OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss is back even with Arkansas atop the SEC West.
Matt Smith hit a two-run home run and Aaron Barrett pitched eight innings to give Ole Miss a 3-2 victory over Arkansas Saturday at Oxford-University Stadium. Zack Cox and Tom Hauskey hit home runs for the Razorbacks (36-11, 15-8), who trailed 3-0 after two innings.
Brett Huber earned his eighth save for Ole Miss (34-14, 15-8) but not before Hauskey hit a pinch-hit home run in the ninth to cut the Rebels’ lead to 3-2. Hauskey hit his first home run of the year after Brett Eibner barely missed with a long fly ball to left to begin the ninth.
Hauskey’s hit brought up Travis Sample, who had a grand slam during Friday’s 11-4 victory over the Rebels. But Sample grounded out to end the game and even the series between the co-leaders in the SEC West.
Barrett (7-2) scattered eight hits to earn the victory while freshman D.J. Baxendale (0-1) lasted 1 2 /3 innings to take the loss for Arkansas.
“[Barrett] was as sharp tonight as I’ve seen him,” Ole Miss Coach Mike Bianco said. “He was ahead in the count all night and had great fastball command.”
Arkansas appeared ready to cut into Ole Miss’ 3-1 lead in the seventh but the threat ended on an unusual double play.
Sample reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to third on a single by James McCann. Tim Carver hit a slow roller back to Barrett and Sample was tagged out by catcher Taylor Hightower after a rundown. Hightower then quickly threw to third to get McCann, who was trying to advance, to end the inning.
“McCann probably shouldn’t have run in that situation. He’s not a fast runner,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “The key there is you have to try and stay in the rundown as longas you can to get both runners in scoring position. But it was also a very heads-up play by them.”
Arkansas’ first attempt at replacing Brett Eibner as a starter did not go well. Baxendale was pulled with one out in the second inning after giving up four hits, including a two-run home run by Matt Smith.
Arkansas turned to Baxendale after Eibner, who has 11 starts on the mound, failed to get past the fourth inning in his previous two starts.
T.J. Forrest followed Baxendale to the mound and kept the game close by holding Ole Miss without a run on three hits in 4 1 /3 innings.
Geoffrey Davenport pitched two scoreless inning and allowed only one hit with three strikeouts.
“I thought our bullpen did a tremendous job,” Van Horn said. “Forrest threw about as many pitches as he could after he had a sore shoulder this past week. Davenport came in and pitched like he really wanted to be out there.”
Ole Miss jumped on Baxendale early when Alex Yarbrough hit a one-out double in the first and Smith followed with a home run. Baxendale walked the leadoff batter in the second and allowed a single by Yarbrough before being replaced by Forrest, a senior who started 11 games last year for the Razorbacks.
SEC ROUNDUP
KENTUCKY 2, SOUTH CAROLINA 1
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Freshman Jordan Cooper outdueled South Carolina junior Sam Dyson and closer Matt Little pitched the final 2 1 /3 innings for the save as Kentucky (25-21, 8-15 SEC) evened its series with South Carolina (36-10, 17-6).
Cooper (3-4) turned in the best outing of his young career, allowing 4 hits while striking out a career-high 5 and walking 2 over 6 2 /3 innings.
Braden Kapteyn drove in all of Kentucky’s runs with a double in the fifthinning. Kapteyn finished 1 for 4, while senior Gunner Glad and junior Chris Bisson went 2 for 4.
FLORIDA 14,ALABAMA 8
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - No. 4 Florida (33-11, 17-6 SEC) used a pair of fiverun innings to defeat Alabama (28-19, 9-14) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The Gators’ season-high seventh consecutive victory clinched Florida’s sixth consecutive SEC series victory and marked the team’s first series victory at Alabama since 2004 and only the second since 1995. The Crimson Tide had not lost a league series at home to an Eastern Division opponent since the Gators accomplished the feat in 2004, ending a stretch of 14 consecutive victories.
AUBURN 16, MISSISSIPPI STATE 14
AUBURN, Ala. - Not even a nine-run deficit could stop Auburn (32-15, 14-9 SEC) as the Tigers came from behind to defeated Mississippi State (20-27, 5-18) at Plainsman Park.
Auburn trailed 9-0 after the top of the second but used a school-record seven home runs to claim a third consecutive SEC series victory and move closer to the school’s first SEC Tournament berth since 2003.
Dan Gamache went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI and hit 2 home runs. Brian Fletcher (2 for 5, 2B, 4 RBI), Hunter Morris (3 for 5, 2 RBI), Kevin Patterson (2 for 3, 2 RBI), Casey McElroy (2 for 5, 2 RBI) and Ryan Jenkins (2 for 4, 3 RBI) also hit home runs.
The seven home runs upped the team’s total to 90, 12 shy of the schoolrecord set last year.
Mississippi State got home runs from Luke Adkins (3 for 6, 2 HR), Connor Powers (2 for 4) and Sam Frost (1 for 4).
Bradley Hendrix (2-2) earned the victory, Devin Jones (2-3) took the loss.
VANDERBILT 6, LSU 2
BATON ROUGE - Vanderbilt starter Taylor Hill went the distance, holding the Tigers scoreless through the first eight innings to lead the Commodores (33-14, 11-10) past LSU (34-13, 12-11).
The Tigers committed four errors in the game, resulting in four unearned runs for Vanderbilt.
Hill (5-3) allowed only 2 runs on 7 hits, walked 1 and struck out 8 .
LSU starter Jordan Rittiner (4-3) was charged with loss despite allowing only one earned run in 6 1 /3 innings. The freshman allowed 8 hits and 1 walk and struck out 6.
TENNESSEE 25, GEORGIA 5
ATHENS, Ga. - Tennessee (26-21, 10-13 SEC) scored 13 runs in the third inning as it hammered Georgia (13-32, 3-18) in a series-clinching victory at Foley Field.
The Vols used 12 hits, including 4 home runs, and 4 walks to put together the decisive inning, sending 19 batters to the plate and scoring 9 runs before the Bulldogs managed an out.
Tennessee tied the school’s single-game record with 28 hits, including 12 for extra bases, and had 52 total bases, which shattered the previous school record of 47. It was the most runs for the Vols against an SEC opponent since it defeated Georgia 28-10 on April 19, 1997.
Sports, Pages 27 on 05/09/2010