South Carolina took a flawless 16-0 record into their SEC opener with Ole Miss on Friday, and thanks to timely hitting the Rebels came away with a dramatic win on the road. Austin Bousfield led the charge and came up with the go-ahead grand slam in the 6th inning to put Ole Miss up 6-4 and they never looked back as the bullpen held on for the series-opening win. The Rebels have played very good baseball to this point, winning a lot of close games and in the SEC, especially on a Friday night it often comes down to one swing and Bousfield’s was the difference.
Elsewhere around the SEC, Vanderbilt and LSU squared off in the top pitching battle of the night with aces Tyler Beede and Aaron Nola taking center-stage. Beede and Nola both look to be high-end 1st round picks in the MLB draft in June, and they didn’t disappoint. Nola tossed 6 2/3 innings and struck out 12, tying a career high. Beede went 7 1/3 while striking out seven, with both runs he allowed being of the unearned variety. In the end it was LSU who came away with a 4-2 win, scoring all four runs in the 8th inning after trailing 1-0 in what is sure to be one of the most memorable games of the 2014 season.
Other highlights around the league saw Alabama shut out Kentucky 3-0 as Spencer Turnbull outdueled AJ Reed to run his ERA to an unfathomable 0.31 in five starts, including 14 1/3 straight innings of scoreless baseball. Georgia defeated a struggling Mississippi State squad 7-1, Florida squeaked out a 2-1 victory over Arkansas, Auburn blanked Texas A&M 4-0, and Mizzou pulled off a surprising upset over a red-hot Tennessee team 5-2.
Luke Weaver outdueled Carlos Rodon Friday night as Florida State knocked off NC State 6-1 in a top ten showdown in Tallahassee. Weaver surrendered just one run in 6 1/3 innings and struck out seven. Offensively the Noles spread the wealth around, as four different players knocked in a total of seven runs with Justin Gonzalez and DJ Stewart recording two each.
