A wild Friday night in college baseball saw the top two teams in the country get dominated on the road. #1 Florida State dropped just their fourth game of the season at Clemson 9-3, and struggled all night against Clemson starter Daniel Gossett who gave up just 1 ER in 7 1/3 innings with 8 Ks. Tyler Krieger led the way offensively for the Tigers going 2-4 with 3 RBI on the night.
Second-ranked South Carolina fell behind big early in Lexington as Kentucky defeated the Gamecocks 13-5. A huge six run 2nd inning was all the Wildcats needed behind do-it-all starting pitcher AJ Reed. Reed, who also is a fixture in the heart of the Kentucky lineup night in and night out, went 2-4 at the plate and also had an RBI to go with his quality performance on the mound.
In the top SEC matchup of the weekend, Mississippi State took it to Vanderbilt and ace Tyler Beede from the first batter of the game. By the time the first inning was finally over the Bulldogs had jumped all over Beede and a lackadaisical Commodore defense for a 4-0 lead and led 11-1 after 3 innings. Beede, one of the top pitchers in the nation and a projected 1st-round draft pick, didn’t have anywhere near his best stuff. The combination of a struggling Beede and a defense that booted the ball all over the field (5 errors on the game) led to Vandy falling behind and never coming close to recovering. Bulldog righty Preston Brown looked very comfortable in his first career SEC start, tossing 8 solid innings and allowing just 2 ER to get the win in a 17-2 rout.
Auburn continued their recent hot streak with a big 3-2 road victory at Tennessee to open their weekend series. Senior starting pitcher Dillon Ortman went seven tough innings, escaping multiple bases loaded jams to lead the Tigers to their 10th win in the last 11 games. Picked near the cellar of the SEC in the pre-season, the Tigers have gone through turmoil, kicking off several players but have gotten off to a 3-1 start to this point in the SEC. A win in the next two games to clinch the series would be huge for a Tigers team under coach Sonny Galloway that is looking to win back to back series to start conference play and keep the momentum going.
