SEC Baseball Weekend Recap: Week 4
Image: Tennessee Athletics
By Jon Reed
A disappointing Saturday for the Tennessee Volunteers saw them lose their first home series in two years and fall from a first place tie to fourth place in the conference standings.
Arkansas and Texas improved to 11-1 while LSU’s pitching has carried them to 10-2.
Let’s talk about it.
Aggies Win the Series in Knoxville
Game 1 went about as well as you could have hoped for if you were a Tennessee fan.
It was a 10-run offensive explosion combined with a dominant pitching performance. How dominant? The Aggies did not register a hit on their way to a run-rule loss.
Vibes for Tennessee? High. Vibes for Texas A&M? About as low as they could have possibly been.
But then the weather turned Saturday into a double header, and everything changed for the team in maroon. After falling behind 2-1 early, A&M rallied for a 9-3 victory where seemingly everything went their way in the late innings.
The quick turnaround didn’t allow Uncle Mo to change his address, and the Aggies came out the gate in the rubber match hot as Bear Harrison hit a monster 3-run HR in the top of the first, and the blowout was on. The second best team in the country in 2024 took Game 3 17-6 and won their first conference series of the season.
The Vols relinquished their number 1 ranking and their tie for the top spot in the SEC. Texas A&M will need a miracle run to get into the postseason, but taking two in Knoxville is a good start.
Texas Sweeps Georgia
Longhorn Ace Jared Spencer shutdown the high-powered Georgia offense in a 5-1 Game 1 victory. He went 7.2 IP and struck out 11 while only giving up one run.
The Bulldogs came out hot in Game 2, jumping out to a 4-0 lead through 4.5 innings. Texas found 2 in the bottom of the fifth and exploded for 5 in the seventh as they won 7-4.
The sweep was completed in Game 3 with Rylan Galvan’s walk-off tenth inning solo blast, earning Texas a 4-3 victory.
Tigers Sweep at Oklahoma
LSU’s ace Kade Anderson improved to 6-0 on the season following his complete game shutout, striking out 14 Sooners.
LSU flexed their muscles in Game 2 with a 10-2 blowout. Starting pitcher Anthony Eyanson went 5.2 shutout innings, striking out 8. Game 3 saw another LSU starting pitcher shutdown the Sooners with Chase Shores going 5 IP with only one unearned run.
Oklahoma tried to rally in the ninth but came up short in a 3-2 defeat.
Vandy wins all 3 in Gainesville
The Gators, unlike Texas A&M, could not get their disappointing season on track this weekend.
Vanderbilt won Game 1 by a comfortable 6-0 margin. Game 2 was closer, but the Gators could only score 2 runs on their 9 hits, allowing Vandy to win it with a Colin Barczi solo homer in the ninth.
Game 3 was at least somewhat in doubt heading into the ninth inning. Then, the Commodores scored 5 and blew it open, winning 11-3.
Rebels Win Road Series at Kentucky
A walk-off single by Devin Burkes gave Kentucky the series opening win 5-4 win on Friday afternoon.
In the night session of game 2, Ole Miss flipped the script with a 3-1 victory thanks to a game-winning two-run pitch-hit HR by Campbell Smitchwick.
Game 3 was another hotly contested classic. After playing the first ten innings to a 2-2 draw, the teams traded one run each in the eleventh before Ole Miss scored 2 in the top of the inning. Kentucky got a solo blast from Cole Hage, but that was it as the Cats fell 5-4.
War Eagles Soar to Series Win over Alabama
Auburn made a statement by scoring 4 in the bottom of the first in Game 1 and never looked back en route to a 10-0 run-rule victory.
Game 2 was a moment for the Justin Lebron highlight reel as his two-run HR in the top of the ninth gave the Crimson Tide a 6-5 comeback victory. There wasn’t much time to neither sulk nor gloat as the rubber match was played just an hour after Game 2 thanks to bad weather in the area. The War Tigers set the tone by scoring 4 in the bottom of the first and 2 in the bottom of the second as they won the series with a 7-5 victory.
Arkansas Keeps Winning, Missouri Stays Winless
Despite their fans’ early season complaints, the Arkansas bats are alive and well.
The Razorbacks won all three games in blowout fashion, 21-3, 14-4, 16-2.
The cumulative score was 51-9. Missouri is awful, but this Arkansas team may finally be the one to end the championship jokes down in Fayetteville.
State wins Series Against Cocks
South Carolina won the first game of the series and then lost the next two. Who really cares?
Upcoming Weekend
Tennessee at Ole Miss
Arkansas at Georgia
LSU at Auburn
Texas at Kentucky
Vanderbilt at Oklahoma
Mississippi State at Alabama
South Carolina at Texas A&M
Missouri at Florida