Mississippi State earns marathon win over Alabama; South Carolina-Florida leads Saturday SEC baseball slate: Game time, TV schedule, live stream

Friday’s heavy slate produced some eye-popping results and a ton of drama too.

Mississippi State and Alabama played an absolutely wild second leg of a doubleheader on Friday night. After State took the first 4-3, the Bulldogs and the Tide decided nine inning games were out of style. It took 13 innings and 25 total runs to decide a winner, but State wound up winning the contest 13-12. A dropped infield fly (yes) led to the tying run coming across and eventually the Bulldogs would prove victorious.

Auburn’s 15-2 victory over Arkansas stood out amongst the pack as well. The Tigers jumped all over the Hogs, scoring those 15 runs on 15 hits to hit peak efficiency. They put up a five spot in the first inning and followed that up with EIGHT runs in the third to put what was a 5-2 game entering the bottom frame completely out of reach. Arkansas put up nine hits in the contest but failed often times to bring runners home. Dylan Ingram, Daniel Robert and Josh Anthony homered in the contest for the Tigers and seven batters recorded at least one RBI.

South Carolina got the better of Florida this time around to even their series at one win apiece. The Gamecocks defeated the Gators 4-2 in the Friday meeting and did so mostly because of the play of Carlos Cortes. Cortes went 2-5, socked his fifth home run of the season and drove in two while scoring one. Cortes pushed his average to .301, becoming the third Gamecock regular to thrust their average up over the .300 mark this season. The rubber match goes down later Saturday at high noon.

LSU and Kentucky split their doubleheader on Friday. In the first game, the Wildcats pounced on the Tigers, earning a 12-5 victory. Luke Becker hit two home runs in the win to give him three on the season while Evan White and Riley Mahan logged doubles with Mahan picking up two.

The second game wasn’t as fortunate to Kentucky as they gave up a 3-0 lead and ultimately lost 4-3 to the Bayou Bengals. A three-run fifth inning for LSU tied the game as Cole Freeman drove in a run simply by getting plunked with the bases loaded, setting the stage for Nick Coomes who tied the game with one swing, singling to left field, scoring Kramer and Antoine Duplantis. Three innings later, it would be Duplantis who would give his team the lead with a single to right that plated Josh Smith. Kole Cottam homered in the victory and Zach Reks logged an RBI double.

Texas A&M won 2-1 over Tennessee, using walk-off style to get the dub. George Janca picked up the game-winning hit, a single in the bottom of the ninth that brought Braden Shewmake home. Shewmake put the first run on the board in the game on a solo home run in the seventh inning. Tennessee would answer in the ensuing inning as Jordan Rodgers singled to bring Jeff Moberg home in after he hit a one out triple two batters before.

Vanderbilt and Missouri both earned big wins over Georgia and Ole Miss. Not just for the sake of their teams and their chances but on the scoreboard as well. The Commodores bullied the Bulldogs with an 8-1 victory while Mizzou put up nine runs against the Rebels, earning themselves a 9-3 win.

Vandy’s Patrick Raby flashed some great stuff in the win, going the distance as he pitched a complete game. Raby may’ve allowed eight hits but stood his ground, allowing only one run to pass from the opposition. He struck out four and allowed one walk with one extra-base hit, which coincidentally was the only run Georgia scored: a solo home run off the bat of Cam Shepherd.

Mizzou meanwhile had to make an early comeback after falling behind 2-0 on the road to Ole Miss. They would do so and do so quickly as they scored two runs in the second to answer the two-spot that the Rebs dropped on the first. Then, an inning later, Mizzou would take a lead that they would go on to never relinquish. Connor Brumfield and Brett Bond each homered in the win and the Tigers logged six total XBH in the game with Nelson Mompierre, Alex Samples, Brian Sharp and Trey Harris each racking up doubles. Brumfield, Bond, Samples, Sharp and Harris all were credited with RBI in the win. Cole Bartlett, like the aforementioned Patrick Raby, hurled a complete game with three strikeouts and two earned runs.

Saturday’s action brings about much of the same as far as matchups go. South Carolina and Florida are currently duking it out on ESPN2 if that interests you. Which, hey, why wouldn’t it?