Tuesday recap

It was a tough day at the office for some of the ranked teams in the SEC.

Florida, LSU and Auburn all went down in their nonconference matchups. The Gators took a 15-10 loss on the chin at the hands of the USF Bulls while LSU was edged out by South Alabama, 7-6. Auburn meanwhile was bombarded by UAB, as the Blazers defeated the Tigers 8-2. The only ranked team to make it out unscathed on Tuesday was Kentucky as the Wildcats defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 5-2 in Lexington.

The worst loss of the bunch of the above three was certainly Auburn’s. UAB is ranked 174th in the RPI after previously standing at 183. South Alabama and USF on the other hand are Top 50 teams, so while those losses hurt, Florida and LSU can at least take solace that they lost to pretty good teams. This loss to the Blazers certainly hurts the Tigers quite a bit and they will have to rebound quickly once they get the opportunity to.

Vanderbilt was unable to pick up what would’ve been a huge win over second-ranked Louisville. Instead, the Cardinals defeated the Commodores 6-2 in their home dwelling, sending Vandy down to a record of 29-19. The top of the lineup (1-2-3) was only able to go 2-for-7 on the day with no walks, two strikeouts and no extra-base hits, so perhaps it’s not too surprising that the ‘Dores were unable to walk away with a win. Louisville’s top of the lineup wasn’t exactly pristine either, going 2-for-12, but the middle of the order provided enough bop for them to get the win.

Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia were all winners on Tuesday also. The Volunteers picked up a big 14-8 win over the Belmont Bruins in which Jordan Rodgers homered for the eighth time this season. The Gamecocks were 4-3 winners over Presbyterian, as Alex Destino homered for the eighth time in 2017 as well. The ‘Dawgs squeaked out an 8-7 win over rival Georgia Tech, manufacturing a run in the final inning to pick up the win. Keegan McGovern was credited with the game-winning RBI, scoring Mitchell Webb all the way from first on a single.

Only three games await us on this Wednesday. South Carolina looks to make it two in consecutive days as they host Liberty. Alabama seeks a victory over Grambling, and Tennessee looks to keep it rolling with a road matchup against EKU.