Razorbacks unable to solve Gray

HOOVER, Ala. — Arkansas has seen enough of Vanderbilt ace Sonny Gray.

Gray beat Arkansas for the second time in a week Wednesday night when he pitched the Commodores to a 2-0 victory in the first round of the SEC Tournament at Regions Park.

Aaron Westlake scored Vanderbilt’s first run on a wild pitch, then put the Commodores ahead 2-0 with a home run off reliever D.J. Baxendale in the eighth inning.

The home run was the fourth in four games for Westlake, all of them coming against Arkansas.

The Razorbacks (40-17) will meet No. 1 seed Florida an elimination game at 1 p.m. today. Florida (40-14) lost 10-6 to LSU on Wednesday. The Gatorstook 2 of 3 from Arkansas on their way to winning the overall SEC championship this season.

Gray (9-4) pitched into the eighth inning but left after giving up a single to Bo Bigham. Richie Goodenow took over and got Andy Wilkins to ground into a double play before retiring Monk Kreder on a grounder to end the inning.

Gray earned the victory after scattering seven hits over seven innings. He also was the winning pitcher last Thursday when Vanderbilt beat Arkansas 4-3 in Nashville, Tenn., before losing two consecutive games to the Razorbacks to close out the regular season.

“My breaking pitches were more effective last week, and Arkansas did a great job of laying off those,” Gray said. “We played a great game, and it’s always important to get that first win in a double elimination tournament.”

Arkansas senior starter Jeremy Heatley worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and pitched five scoreless innings for the Razorbacks. The senior righthander scattered four hits and struck out seven before being relieved by Sam Murphy, who allowed the game’s first run on a wild pitch.

“I was excited about that five innings [from Heatley] with no runs,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “He got out of that first-inning jam and really settled in and did a nice job.

“We played hard, but we couldn’t get that big hit.”

Arkansas faced Vanderbilt (41-15) without Zack Cox, Drew Smyly and Brett Eibner, three All-SEC players who are nursing injuries.

With those players out, Arkansas’ lineup appeared more fitting for a non conference game in February.

Heatley made his first start of the season in place of Smyly, the Razorbacks’ ace. Freshman Kyle Atkins made only his second start in left field, and freshman Matt Vinson started in right field despite entering the game with a .200 batting average.

Arkansas had some opportunities against Gray but failed to score after leaving two men on base in the second, third, and fourth innings. The Razorbacks put their first two runners on base in the second inning before Gray retired James McCann and Vinson on strikeouts and Tim Carver on a fly ball to center.

Bigham and Andy Wilkins hit consecutive singles in the third before Gray retired Monk Kreder out on a ground ball to end the inning.

OLE MISS 3, SOUTH CAROLINA 0

Drew Pomeranz pitched seven shutout innings and Miles Hamblin hit a two-run home run to lift Ole Miss (37-20) to victory over South Carolina (43-13) in the first round of the tournament.

The sixth-seeded Rebels ended a five game losing streak.

Pomeranz (8-2), the SEC’s pitcher of the year, allowed 6 hits while striking out 7 and walking 1. He has 339 strikeouts for his career.

Brett Huber gave up one hit in the final two innings to complete the shutout and earn his 11th save.

Hamblin supplied all the offense Ole Miss needed with a two-run home run over the right-field fence in the third inning. Taylor Hashman went 2 for 3 with an RBI single.

Jackie Bradley Jr. and Christian Walker had two hits apiece for South Carolina, which was shut out for the first time in 154 games dating to April 5, 2008, when Georgia defeated the Gamecocks 1-0.

Nolan Belcher (3-1) took the loss for the South Carolina, allowing 2 runs on2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3 over 3 innings.

ALABAMA 7, AUBURN 1

Jimmy Nelson pitched his third consecutive complete game to lead Alabama past Auburn in the opening game of the tournament.

Nelson (8-2) limited the league’s top offense to a season-low five hits for the Crimson Tide (35-21). He had five strikeouts and no walks.

Alabama will face Mississippi today. Auburn (39-18), which is the No. 2 seed as the Western Division champion, plays South Carolina in an elimination game.

All of Alabama’s runs came with two outs. David Kindred and Andrew Miller each had two RBI for the Tide.

Auburn had single hits from five players, while SEC player of the year Hunter Morris went 0 for 4.

The Tigers’ only run came on a sacrifice bunt by Justin Fradejas in the third to score Dan Gamache for a 1-0 lead.

LSU 10, FLORIDA 6

Austin Nola and Mason Katz each had three hits and two RBI as LSU (37-20) pounded out 19 hits in defeating Florida (40-14) in the first round of the tournament. Matt Gaudet had a home run and was one of eight LSU players with a multiple-hit game.

The top-seeded Gators entered the tournament having won 14 of their past 16 but quickly fell behind for good when eighth-seeded LSU scored five runs in the second inning.

Anthony Ranaudo (4-2) struck out five over 7 2 /3 innings to earn the victory. Florida’s Brian Johnson (5-3) gave up seven runs in 3 2 /3 innings to take the loss.

The two-time defending tournament champion Tigers will play the winner of Wednesday’s late game between Arkansas and Vanderbilt in the late game tonight. Florida plays the loser in an elimination game in the second game today.