Strike One: SEC Opening Day
Friday opened up conference play for the SEC, and the conference’s first slate of games made for plenty of excitement. (15) Mississippi State defeated (2) Vanderbilt in a pitchers’ duel, 2-1, that lasted 13-innings. (1) Florida walked off on a bases-loaded single against Missouri in the 10th inning, winning 4-3. Tennessee also walked-off against (9) Ole Miss in a 3-2 thriller when Derek Lance drove in Vols’ shortstop Max Bartlett with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. South Carolina and Georgia were both winners in their conference openers against Arkansas and Kentucky. Two games, (3) Texas A&M versus Auburn and Alabama versus (7) LSU, were postponed due to inclement weather.
Strike Two: Cougars continue to fly under the radar
BYU notched win number 18 against Pacific on Friday. The Cougars are now 18-1 this season and have won 12 games in a row. With their second win of the series against Pacific, the Cougars sit in first place of the West Coast Conference. BYU has featured an explosive offense that’s scored more runs (184) than any other team in the country and average more than 10 runs per game. The Cougars also have the second-best batting average in the country at .351 heading into Saturday’s games.
Strike Three: Canes’ walk off slam
(10) Miami (FL) right fielder Willie Abreu hammered the first pitch he saw from (5) Louisville closer Zack Burdi over the wall for a walk off grand slam to give the Hurricanes a game one victory. Abreu finished the night with two hits, both home runs, and seven RBIs.
The Hurricanes’ victory gave head coach Jim Morris win number 1,500 on a night where Miami wore pink uniforms in support of breast cancer awareness.
