SEC Weekly Roundup (April 11-14): Shake-up At the Top
We’re halfway through the SEC season and now it appears we have a handful of teams jumbled up at the top with Arkansas, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
The Razorbacks have been at the top pretty much all season long, but they ran into a little problem in Tuscaloosa this past weekend dropping a close series to Alabama.
Arkansas won the first game 5-3 behind a scoreless outing by Hagan Smith – nothing new to report there.
Saturday’s game was a back-and-forth affair with a 2-out home run by Arkansas’ Peyton Holt tying the game in the ninth. But Alabama walked it off in the 10th after a double and error in the 4-3 win.
And then in the finale, Alabama freshman Zane Adams pitched 8 shutout innings in a 5-0 win to secure the huge series victory for the Tide.
Alabama doesn’t get to celebrate for long as they face Texas A&M next weekend.
Speaking of the Texas A&M Aggies, they had a monster weekend with a dominating sweep over Vanderbilt.
They won the first game 15-0. Jace LaViolette and Braden Montgomery each hit 2 home runs, while Ryan Prager pitched 7 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, earning the complete game shutout in a run-rule victory for the Aggies.
Tanner Jones pitched 7.1 scoreless innings on Friday night as the Aggies won 9-0.
Vanderbilt finally got the bats going in game three scoring 4 runs in the second, but A&M scored 9 unanswered and ultimately won 12-6.
Chris Cortez was huge out of the bullpen for Texas A&M as he stopped the early momentum for Vanderbilt and went on to pitch 4.1 scoreless innings with 8 strikeouts.
Things just keep getting worse for the LSU Tigers as they got swept at Tennessee this past weekend.
Billy Amick got the party starter for Tennessee with a 2-run homer in the first inning of game one. AJ Causey got the win in relief tossing 4.2 scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts.
Amick did it again in game two with a double and home run, while Drew Beam (6.2 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 0 ER, 5 K) out-dueled Luke Holman (5.2 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 4 K) in a 3-1 Tennessee win.
In game three, Christian Moore, and Blake Burke combined for 3 home runs, a double, and 6 RBI in an 8-4 Tennessee win.
Zander Sechrist was solid on the mound giving up just 2 earned runs in 5.2 innings.
If the season ended today LSU would not even make the SEC Tournament. Their schedule gets a little more manageable the rest of the way.
The only team in Alabama that can stop Kentucky is Samford, who they lost to in the mid-week. But surrounding that loss they swept Alabama at home and Auburn on the road.
Ryan Nicholson gave Kentucky the lead on Thursday with this home run that led to a 6-5 victory.
They’d hit 6 home runs in the second game – two more by Nicholson – as they won 9-1.
Nicholson would add one more in Sunday’s 13-8 win, while Nick Lopez hit a pair and drove in 5.
Kentucky’s pitching has been what carried them a lot this year, but they broke out the bats this past weekend showing they can get it done in multiple ways.
One of the best rivalries in college baseball took place this past weekend with Mississippi State going to Ole Miss. And while it looked like the Bulldogs were ready to separate themselves and be among the top in the conference again – especially after Friday’s 8-0 win – Ole Miss rallied to win the weekend.
Khal Stephen was great for Mississippi State in their lone win, tossing 8 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts and just 3 hits allowed.
Game two was a seesaw battle that went into extra-innings before Ole Miss got the walk-off win on a 2-RBI single from Jackson Ross.
In the finale, it was all Ole Miss in a 14-2 (7) win. Mason Nichols was great on the mound allowing just 1 earned run over 6.1 innings. Ethan Lege hit a pair of home runs, and Will Furniss hit the final one – a 3-run shot for the walk-off run rule.
Florida continued their slide losing a series at home to South Carolina. Their pitching staff gave up 28 runs on the weekend – not something we’re used to seeing from the Gators.
Give a lot of credit to South Carolina who got a great start from Eli Jones on Friday – 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 6 Ks. The offense pounded out 13 hits and earned 6 walks in the 10-3.
Ethan Petry and Dalton Reeves each drove in 3 runs in the second game to help give South Carolina a big lead. Florida tried to make a comeback with 4 runs in the eighth, but the Gamecocks held on for a 9-8 win with Tyler Pitzer closing the door in a scoreless ninth.
On Sunday, it was South Carolina’s turn to try to make a comeback. After Jac Caglianone had a solid 5-inning start allowing just 3 runs, the bullpen gave up 2 in the sixth, eighth, and ninth. But the Gators managed to get the 11-9 win.
Cags also went deep in the game. Ty Evans (2-3, 3 RBI) and Colby Shelton (3-5, 2 RBI) also had big games at the plate for Florida.
Georgia found its offense again back home this past weekend with 15-10 and 10-7 wins over Missouri.
Charlie Condon was 4-4 with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, and 2 walks in the 15-10 win. Jarvis Evans struck out 9 in 5.1 innings for Georgia.
Condon homered again in the 10-7 win, while Slate Alford drove in three. Kolten Smith struck out 10 in 5 relief innings to close out the game.
Between those two games, Missouri did pick up a win. After Georgia tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on a Kolby Branch single, Missouri took the lead for good in the 10th thanks to a Bulldog error.
SEC Power Rankings
Tier 1
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Tennessee
Tier 2
Kentucky
Tier 3
Vanderbilt
South Carolina
Alabama
Florida
Mississippi State
Georgia
Ole Miss
LSU
Tier 4
Missouri
Auburn
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