The final weekend of the SEC regular season began Thursday night with 12 of the league’s 14 teams jockeying for post-season positioning.
Florida has locked up the No. 1 seed at the 2018 SEC Tournament and Mississippi State, with a thrilling comeback win over the Gators on Thursday night, clinched a tournament berth. Missouri defeated Tennessee 3-2 in 12 innings on Thursday and owns a one-game lead over the Vols for the final tournament berth.
Arkansas and Ole Miss, who are close to locking up first round byes in the SEC Tournament, are battling for the SEC Western Division championship. Arkansas holds a one-game lead over Ole Miss with two games to play. Arkansas needs one more win over Georgia and one loss by Ole Miss at Alabama to clinch the division title. Ole Miss wins the division with three wins over Alabama and one Arkansas loss at Georgia
Here are Thursday’s SEC baseball recaps:
ARKANSAS 8, GEORGIA 6
Arkansas leads series, 1-0
ARKANSAS: 37-15, 18-10 SEC
GEORGIA: 35-17, 16-12 SEC
Arkansas uses 6-run seventh inning to take series opener
Heston Kjerstad game-tying RBI single
Luke Bonfield go-ahead 2-run home run
Casey Martin 4-for-5, 2 R
Georgia led 4-2 after four innings
Adam Sasser go-ahead solo home run
Game 2 on Friday at 2 p.m. (CT); SEC Plus
OLE MISS 3, ALABAMA 2
Ole Miss leads series, 1-0
OLE MISS: 41-13, 17-11 SEC
ALABAMA: 26-28, 7-21 SEC
Will Golsan go-ahead RBI single in sixth inning
Ryan Rolison strikes out eight in six innings
Ole Miss bullpen retired all nine batters faced (3 K)
Ole Miss held Alabama to two hits (11 K)
Cole Zabowski solo HR for Ole Miss in third inning
Chandler Taylor solo HR for Alabama in second inning
Game 2 on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT); SEC Plus
MISS. STATE 6, FLORIDA 3
MSU leads series, 1-0
MSU: 29-24, 13-15 SEC
FLORIDA: 41-13, 20-8 SEC
MSU rallies from 3-0 deficit in seventh inning
MSU scored two runs in seventh and four in eighth for the win
Florida bullpen suffers just third loss of season
Michael Byrne (1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER) suffers first loss
Jake Mangum go-ahead two-run triple in eighth
Tanner Allen followed with 2-run HR to give MSU 6-3 lead
Elijah MacNamee 2-run HR in seventh inning put Bulldogs on the board
Riley Self (2.2 IP, 3 K) notches third win of season
Austin Langworthy solo home run in sixth gave Gators 3-0 lead
Game 2 on Friday at 6 p.m (CT); ESPNU
MISSOURI 3, TENNESSEE 2 (12)
Missouri leads series, 1-0
MISSOURI: 33-20, 11-17 SEC
TENNESSEE: 28-26, 11-17 SEC
Mizzou posts walk-off win in series opener
Alex Samples walk-off single in bottom of 12th for the Tigers
Brodie Leftridge game-tying single in eighth for Tennessee
Brett Bond gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead with RBI single in sixth
Tennessee tied game at 1-1 on Pete Derkay RBI single in sixth
Trey Harris gave Mizzou 1-0 lead with RBI single in third
Tennessee pitchers recorded 21 strikeouts in the loss
UT starter Zach Lingenfelter struck out 14 batters in seven innings
Game 2 on Friday at 6:30 p.m. (CT); SEC Plus
AUBURN 11, LSU 4
Auburn leads series, 1-0
AUBURN: 36-18, 14-14 SEC
LSU: 32-22, 14-14 SEC
Auburn scored nine of 11 runs with two outs
LSU has been outscored 36-7 in last three SEC road openers
Auburn took 5-0 lead with four runs in second inning
Steven Williams 2-run HR in second inning
Will Holland 4-for-5, 3 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB
Brenden Venter 3-for-5, R, 2 2B, 3 RBI
Jake Slaughter 2-run HR for LSU
LSU threw 40+ pitches in two different innings
Game 2 on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT); SEC Network
VANDERBILT 8, KENTUCKY 1
Vandy leads series, 1-0
VANDERBILT: 29-24, 14-14 SEC
KENTUCKY: 34-19, 13-15 SEC
Drake Fellows took one-hit shutout into eighth inning
Fellows (7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) earns sixth win
Philip Clarke 3-for-5, R, 2 2B, 3 RBI (RBI 2B in first & fifth innings; RBI single in eighth)
Pat DeMarco 2-run HR in seventh inning
Tristan Pompey RBI double in eighth inning
Game 2 on Friday at 6:30 p.m.; SEC Plus
TEXAS A&M 6, SOUTH CAROLINA 3
Texas A&M leads series, 1-0
TEXAS A&M: 36-17, 13-15 SEC
SOUTH CAROLINA: 30-22, 15-13 SEC
Braden Shewmake 3-for-5, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI
Shewmake 2-run HR in first inning
Aaron Walters 2-for-3, R, HR, RBI (solo HR in third inning)
Nolan Hoffman tosses two scoreless innings for 12th save
Madison Stokes and Carlos Cortes solo HRs for Carolina
Game 2 on Friday at 6:30 p.m.; SEC Plus
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