Splitting six home games in league play isn’t typically something that moves the needle in college baseball. But when those games are against Arkansas and Kentucky — a pair of top-five teams in both the national polls (at the time of the games) and in the RPI — it’s quite an accomplishment.
And that’s why South Carolina is now firmly in the mix for one of the 16 hosting spots in the NCAA Tournament. The Gameco*cks are 29-14 overall and 11-10 in the SEC after taking two out of three from Kentucky. The conference record might not scream host, but South Carolina has a very good RPI (No. 12) and is second in the nation with 14 Quad 1 wins.
Advertisem*nt
The Gameco*cks opened the weekend series with Kentucky with a dramatic 6-5 win in 10 innings on Friday night. They trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth but tied it up on solo home runs by Blake Jackson, Dalton Reeves and Gavin Casas. Then, after Kentucky scored one run in the top of the 10th, Jackson smacked a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning for the walk-off victory.
Kentucky won the second game, 15-13 on Saturday night, but the Gameco*cks rebounded with a 10-0 win in seven innings on Sunday.
Kentucky has now lost consecutive series after starting the conference season with a 14-1 record.
Around the horn
Arkansas won a key series against Florida in Fayetteville thanks in part to a heads-up play by center fielder Peyton Holt — and some poor baserunning by catcher Brody Donay.
Florida trailed 6-5 and had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the eighth inning. Shortstop Colby Shelton hit a routine fly ball to center field that was all but certain to drive in the tying run … until Holt faked as though he caught the ball a split second before he actually did. Donay tagged on the fake — when he thought the ball had been caught — and then had to return to third base to touch the bag again and was ultimately thrown out at the plate.
LEGENDARY DEKE BY PEYTON HOLT pic.twitter.com/rGyqnEkycx
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 27, 2024
That ended up being the biggest play of the game, and Arkansas held on for a 6-5 win to capture the series.
Florida bounced back to win the third game 9-5, but the Gators are just 22-21 overall and 9-12 in the SEC with an RPI of 22.
Florida State entered the weekend with a 32-8 record (11-7 in the ACC) and ranked No. 10 by D1 Baseball. Clearly, Link Jarrett has a very good team in his second season as the head coach at his alma mater.
But it was time for the Seminoles to make a statement. Their four ACC series wins had come against Notre Dame, Louisville, Boston College and Miami — teams with a combined league record of 33-60. They got swept at Clemson and lost two of three at Wake Forest.
Advertisem*nt
Well, Florida State made that statement this past weekend, taking two out of three from Duke — ranked No. 6 last week — in Durham with two of its three weekend starters still sidelined by injury. The Seminoles won the first two games, 4-2 and 7-6, before getting run-ruled 16-4 in seven innings on Sunday. They are 13-8 in the ACC, two games behind Clemson in the Atlantic Division.
This has been a very offensive season in college baseball, most notably in the SEC, a league that features three of the top six home run-hitting teams in the nation: No. 1 Tennessee (121), No. 3 Georgia (109) and No. 6 Florida (92).
This past Friday night, however, was all about pitching — a temporary throwback to the “deadball” era of the early-to-mid-2000s. Here are some highlights:
- Six of the seven winning teams scored six runs or fewer.
- Five of the seven losing teams scored two runs or fewer.
- Vanderbilt’s Bryce Cunningham allowed only two hits in a 4-0 complete-game shutout vs. Mississippi State.
- LSU’s Gage Jump pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits, in the Tigers’ 5-0 win over Auburn.
- Arkansas’ 2-1 win over Florida featured a total of six hits. Hagen Smith, the Razorbacks’ All-American, struck out 11 and allowed two hits and no earned runs in seven innings.
Things were back to normal on Saturday. Though there were two 3-2 games — Tennessee over Missouri and LSU over Auburn — four of the other nine winning teams scored at least nine runs. Kentucky outlasted South Carolina 15-13 and, Texas A&M beat Georgia 19-9 in seven innings in a game that featured 17 runs in the first inning — nine by Georgia and eight by A&M.
17 runs.
23 plate appearances.
11 hits.
6 home runs.
55 minutes.The first inning of No. 1 Texas A&M vs. No. 20 Georgia was absolutely insane. Bulldogs up, 9-8. pic.twitter.com/VfJUJbWjUv
— Friday Starters (@fridaystarters) April 27, 2024
In the second game of the doubleheader, Charlie Condon broke both the Georgia single-season and career home run record with his 29th of the season and the 54th of his career.
Lyle Miller-Green transferred to Oklahoma State in 2022 after one-year stops at George Mason and Chipola (Fla.) College. He hit .059 in 21 plate appearances for the Cowboys. At that point, he had five home runs in three years of college baseball.
Fast forward two years and Miller-Green now has 48 career home runs. In 2023, his first season at Austin Peay, the Virginia native hit .354 with 16 home runs and 50 RBIs. This season, as a fifth-year-senior, Miller-Green is hitting .390 with 25 home runs (third nationally) and 69 RBIs.
Austin Peay is 27-16 overall and 14-7 in the Atlantic Sun.
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the more entertaining leagues in the nation.
Troy has played its way into the at-large discussion by winning five straight games, including a critical three-game sweep at Coastal Carolina over the weekend. The Trojans are 31-14 overall and 14-7 in the Sun Belt.
𝗕𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀 🧹🧹🧹 pic.twitter.com/OIEnUgJLB4
— Troy Baseball ⚔️ (@TroyTrojansBSB) April 28, 2024
Louisiana took two out of three from Southern Miss and holds a three-game lead over Troy. Coastal Carolina, ranked No. 13 heading into last weekend, is 27-17 overall and 11-10 in league play. The Chanticleers, with an RPI of 24, will need to get on a roll to re-enter the mix to host a Regional.
Kansas is making a late-season move in the Big 12. The Jayhawks improved to 25-15 overall and 12-9 in the league after sweeping Texas Tech in Lawrence over the weekend. KU lost the opener two weeks ago at Baylor, 14-5, but has allowed a total of 14 runs during its five-game Big 12 winning streak.
The Jayhawks, who haven’t played in a Regional since 2014, are in fifth place in the Big 12 and have series remaining at Kansas State, vs. Houston and at Texas.
Mississippi State first baseman Hunter Hines made the most of his four hits in the Bulldogs’ series win at Vanderbilt. On Saturday, the left-hander had three hits and five RBIs in the first six innings — a home run in the first, a double in the fourth and a home run in the sixth. And all three hits came against Vanderbilt ace Carter Holton, a lefty.
On Sunday, Hines went hitless in his first four at-bats but then delivered a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to give Mississippi State an 8-7 lead that was the decisive hit in the Game 3 win.
Barring some wild realignment in the next decade or so — which can never be ruled out —Oregon State and Oregon played a weekend series for the last time as conference rivals.
Oregon State won the first two games, 2-0 and 4-2, but the Ducks responded and won Game 3, 7-1. The two teams play a nonconference game in Eugene on Tuesday.
Oklahoma’s lead in the Big 12 is down to one game after losing two of three at home to Texas. The Sooners are 15-6 in the league, one game up on Oklahoma State and West Virginia and two games up on Texas.
TCU, which reached the College World Series last season, is in 11th place at 10-14.
And finally
• Tennessee swept Missouri in Knoxville and is 14-4 in the SEC since losing two out of three at Alabama on the opening weekend of league play. The Vols do not play the three SEC West teams that currently have a winning record in the league — Arkansas (16-5), Texas A&M (15-6), and Mississippi State (12-9).
Advertisem*nt
• San Diego seized control of the West Coast Conference race with a dominating sweep over Gonzaga. The Toreros edged the Zags 5-4 on Friday night, then won the next two games by a combined score of 33-2. USD is two games ahead of Gonzaga and 2.5 ahead of Saint Mary’s and Portland.
• Notre Dame has won two consecutive series to improve to 7-17 in the ACC. The Fighting Irish swept Boston College two weeks ago and then took two out of three from Wake Forest.
• Illinois and Purdue are tied atop the Big Ten at 11-4. Both teams are out of the top 50 in the RPI. Nebraska has the highest RPI in the league, at No. 25, and is 27-14 overall and 10-5 in the league.
• Clemson scored four runs in the top of the ninth and held on for a 12-11 winFriday at Louisville and then split the next two games, losing 7-6 on Saturday and winning 17-7 on Sunday. The Tigers are two games up on Florida State in the Atlantic Division and own the tie-breaker over the Seminoles.
• Utah swept UCLA in Salt Lake City and has won five consecutive Pac-12 series for the first time since 2016. The Utes are 29-13 overall and 14-7 in the league — tied for first with Arizona — but with an RPI of 61, they still likely have some work to do to get into the mix for an at-large invite.
• North Carolina has a three-game lead over Virginia in the ACC Coastal with only two series remaining, vs. Louisville and at Duke. The Cavs finish with NC State and Virginia Tech, both at home, and they have the tie-breaker over UNC after taking two out of three from the Tar Heels in Charlottesville earlier this season.
• East Carolina recorded its second straight series sweep — winning three games at Memphis by a combined score of 36-6 — and holds a two-game lead over UTSA in the AAC.
(Photo of Blake Jackson courtesy of South Carolina)
Mitch Light is a college sports editor for The Athletic. He previously served as the managing editor for The Athletic Nashville and The Athletic Memphis and prior to that was the managing editor at Athlon Sports for 18 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter @MitchLight
