It was quite a dramatic weekend in the SEC with big upsets and a huge mess in Starkville between Mississippi State and Georgia.
We’ll start with the Friday night game where State got a great pitching performance from Khal Stephen (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 7 Ks) and a 3-run homer late from Connor Hujsak to put the game away in a 6-1 win.
It was Saturday when things got wild when State catcher Johnny Long took things a little too far after a great play to cut down a runner at the plate.
After a 40-minute delay, SEC officials in Birmingham decided to eject 11 players, including 7 Mississippi State players who were in the field for the incident but didn’t incite anything.
Georgia’s Clayton Chadwick hit a go-ahead homer in the top of the ninth and they’d go on to win 3-2.
League officials ended up eliminating the 1-game suspension for State players ejected in Saturday’s game so they could play on Sunday.
It was another one-run game, but this time Mississippi State pulled it out 9-8 thanks in part to a Georgia error in the eighth that led to 2 runs.
In the possible outcomes I wouldn’t have predicted in a thousand years, Missouri swept Florida over the weekend.
After looking like the worst team in the conference all season, the Tigers found a way to get three 1-run wins over the Gators.
Game one was a pitcher’s battle that remained 1-1 until this walk-off single by Jedier Hernandez in the 11th.
Logan Lunceford and Carter Rustad combined to allow just 2 hits and 1 walk over 11 innings with 13 strikeouts for Missouri.
After a Jac Caglianone home run in the sixth on Saturday gave Florida a 3-2 lead, it was Hernandez again who delivered at the plate for Missouri with a game-tying hit. And then the eventual winning run scored on a wild pitch.
Missouri jumped out to a 7-1 lead on Sunday as Caglianone didn’t make it out of the second inning. The Gators offense stormed back with a 3-run homer by Colby Shelton to make it 7-4 and then later a 2-run homer that gave Florida a 10-8 lead.
But Missouri plated three in the bottom of the ninth for another walk-off win and a stunning sweep.
Another weekend and three more wins for Arkansas who already has three sweeps in four SEC series. The latest one coming against Ole Miss.
Hagan Smith did his thing in game one striking out 11 batters over 6 innings. Wehiwa Aloy had the big hit with a 3-run homer in the sixth to give the Razorbacks the lead in an eventual 5-2 win.
He hit another homer in game two and drove in 3 runs in total, propelling Arkansas to the 8-3 win. Gage Wood was dominant out of the bullpen striking out five of the seven batters he faced to close out the game.
The two teams were tied going into the seventh in game three before Arkansas’ Nolan Souza hit a 3-run homer. He’d drive in five in total for the game as Arkansas won 7-4.
If anybody is pushing Arkansas for the top spot right now it’s Texas A&M who went on the road and got a good series win at South Carolina.
That powerful Aggie offense jumped all over Carolina in game one scoring 7 runs in the first 3 innings.
Designated hitter Hayden Schott had a pair of hits and 3 RBI in the game while Ryan Prager did his job on the mound with 12 strikeouts in 6.1 innings in the 9-2 win.
It was another early ambush on Saturday for Texas A&M scoring 3 runs in the first with Schott driving in two of them and finishing the game with 3 RBI again.
Shane Sdao and Evan Aschenbeck were great in relief for the Aggies allowing just 1 earned run over 6.1 innings with 9 strikeouts.
Ethan Petry helped South Carolina avoid the sweep with a 6-5 win on Sunday as he went 3-5 with a home run and 3 RBI.
Schott finished off his good weekend for A&M with a home run and 3 more RBI giving him 9 in the three-game series.
There is another 11-1 team in SEC play and it’s the Kentucky Wildcats who overwhelmed a really good offensive Alabama lineup in a sweep this past weekend.
They won by scores of 6-2, 7-0, and 11-1.
In game one, Trey Pooser allowed 2 earned runs on 6 hits and a walk over 7 innings with 3 strikeouts.
Dominic Niman tossed a complete game shutout in game two allowing just 3 hits with 7 strikeouts. It was the first time Alabama’s offense had been shutout all year.
In the finale, Mason Moore allowed just 1 earned run on 4 hits and 2 walks over 7 innings with 6 strikeouts.
While Arkansas and Texas A&M are 1 and 2 in the country in ERA, Kentucky is fourth at 3.42. They get Auburn on the road next weekend before a showdown with Tennessee in Lexington.
We’ve seen a lot of teams struggle on the road this year, including Vanderbilt who got swept at South Carolina just two weeks ago.
It looked like it might be more of the same going into Baton Rouge as those lost 10-6 to LSU on Thursday. The Tigers jumped on Greysen Carter for 6 runs in the third and 3 in the fourth.
Luke Holman struck out 10 in 5.2 innings but ran into trouble in the fifth and sixth innings.
The two teams exchanged blows in game two with the game being tied at 2-2, 4-4, and 5-5 throughout the night. But a Jayden Davis 2-run shot in the eighth gave Vanderbilt the lead and eventual 8-6 win.
Ethan McElvain was huge in relief for Vanderbilt tossing 3.1 scoreless innings to end the game.
Game three was a blowout with Vanderbilt winning 13-3 in eight innings. Carter Holton struckout 10 over 6 innings.
Davis continued his strong weekend with 3 hits, while Braden Holcomb drove in 5 with 2 home runs.
It was a disappointing start to the weekend for Tennessee as they dropped game one to Auburn 9-5 thanks to a 5-run first inning capped off by this 3-run homer from Cade Belyeu.
John Armstrong finished the game for Auburn out of the bullpen tossing 4 scoreless innings allowing just a hit and a walk with 6 strikeouts.
But the rest of the weekend was all Tennessee with wins of 12-2 (7) and 19-5 (7).
Drew Beam tossed a 7-inning complete game allowing 1 earned run on 3 hits and a walk with 8 strikeouts. Dylan Dreiling and Dalton Bargo each hit a pair of home runs.
Tennessee didn’t score in the first inning of game three, but then scored 7, 4, 2, 3, 1, and 2 in the following six innings.
Cal Stark had 2 home runs, a double, and 7 RBI in the route.
SEC Power Rankings
Tier 1
Arkansas
Texas A&M
Tier 2
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Tier 3
Florida
Mississippi State
LSU
South Carolina
Tier 4
Georgia
Alabama
Ole Miss
Auburn
Missouri
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