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Mississippi State 3, Georgia 0
Mississippi State and Georgia took the field for the final game of the first round on Wednesday. The game was originally scheduled to be played Tuesday night ,but because of multiple rain delays, the game was pushed to Wednesday.
By morning’s end, State ended the Bulldogs’ season, defeating the ‘Dawgs, 3-0.
The story in this one was Konnor Pilkington, who started on the mound for State. Pilkington fired eight-plus shutout innings while only allowing five hits and two walks. In those eight-plus innings, he also struck out six, as Pilkington was the difference in this one for State.
Brent Rooker didn’t lose a step for Mississippi State. The SEC Player of the Year went 3-5, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to put the Bulldogs ahead. He now leads the SEC in all three of the Triple Crown categories. On the season, Rooker is now hitting .414 with 21 home runs and 75 RBI.
The downfall for Georgia was their starting pitching. Chase Adkins started on the mound for the Dawgs but only lasted 3.2 innings, while allowing three earned on seven hits. The rest of the UGA bullpen did a fine job behind him, not allowing State to score the rest of the game.
Ryan Self came on a got the three-out save for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State will now move on to play Arkansas tomorrow in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Kentucky 7, South Carolina 2
Pushed back a few hours due to rain on Tuesday night, the first game of the second round went by without a hitch, and it was a thrilling one from start to finish.
Despite the slow start that presented itself for the offensive-minded Wildcats on Wednesday afternoon, the SEC Tournament’s 3 seed was able to do just enough to get by South Carolina.
The Gamecocks, desperately needing a win in order to keep their diminished NCAA Tournament hopes alive, jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a sac fly from Destino and a double from Bride.
However, Kentucky wasted no time drawing even with South Carolina, with the tying run scoring as the Gamecocks’ Justin Row committed an error when Tristan Pompey’s hit sailed under his glove on what should have been a routine ground-out.
The Wildcats were finally able to take the lead in the fourth as Kole Cottam launched a home run to deep center field, and the 6th inning saw Kentucky score some insurance runs. Those runs came off the bat of Evan White, who recorded a bases-clearing double that put Kentucky up 6-2. From there, the win was sealed, although Kentucky would tack on an extra run in the 8th after a series of South Carolina errors (they had 4 of those today).
Kentucky will now move on to face the winner of LSU-Mizzou on Thursday. Luckily for the Gamecocks, double elimination starts in the second round of the SEC Tournament, meaning their hopes of a title are slim but still alive. They will face the loser of the LSU-Mizzou game.
LSU 10, Mizzou 3
The LSU Tigers walked away from Wednesday night’s matchup against Mizzou with a 10-3 victory under their belts.
LSU had to fight hard to get it though as they quickly fell behind in the top of the second. Kameron Miser took hurler Caleb Gilbert deep on a solo shot that allowed for Mizzou to strike first in the ball game.
That lead would prove to be short-lived though. In the bottom of the third, LSU put up a four-spot in the stanza to bump themselves ahead of their peers. A lengthy inning saw Zach Watson, Cole Freeman, Antonie Duplantis and Nick Coomes get in on the fun as all four posted an RBI in the frame.
Following a rain delay, play would resume, and LSU carried a 6-1 lead with them up until the eighth. Mizzou tightened up the game, chipping away with an RBI single by Brett Bond to make it 6-2. The Bayou Bengals, though, would answer in a big way. Kramer Robertson laced a double to left to bring Michael Papierski home, setting the stage for Cole Freeman...
...and as you can see, Freeman delivered a three-run dinger to push their lead up to 10-2.
Despite a solo shot by Nelson Mompierre in the top of the ninth, Mizzou’s stint in the SEC Tourney ended. LSU now advances to the next round, while the other Tigers await their fate.
Florida 5, Auburn 4
The fourth and final game of the day was between Florida and Auburn. Lasting until slightly after 2 a.m. on the east coast, it was a must-watch affair as the Gators knocked off the Tigers 5-4 in an exciting second round game.
UF was led by a strong performance on the mound by Alex Faedo. Faedo fired six shutout innings, while also striking out seven Auburn batters. After Faedo left the game, the Tigers put up a four-spot on the board to tie the game in the 7th inning. Florida then answered in the bottom of the 8th inning with a run of their own, coming off a walk drawn by Christian Hicks, to take the lead, 5-4.
They would go on to win by that score, as Michael Byrne came on in the ninth to get the save. The Gators will play the winner of Arkansas and Mississippi State tomorrow, while Auburn will play the loser of that same game.