May 22, 2014

Cats, Dogs Play Late into Night

By John Whittle

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

HOOVER, Ala. - After three blowouts in three games, Kentucky and Mississippi State put on a show in the longest (time-wise) game in SEC Tournament history. Kentucky pinch-hitter Zach Arnold delivered a bases-loaded infield single with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning for a 7-6 walk-off win against Mississippi State to cap what was otherwise a rather dull day of action at the Hoover Met.

GAME 9: Ole Miss 7, Vanderbilt 2

In what was basically an elimination game for a top eight national seed in the NCAA Tournament, Ole Miss exploded for four runs in the seventh inning to knock off Vanderbilt 7-2 in the day’s opening game of the SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met.

Both teams were vying for a home site throughout the NCAA Tournament and it was the Rebels (41-17) who finally took advantage of their opportunities. Ole Miss was the beneficiary of two hit batsmen and a walk in the seventh inning but came through with a pair of run-scoring hits before opening up the game in the final frames.

Jeremy Massie made the start on the mound for Ole Miss after Christian Trent was a late scratch. Reliever Aaron Greenwood picked up the win in relief, and Josh Laxer pitched the final two innings allowing only a single hit to keep Vandy from mounting a late comeback.

“Vanderbilt is a quality club, and we faced one of the best pitchers in the country today,” Ole Miss assistant coach Cliff Godwin said. “Jeremy Massie pitched awesome. We had some quality at-bats.”

Commodores starting pitcher Tyler Beede (7-7), a projected top 15 pick in this year’s MLB Draft, was erratic on the mound, walking five and giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits and striking out five in six innings.

“Certainly too many free bases, too many walks and not striking guys out certainly cost us in the innings they scored,” Beede said. “There were cases where I was just too erratic. My misses were spraying everywhere so when I was throwing pitches that were borderline, I didn’t earn strikes.”

Third baseman Austin Anderson was 2 for 4 in the game with two RBI. Four other players registered run-scoring hits for the Rebels.

With the loss, the Commodores were eliminated from the SEC Tournament. Ole Miss will take on Arkansas on Friday at 4 p.m. EST.

GAME 10: Florida 7, South Carolina 2

Top-seeded Florida erased an early deficit to knock off South Carolina 7-2 to stay alive in the SEC Tournament in the second losers’ bracket game of the day. The Gators (38-20) put up a three spot in the third inning and two more runs in the fourth, and the Gamecocks (42-16) never threatened again.

“We were fortunate there to score a couple of two-out runs,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We put some good at-bats together, and we’ve just kind of won that way the whole year. We got contributions from everyone up and down the lineup.

Florida scored three unearned runs in the third inning with all the damage being done with two outs. Gamecocks starting pitcher Jack Wynkoop couldn’t field a routine bunt attempt and, after plunking the next hitter, allowed a two-RBI double by Taylor Gushue and a squeeze bunt RBI single by Braden Mattson. That gave the Gators a 3-2 lead and the top-seeded team wouldn’t look back.

“It was obviously a disappointing performance by our team,” South Carolina head coach Chad Holbrook said. “I felt like we had a lot to play for today and we didn’t handle adversity very well in the third inning. Florida kind of scratched and clawed and got back in it and took the lead. We didn’t do too much after that and that’s disappointing.”

The Gators added two more runs in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach for a struggling Gamecocks offense. South Carolina reliever Cody Mincey walked the first two hitters of the fourth inning and closer Joel Seddon, summoned from the bullpen early, allowed a pair of RBI singles.

Freshman A.J. Puk allowed two earned runs in four innings for Florida, which included an RBI double by Tanner English and a solo home run by Kyle Martin. That was be the only offense South Carolina could manage though as Florida reliever Bobby Poyner allowed only four base runners over the final five innings.

The Gamecocks were outscored 19-2 in its 16 innings of play in the SEC Tournament and had only seven hits.

With the loss, South Carolina was eliminated from the SEC Tournament. Florida will now play Mississippi State 30 minutes following the completion of the Ole Miss/Arkansas game.

GAME 11: LSU 7, Arkansas 2

LSU starting pitcher Aaron Nola got off to a rocky start but settled in to help his team to a 7-2 victory over Arkansas in a winners’ bracket game. Tigers catcher Tyler Moore was 3 for 4 with a home run and two RBI to push Nola’s record to 10-1 on the season.

The Razorbacks (37-22) had a chance to jump on the future first-round draft pick early scoring a run on a throwing error by the catcher and subsequently loading the bases with two outs. Nola, however, was able to get Bobby Wernes to ground out to leave the bases loaded.

From that point forward, Nola was nearly unhittable. The power right-hander retired the next 14 hitters before giving up a one-out single in the sixth inning. The only other blemish came in the eighth when he loaded the bases with one out.

“Anytime you give the ball to Nola, you feel confident about your chances,” LSU head coach Paul Mainieri said. “I thought he struggled through that first inning but he limited the damage. It could have been worse and we could have gotten ourselves into big trouble there, but he pitched out of it like he typically does.”

The Tigers (42-14-1) are 14-1 this season when Nola starts and he’s allowed only three runs in his last 23.1 innings of work.

Relievers Nate Fury and Zac Person were able to get out of the eighth inning with minimal damage, allowing only one inherited runner to score. Nola allowed two runs on five hits and three walks over 7.2 innings. He struck out seven in his 110-pitch performance.

“You just don’t get too many shots at Nola,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We knew runs would be hard to come by. We have another day tomorrow though, so we’ll see what happens.”

LSU scored runs in five different innings with five different players tallying RBI. In addition to Moore’s day, Mark Laird was 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI. Alex Bregman and Sean McMullen also had multi-hit games.

The Tigers will play the winner of Ole Miss and Arkansas on Saturday at 1 p.m. EST on ESPNews. Arkansas will take on Ole Miss at 4 p.m. EST on Friday on CSS.

GAME 12: Kentucky 7, Mississippi State 6 (12)

Fans who spent all day at the Hoover Met were treated to the best game of the day in the nightcap. Kentucky, down on four different occasions, scored with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th inning to earn a 7-6 win over Mississippi State.

The Wildcats came from behind to tie the score in the fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings and never led until Matt Reida scored on an infield single with the bases loaded off the bat of Zack Arnold in the 12th inning. When Reida touched home, the Wildcats’ dugout exploded onto the field after knocking off its third higher-seeded opponent in as many days.

“The game was an absolute war,” Reida said. “We just kept coming at each other, and it could have gone either way. It came down to a couple of close calls and everything was going our way for a little bit. It was just an unbelievable feeling.”

There were several comebacks in a game chock full of incredible plays and moments of contention. 

The biggest call of the game came in the top of the 10th inning when a medium depth fly ball off the bat of C.T. Bradford came down in Austin Cousino’s glove in center field. Cousino let fly, and the ball carried all the way to catcher Micheal Thomas, who got the tag down on the feet-first slide of Derrick Armstrong.

The Bulldogs’ dugout erupted thinking they had their fifth go-ahead run of the game, but home plate umpire Jack Cox gave an emphatic out call ending the inning. Mississippi State head coach John Cohen bolted out of the dugout but his argument fell on deaf ears.

“He was clearly out,” Kentucky head coach Gary Henderson said. “I saw it real well. I was standing right there, so, yeah. Big-time throw.”

The Kentucky side was retired in order in the bottom half of the inning, and Mississippi State fans struck up a chorus of boos again thinking their team should have been winners in the 10th.

The Wildcats (35-22), winners of only two games in 19 chances when trailing after seven innings, loaded the bases in the 11th with two outs, but MSU closer Jonathan Holder, in his fourth inning of work, got Thomas Bernal to pop out to deep second to end the frame.

MSU left fielder Cody Brown, who reached on an infield single in the 12th and motored around to third base on a throwing error, found himself in a play at the plate on a ground ball off the bat of Armstrong. Brown bolted for home on contact but Reida, moving to his left, fired a strike to Bernal in a play that was a clear-cut out.

“They gave us opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them,” Cohen said. “We gave them walks, missed blocks and extra bases. It was two teams trying to give it away and no one took advantage of it until the end. The two teams competed hard, marathon game, and we’ll come out and compete tomorrow.”

That set the stage for the bottom half of the inning. Reida doubled down the left-field line and took third on a wild pitch. After trying in vain to get pinch hitter Dorian Harrison to swing at bad pitches, Cohen elected to walk the bases loaded and set up a force out at home.

Kentucky’s Max Kuhn went down swinging, and the middle infield played at normal double play depth hoping for a ground ball. Arnold’s bouncer to short just wasn’t good enough as the speedy Cousino beat the flip to the second base bag.

Mississippi State (37-21), after finishing at 12:46 p.m. local time, has to turn around and play Florida on Friday in the second game of the day, which will begin approximately 7 p.m. EDT. Kentucky has a bye until Saturday and will face the winner of Arkansas and Ole Miss.