Here is your SEC Recap for April 29th.
#2 Vanderbilt 10 Tennessee 1
Nashville, Tenn, – Vanderbilt used a solid outing from starter Sonny Gray to beat Tennessee 10-1 Friday night at a sold out Hawkins Field.
Gray scattered four hits over eight innings allowing one run and striking out six to earn his ninth win of the year. The Volunteers’ lone run of game came in the third inning without the benefit of a hit. The right-hander did not allow a hit after the second inning and moved into a tie for third place in Vanderbilt history with his 24th career victory.
Vanderbilt took the lead in the fourth inning on Aaron Westlake’s solo home run, his team-best seventh of the season. The Commodores blew the game open scoring eight runs over their final three at-bats. Connor Harrell capped the night’s scoring with a pinch-hit, two-run home run. Westlake helped lead the offense scoring three runs while Mike Yastrzemski drove in three runs. Jason Esposito extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a single in the fourth inning and moved into a tie for seventh all-time at VU with his 52nd double of his career in the seventh inning. Andrew Toles led the Vols with two hits.
Vanderbilt Recap
Tennessee Recap
#3 South Carolina 2 Tennessee 1
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A walk-off single by Scott Wingo in the bottom of the ninth scored Robert Beary to give second ranked South Carolina a 2-1 win over Auburn on Friday night at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks improved to 33-8 overall, 15-4 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn fell to 23-19, 9-10 SEC. Game two of the series is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday and will be televised on SportSouth and can be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network.
Beary was hit by the first pitch of the ninth inning, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by DeSean Anderson, then moved to third on a single to right by Peter Mooney. With the Tiger outfield playing in, Wingo ripped a 3-1 pitch to deep left center that was just out of the reach of the Auburn center fielder, scoring Beary to send the crowd of 8,016 home happy.
South Carolina Recap
Auburn Recap
Senior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) and redshirt sophomore Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) each went 4-for-5 and No. 4 Florida (32-10/15-4 SEC) banged out 17 hits and scored in seven of its eight at bats to defeat Ole Miss (24-18/9-10 SEC), 9-3, in the series opener on Friday night at McKethan Stadium. Sophomore right-hander Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (8-1) yielded six hits and three runs and matched his season high with six strikeouts over 7.1 innings for the win, while five Gators turned in multiple-hit outings.
The victory enabled Florida to keep pace with No. 2 Vanderbilt (36-5/15-4 SEC) and No. 3 South Carolina (33-8/15-4 SEC) on top of the league and Eastern Division standings. The Commodores handled Tennessee, 10-1, and the Gamecocks edged Auburn, 2-1.
“Our offensive approach was outstanding tonight,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I think that we scored in every inning but one. The only glitch in the whole deal was that we had the bases loaded with nobody out in the fifth and we didn’t push anybody across. It’s hard to be upset about that one inning. They (Ole Miss) applied pressure the whole night but we got a lot of runners on. Hudson (Randall) pitched great, they’re a good offensive team and we’re going to have our hands full tomorrow as well.”
ATHENS, Ga. – The top five batters in the Arkansas batting order accounted for 12 hits, while DJ Baxendale threw a career-long seven innings, allowing just one run, as the Razorbacks defeated Georgia 10-4 on a beautiful Friday evening at Foley Field.
The Razorbacks improve to 29-11 and 10-9 in the Southeastern Conference, while Georgia drops to 22-21 and 11-8 in league play. With the win and losses by Auburn and Ole Miss, Arkansas regains first place in the SEC Western Division, a game ahead of both the Tigers and Rebels.
Baxendale was outstanding on the mound for Arkansas, en route to picking up his sixth win of the season. The Jacksonville, Ark., native threw a career-best seven innings, giving up just a run on five hits, while striking out five. After allowing a run on three hits in the first inning, Baxendale settled in to give up just one hit over the next five frames. After Curt Powell singled with one out in the second, Baxendale got into a groove, sitting down 16 straight Georgia batters before Brandon Stephens was hit by a pitch in the seventh.
BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Mason Katz delivered a career-high four hits and tied a school record with three doubles, while right-hander Kevin Gausman stymied Kentucky (20-24, 4-16 SEC) with a stellar seven-inning effort to propel the Tigers to a commanding 12-4 victory over the Wildcats Friday in Alex Box Stadium.
Game 3 will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. CDT. Live video, audio and stats can be accessed in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net. It can also be heard on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network.
Katz, who finished 4-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored, recorded three doubles in a game for the 19th time in LSU history and is the first player to do so since Nick Stavinoha in 2004. However, the first baseman wasn’t the only LSU batter to shine for the Tigers (27-17, 6-14 SEC) on the evening as second baseman JaCoby Jones and designated hitter Raph Rhymes each collected three hits apiece and drove in runs.
