SEC Baseball Tourney round-up

Gator Country’s Mark McLeod and Tim Casey are in Hoover, Alabama covering the SEC Baseball Tournament. They’ll be delivering round-ups through the day on SEC baseball games, including the Florida Gators in separate stories. This will be updated often, so stay tuned!










Day-Two

Ole Miss beats Tennessee 6-3

HOOVER, ALABAMA- Ole Miss batted around and scored five runs in the top of the first and hung on to defeat Tennessee 6-3 in Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament action Thursday night.

The Rebels (37-21) punched out four hits, a walk, and a batter hit by pitch to score five in the bottom of the first before the Volunteers seemingly knew what had hit them. Eight different Ole Miss batters secured the Rebels 10 base hits in the contest.

Ole Miss starter Lance Lynn (6-4) went seven innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs. Lynn walked four and struck out ten Volunteers in the winners bracket game.

Tennessee mounted a rally in the seventh. Catcher J.P. Arencibia singled and designated hitter Jeff Lockwood walked before second baseman Tony Delmonico drilled a three-run home run over the left field fence. Delmonico’s shot cut the Rebels lead in half.

Ole Miss closer Cody Satterwhite slammed the door pitching two innings without allowing a hit or run. He struck out three batters. Overall, Lynn and Satterwhite fanned 13 Tennessee hitters.

Craig Cobb (8-6) lasted just 0.1 innings before giving way to Lance McClain, who pitched 7.2 innings of solid work. 

The Volunteers (34-24) will face arch-rival Vanderbilt tomorrow at 6:30pm. Ole Miss will play the winner of that contest on Saturday at 1pm.

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Arkansas shuts out Carolina 6-0; ‘Cocks will face Gators tomorrow

The 2007 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament has had some tremendous pitching performances. Perhaps we saw the best of them all late this afternoon when Arkansas’ hurler Jess Todd fanned each and every batter he faced in the first three innings.

Todd (9-2) picked up the win in the Razorbacks 6-0 victory over South Carolina. He struck out an SEC Tournament and Arkansas school record 17 batters. The right hander allowed only two hits and walked one during his eight inning performance. Todd threw 119 pitches. He was relieved by Travis Hill, who allowed only one hit.

Offensively, the Hogs scored a pair of runs in the first, three in the third, and one in the sixth.

Second baseman Ben Tschepikow singled with one out. South Carolina starter Arik Hempy (5-3) then plunked left fielder Casey Coon. Two batters later, Logan Forsythe singled to left and moved up on a throwing error by left fielder, scoring Tschepikow. First baseman Danny Hamblin followed with a single to short that allowed Coon to score Arkansas’ second run.

Coon led off the third with a single to left field. Nick Walker followed with a single to right field. Forsythe then pounded a three-run shot over the left field fence to quickly run the Razorbacks lead to 5-0. 

They played a little small ball to score Travis Jones in the sixth.

Hempy allowed eight hits and four earned runs in five innings of work.  South Carolina will face Florida once again in the tournament. The teams will play tomorrow. The Gamecocks are expected to start right hander Mike Cisco (5-2). The sophomore did not pitch against the Gators when the teams met in a three game series in Gainesville.

Arkansas junior Ben Tschepikow slides into home as South Carolina catcher Kyle Moore misses a relay throw during the first inning of the Razorbacks’ 6-0 win against the Gamecocks at the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. / TIM CASEY

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Price is right for ‘Dores 3-2

HOOVER,ALABAMA- Vanderbilt ace David Price is the latest player to have a no-hitter going into the latter innings of a game at the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament. The SEC Pitcher of the Year held one of the hottest hitting teams in the league, Mississippi State, hostage through six innings.  He was roughed up as much as one can rough up Price, but the ‘Dores survived 3-2 to stay alive in the tourney.

Price (11-0, 2.66) faced the minimum during the first six innings. Jeffrey Rea led off the seventh with a single to left field, placing a minor dent the Commodores armor. He pitched a complete game, allowing just five hits and two earned runs. He walked none and struck out 11.

The Commodores scored three runs in the third inning. Leadoff hitter Alex Feinberg led off the frame with a walk. The always dependable Pedro Alvarez hit a one-out single to left field, Ryan Flaherty followed with a single to right, scoring Feinberg. Shea Robin added the third consecutive single for Vanderbilt which allowed Alvarez to score. Robin was picked off of first base, but Flaherty wasn’t napping as he raced home to give the Commodores a 3-0 lead. Left fielder Ryan Davis would probably have cleared the bases anyway with his double to left.

The Bulldogs (33-20) scored both of their runs in the seventh. Rea got the first hit. He scored when Joseph McCaskill doubled down the right field line. Two batters later, Mitch Moreland doubled, scoring McCaskill.

Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin stayed with Price, who retired the side in the eighth and allowed a second double to McCaskill in the ninth. Mississippi State was unable to get the run across though and bowed out of the tournament with an 0-2 record. 

Price is expected to be the first selection in the Major League Baseball Draft on June 7th. It is widely believed that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will pull the trigger on Price- and if they don’t they belong in the cellar of the AL East for many years to come. As a longsuffering fan of the Rays- I will help them pack for San Antonio should they fail to pull the trigger on David Price.

Vanderbilt (47-11) will face the loser of the Tennessee/Ole Miss game tomorrow.

Day-One

Kline hurls Ole Miss past Bulldogs 3-1

HOOVER, ALABAMA—Junior Will Kline allowed just one run in a complete game 3-1 victory for Ole Miss over arch-rival Mississippi State in Southeastern Conference Tournament action Wednesday night.

“The Battle for the Magnolia State” went down to the wire with Kline holding all of the cards. The right hander struck out ten Bulldogs hitters.  He allowed just eight hits and walked only two on the night.

Furthermore, seventh seeded Ole Miss (36-21) only collected seven hits off Bulldogs starter Justin Pigott. Reliever Ricky Bowen pitched two no-hit innings, where he fanned three Rebels batters. 

The Rebels pieced together three singles and a walk for a pair of runs in the third inning. They added another run in the top of the fifth to move to 3-0.

Third seeded Mississippi State (33-19) put together two singles and walk to score their only run in the bottom half of the fifth.

The Rebels advance to the winners bracket where they’ll face Tennessee tomorrow night at 8pm CST. Mississippi State will take on top ranked Vanderbilt at 1pm CST. 

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Adkins, Vols upset top ranked Vandy 6-4

Tennessee junior James Adkins (7-7) had a no-hitter going until Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez broke up his bid at history with a single through the right side to lead off the eighth inning. The left-hander was in total control of the top ranked Commodores from the first pitch.

The Volunteers who spelled him and some shoddy defense almost gave away the store.

Alvarez came back in the ninth with the ‘Dores down 6-1 and drilled a three run bomb over the center field fence. Vanderbilt had a runner on base and needed only another home run to tie a game that should have ended with the ball in Adkins’ left hand.

Adkins pitched 8.1 innings and allowed just one hit and no earned runs. He gave up two walks, while striking out five on 102 pitches.

Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin opted not to throw either of his two best starters- Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year David Price (10-0, 2.76) or freshman Mike Minor (8-1, 3.15) and the Commodores definitely paid for that decision. In fact, the ‘Dores threw reliever Brett Jacobson (5-2), who allowed seven hits and four earned runs in five innings.

Meanwhile, the Volunteers (34-23) pounded out 13 hits. They were led at the plate by Shawn Griffin, who had two hits and a pair of RBI’s and Tony Delmonico, who punched a solo shot over the left field fence.

Tennessee will face the winner of the Wednesday night game between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The Commodores (46-11) will face the loser of that contest early tomorrow afternoon.

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Schmidt pitches Hogs past Bama 6-0

HOOVER,ALABAMA—Junior Nick Schmidt tossed a two-hit shutout to lead second seeded Arkansas to a 6-0 over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first game during Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament action on Wednesday.

Leading 1-0, the Razorbacks scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning when Brian Walker singled home Casey Coon. He moved to second on Logan Forsythe’s walk. Both scored when first baseman Danny Hamblin ripped a three run shot over the left field fence to give Arkansas a 5-0 lead.

The home run was Hamblin’s conference leading 21st of the season. The Razorbacks scored once more in the sixth inning.

“The Schmidt Show” was the story here though. The first team All-Southeastern Conference selection ran his record to 10-3 on the season. The southpaw allowed two hits, while walking four Crimson Tide batters. He struck out six and needed just 103 pitches to pick up the complete game victory.

Tommy Hunter (7-5) was saddled with the loss for Alabama. He limited Arkansas to seven hits through seven innings and struck out six.

The Razorbacks move on the face the winner of the South Carolina/Florida game Thursday at 6pm. The Crimson Tide will play the loser of the Carolina/Florida game Thursday morning at 11am. All times are CST.

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Mark McLeod and Tim Casey will be on hand to keep you updated on all of the action at the SEC Tournament. Log on to GatorCountry.com for the latest and most current information during the tourney. Check in on the Around the Horn message boards as they’ll be certain to post their thoughts as the games are in progress.