photo courtesy of LSU Media Relations
BATON ROUGE, La. - Aaron Nola hurled a complete game shutout, fanning nine hitters, to highlight a day of great SEC pitching performances as No. 8 Louisiana State took game one of an important series with No. 23 Alabama 2-0. Nola allowed only four hits, retiring the first 15 hitters he faced and allowed only one baserunner to reach second on the day in another dominant performance as he improved to 8-1 on the year.
Nola out-dueled the Crimson Tide’s ace Spencer Turnbull who drops to 5-5 allowing two earned runs over eight innings pitched. LSU scored on a Tyler Moore RBI single in the second and a Danny Zardon double in the fourth.
Alabama would turn the tide to split the double header as Justin Kamplain threw a complete game, allowing only an earned run on four hits for a 5-1 victory to even the series. Kamplain’s only earned run came on a solo homer by Chris Chinea in the fifth. However, the southpaw would get Chinea to ground into a double play with no outs and runners on first and second to help end a scoring threat in the seventh.
Ben Moore hit a two-run homer as Alabama plated three first-inning runs and Georgie Salem hit a two-run jack in the fourth to pace the Crimson Tide offense in the win that sets up a Sunday rubber match.
OXFORD, Miss. - Georgia keeps its’ at large hopes alive and evens the series with No. 15 Ole Miss behind Robert Tyler’s brilliant pitching performance as the hurler threw a complete game shutout as the Bulldogs win 2-0 over the Rebels. Tyler struck out four and allowed only three hits to the potent Ole Miss offense to set up a Sunday rubber match.
STARKVILLE, Miss - Ross Mitchell and Jonathan Holder combine on a two hit shut out, striking out 12, as No. 25 Mississippi State beats Tennessee 1-0 in 10 innings to even the series and setup a Sunday rubber match between NCAA Regional at large hopefuls. Seth Heck hit a walk-off single scoring C. T. Bradford for the win.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Dillon Ortman, Jay Wade and Trey Cochran-Gill combine to hold one of the nation’s top offenses to only a run as Auburn evens the series with Kentucky in an 8-1 win on Saturday. Dan Glevenyak, Anfernee Grier and Damon Haecker each had three hits for the Tigers with Glevenyak knocking in three runs and Grier scoring twice in the effort.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Arkansas’ first baseman Eric Fisher hit a two-run homer in a four-run eighth as Arkansas takes the series win over Texas A&M with a 7-3 win Saturday at Baum Stadium. Chris Oliver allowed two earned runs over seven innings of work and left the game with a 3-2 lead before the pen surrendered the lead sending a tie game to the home half of the eighth where the Hogs’ offense exploded.
