Here is your SEC Recap for May 14th.
Game 1: #6 Florida 6 #1 Vanderbilt 5
Senior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) cranked a game-tying homer to begin the ninth and senior Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) snapped an 0-for-16 drought with an RBI double as No. 5 Florida (38-12/19-6 SEC) edged No. 2 Vanderbilt (41-7/19-6 SEC), 6-5, in the completion of Friday night’s suspended contest at Hawkins Field on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Gators are now tied with the Commodores for first place in the SEC standings with five contests remaining.
With the game knotted at 4-4 in the eighth, Vanderbilt freshman Conrad Gregor (3-for-4) collected his third hit of the outing with a one-out single into right field and was replaced by sophomore pinch runner Jack Lupo. Sophomore Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) was charged with a balk to push Lupo to second base and was replaced by junior Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.). The righty had senior pinch hitter Bryan Johns ground out to third base but then surrendered a base-knock up the middle by sophomore Connor Harrell (2-for-4) that brought in Lupo to give the hosts a one-run lead.
Florida Recap
Vanderbilt Recap
Game 2: #1 Vanderbilt 14 #6 Florida 1
Nashville, Tenn, – Third-ranked Vanderbilt used a six-run fifth inning to cruise by eighth-ranked Florida 14-1 Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field and even the series after Florida rallied to win Friday night’s suspended game 6-5.
The Gators took an early lead with a home run in the third inning but the Commodores used three hits to score two runs in the bottom of the inning to claim the lead for good. Aaron Westlake’s grand slam in the sixth inning ignited a six-run rally to open up an 8-1 Vanderbilt lead after five innings. The Dores added two more runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to set the final score. The Vandy offense cranked out 18 hits with nine different Commodores contributing. Westlake led the way driving in five runs and Anthony Gomez added three runs. Jason Esposito and Connor Harrell each had three hits to lead all hitters. Bryson Smith hit his second home run of the year to account for Florida’s lone run.
Vanderbilt Recap
Florida Recap
#3 South Carolina 6 #15 Arkansas 5
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Scott Wingo’s leadoff solo home run in the bottom of the ninth gave South Carolina a thrilling 6-5 victory over Arkansas on Saturday at Carolina Stadium.
After Arkansas (33-16, 13-13 SEC) tied the game at 5-5 in the eighth,Matt Price held the Razorbacks off the scoreboard in the ninth with the heart of the order due up for South Carolina (40-11, 19-7). But Wingo would take care of matters with just one swing. After taking the first pitch for a strike, he roped the 0-1 offering from Arkansas righthander Ryne Stanek just out of the reach of the Razorback right fielder and into the Carolina bullpen for his fourth home run of the year, sending the announced crowd of 7,765 fans home happy. It was Wingo’s third walk-off hit of the year; he had the game-winning RBI single in a 2-1 win over Auburn on April 29 and also drove in the winning run in the ninth in a 2-1 win over Georgia.
Today’s win, the 40th of the year, marks South Carolina’s 12th consecutive season with 40 or more wins; the Gamecocks are the only team in the Southeastern Conference to win 40 or more games in each of the last 12 seasons.
South Carolina Recap
Arkansas Recap
Game 1: Auburn 8 Alabama 7
Game 2: Auburn 7 Alabama 5
AUBURN, Ala. – Tony Caldwell’s grounder to short in the bottom of the eighth brought a pair of runs home, breaking a tie game and sending Auburn to a 7-5 win over Alabama in the first game of a SEC doubleheader at Plainsman Park on Saturday afternoon. With the win Auburn improved to 27-23, 12-13 SEC while Alabama fell to 30-21, 12-13 SEC.
Tied at 5-5 heading to the ninth after squandering a three-run lead in the top half of the inning, Auburn loaded the bases off of Alabama reliever Adam Windsor (3-2) with one out in the eighth. A pitching change brought Josh Rosecrans in from the Alabama bullpen to pitch to Caldwell (1-for-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI). After seeing three pitches, Caldwell bounced one back to Alabama shortstop Jared Reaves, who threw home trying to get Justin Fradejas (2-for-5, 2B, 2 R) who was off on the crack of the bat. Fradejas slid in safe before the throw, which got away from Alabama catcher Brock Bennett, allowing pinch hitterBrooks Beisner to also race home.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Behind 17 hits and four home runs – including two from junior third baseman Thomas McCarthyand a grand slam from senior shortstop Taylor Black – the Kentucky Wildcats pounded out a 12-5 series-clinching win over the Georgia Bulldogs, on Saturday evening at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky (24-27, 7-19 Southeastern Conference) rode the 17-hit outing and the breakout offensive performance from McCarthy to the series-clinching win. After a 7-4 win over Georgia on Friday night and the win on Saturday, UK clinched its first series win over Georgia since the 2007 season in Lexington.
The Wildcats – who entered the series leading the SEC in home runs – jumped all over Georgia acclaimed starter Michael Palazzone, plating seven runs over the first and second frames, including a grand slam from Black in the five-run second inning. Despite allowing a four-run inning in the top of the third, UK rallied with runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings. All told, Palazzone allowed 15 hits and 11 runs in the losing effort.
Ole Miss 12 Mississippi State 3
OXFORD, Miss. – Austin Wright struck out a career-high 10 batters and held the Bulldog offense in check, while the Rebels exploded for 12 runs on 15 hits as Ole Miss (28-23, 12-15 SEC) defeated Mississippi State (32-19, 13-14 SEC) by a score of 12-3 in the series finale on Saturday.
Alex Yarbrough went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and an RBI, while Matt Snyder was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI to help pace the Rebel offense in the win.
Wright (5-4) picked up the win as he worked 6.1 innings and held the Bulldogs to two runs on four hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts.
Ole Miss Recap
Mississippi State Recap
LSU 8 Tennessee 1
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU (32-19, 10-16) took advantage of five Tennessee (23-26, 5-21) errors Saturday and freshman right-hander Kurt McCune hurled 7.2 innings to pace the Tigers to an 8-1 victory in Alex Box Stadium.
The victory was LSU’s eighth in its last 10 games. The Tigers also extended their home winning streak to eight games.
The Tigers’ offense was alive for the second straight game and cranked out 16 hits, including 14 against Tennessee starter Nick Blount (1-4).
