Friday Recap

On an extremely busy day in the SEC, the biggest headline was Mississippi State’s 5-2 victory over the Auburn Tigers. The Bulldogs took home what was a Top 10 win over the ninth-ranked Tigers and upped their lead in the standings to two games over Auburn. Elijah MacNamee picked up a triple in the win while Josh Lovelady, Cody Brown and Ryan Gridley all racked up doubles. Konnor Pilkington allowed just one earned run and four hits over seven innings with four punchouts and three walks.

22nd-ranked Texas A&M swept a doubleheader with Mizzou meanwhile, winning 11-1 in the first game and 7-1 in the second. The Tigers find themselves in less-than-ideal position after the loss as they now sit 8-12 in conference play and 27-17 overall. The success seems to be really dwindling for Mizzou and they’ll prove to be pretty desperate the next time they take the field. The Aggies, meanwhile, are sitting prettier now at 12-8 in conference play, tied up with LSU right now in the West and .5 game back of Arkansas who’s at 13-8.

Elsewhere, Ole Miss and Arkansas split a doubleheader down the middle. The split puts Ole Miss at 11-10 in conference play, a little less shakier than things appeared to be going into Friday to say the least. Neither team will be playing for the rest of the weekend, so each will have to hope they can build towards something the net time they take the field. Especially in the case of the Rebels, who will need a strong late season push if they want to cause a shakeup as we approach the SEC Tournament.

South Carolina fell to 9-10 in SEC play after their 19-1 loss to Kentucky. Yes, 19-1. The Wildcats’ potent offense put up 20 hits in the victory with four innings of three runs and one inning of five. Four homers were hit by UK including two by Luke Becker. Connor Heady and Tristan Pompey also went deep in the win. The Gamecocks are now in a bit of trouble when it comes to seeding in the SEC Tournament with their under .500 record in SEC play, and with less opportunities ahead of them now to make a push, they may very well be stuck in the middle of the pack.

Florida and LSU meanwhile were able to avoid the upset bug as they took care of business on the road against Georgia and Alabama. In the only other game of the day, Vanderbilt won 1-0 over in-state rival Tennessee.

A much lighter slate is ahead of us on Saturday than yesterday. All the games are in conference and thus have a higher level of importance. Mississippi State and Auburn will take the field twice as part of a day-night doubleheader and with Auburn trailing State by two games in the standings, a sweep by the Tigers would make things mighty interesting going forward.