as he singled up the middle to score Robert Beary tying the game at 3-3. Brady Thomas gave the Gamecocks the lead with a single to left field that was followed by RBI base hits from Jake Williams and Adrian Morales that extended Carolina’s lead to three runs. That offensive output continued in the fifth as Carolina batted around for the second straight inning, this time scoring five runs to go ahead 11-3 on the Bulldogs. Wingo tallied a RBI sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. With one out and the bags still full, Thomas drove in three more runs with a triple down the right field line. Jake Williamsadded a RBI double as Carolina went ahead 11-3 on MSU.
South Carolina Recap
Mississippi State Recap
NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt finished off a series sweep of LSU Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field and finish the weekend in a three-way tie atop the Southeastern Conference.
The game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the third when the Commodores rallied for six runs to claim the lead sending 12 men to the plate. The Dores matched a season-best with six hits during the rally with Conrad Gregor’s two-run homer leading the way. The Tigers rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to close the gap to two runs before the VU bullpen responded and closed the door to finish off the victory.
Florida junior Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play from Alabama senior pinch hitter Brett Whitaker with a pair of runners aboard to preserve a 2-1 victory for the No. 5 Gators (31-10/14-4 SEC) and secure a sweep of the Crimson Tide (25-18/8-10 SEC) on Easter Sunday at McKethan Stadium.
Freshman Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) (5-0) registered seven strikeouts and permitted three hits over a career-high 6.2 innings to pick up his second win in league play and sophomore Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) was 3-for-4 and drove in both of UF’s runs as the hosts remained in first place in the overall and Eastern Division standings pending the results of today’s action. Entering the day, the Gators were deadlocked with No. 2 South Carolina (30-8/13-4 SEC) and No. 3 Vanderbilt (34-5/13-4 SEC).
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Catcher Luke Maile belted a no-doubt blast in the fourth inning and Kentucky got dynamic pitching from freshman starter Corey Littrell and relievers Alex Phillips and Trevor Gott, posting a 3-1 series-clinching win over No. 12 Arkansas on Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The finale of the series is currently underway at Cliff Hagan Stadium, with UK seeking its first sweep of Arkansas in program history. UK’s last series win over Arkansas came during the 2005 season in Lexington.
The two teams battled through an 18-hour and 40-minute rain delay, as the game was postponed in the bottom of the third inning with the game scoreless on Saturday night. Upon returning on Sunday after a second delay, UK sent Littrell back to the mound, with the freshman twirling a gem in a winning effort. Maile got UK on the board with the game-winning hit in the fourth, a blast over the leftfield fence, his team-best sixth of the year. After UK took the lead, the Wildcats used a combination of Phillips and Gott to seal the win, with Gott getting the final two outs by strikeout for his second save of the year.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Arkansas and Kentucky closed its three-game series by splitting a Sunday doubleheader. After Kentucky won the first game 3-1, Arkansas picked up a win in the series finale, claiming a 4-1 victory.
With the doubleheader split, Arkansas is now 28-11 and 9-9 in the Southeastern Conference, while Kentucky drops to 19-22 and 4-14 in SEC play. The win in the second game of the doubleheader was the 1900th in program history.
KNOXVILLE, TENN,—–Junior Kyle Farmer tied a career-high with four RBI and the Bulldog bullpen threw seven shutout innings to register a 5-3 SEC series-clinching win over Tennessee Sunday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
“We did it the hard way here, losing an extra-inning game on Friday and then coming back to win the series with good wins Saturday and today,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “Kyle had another big day for us and the bullpen was outstanding.”
