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SEC Baseball Tournament 2021: Tuesday Scores, Updated Bracket and Schedule
May 25, 2021
The 2021 SEC baseball tournament began Tuesday with four single-elimination games at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.
While the rest of the tournament is a double-elimination format, the eight teams competing in the first round only have one chance to advance.
Several of the lower-seeded teams are also looking to make a statement for the NCAA selection committee.
Teddy Cahill of Baseball America projected nine SEC clubs to make the field of 64 in his most recent update. The only teams in the SEC tournament not currently in that group are Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama and Georgia.
SEC Tournament Results/Schedule—1st Round
No. 6 Florida def. No. 11 Kentucky 4-1
No. 10 Alabama def. No. 7 South Carolina 9-3
No. 8 Georgia def. No. 9 LSU, 4-1
No. 5 Mississippi def. No. 12 Auburn, 7-4
No. 6 Florida 4, No. 11 Kentucky 1
The Florida Gators rode a strong start from Tommy Mace, timely hitting from the bottom of their lineup and some sloppy defense by the Kentucky Wildcats to a 4-1 win in the first game of the SEC tournament.
Mace, who threw 104 pitches in his last start four days ago, allowed one run and scattered seven hits with eight strikeouts in five innings of work.
With things taken care of on the mound, the Gators wasted no time getting to Kentucky starter Sean Harney. Jacob Young led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run.
Florida added a second run in the first on Sterlin Thompson's RBI single.
Both teams would swap zeroes for the next three innings before things got interesting in the fifth. Kentucky got on the board thanks to John Rhodes' RBI double off Mace.
The Gators opened things up in the bottom half of the fifth with two unearned runs after Zeke Lewis' throwing error put two runners on with one out.
Cory Acton singled in one run and Mac Guscette's fielder's choice made it 4-1 in favor of Florida. Relievers Trey Van Der Weide and Jack Leftwich closed out the game with four combined scoreless innings of work.
Kentucky was unable to take advantage of several opportunities throughout the game. It outhit Florida 11-5 in the game and had at least two baserunners in six of nine innings, including runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the ninth.
The loss drops the Wildcats' record to 29-23. They will likely be on the outside looking in when the NCAA tournament field is announced on Monday.
Florida ended a four-game losing streak and will have an opportunity to strengthen its resume on Wednesday against Mississippi State. These two teams did not meet during the regular season.
No. 10 Alabama 9, No. 7 South Carolina 3
A three-hit day from leadoff hitter Peyton Wilson and a three-run homer courtesy of outfielder Jackson Tate led to the Crimson Tide's 9-3 win over South Carolina.
Wilson's RBI double kick-started a six-run third inning that was capped by Tate's two-out dinger for an early 6-0 lead. In between, designated hitter Owen Diodati smacked a two-RBI single.
Wilson singled and scored in the fourth to give Alabama an 8-0 edge. South Carolina shortstop Braylen Wimmer responded with a two-run homer, but the combination of Crimson Tide starting pitcher Tyler Ras (6 IP, 3 ER, 4 K) and relief pitcher Brock Guffey (3 IP, 0 ER, 1 K) quieted the South Carolina attack.
Gamecocks relief pitcher Julian Bosnic shut down Alabama in the later innings, throwing four shutout frames with seven strikeouts.
However, Guffey never allowed more than one baserunner per inning in his three frames as South Carolina failed to mount a rally.
Alabama now enters the double-elimination portion of the SEC tournament beginning with a matchup against No. 2 seed Tennessee on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET (ESPN).
The Crimson Tide played the Volunteers tough during a three-game regular-season home series—Alabama won one game and lost the two others in heartbreaking fashion via an 8-4 11-inning loss and a 9-8 defeat. The Vols have been exceptional, though, going 42-14 overall.
South Carolina's SEC tournament run is over. The Gamecocks will now wait to hear if their name will be called as an at-large team in the NCAA tournament.
No. 8 Georgia 4, No. 9 LSU 1
All of the scoring took place in the first inning during Georgia's 4-1 win over LSU.
Both teams had their chances for huge innings, but the Bulldogs came through in the clutch to pull through.
It was Georgia outfielder/first baseman Chaney Rogers' two-out, bases-clearing double that turned a 1-1 game into a 4-1 Georgia edge. Before Rogers' big hit, UGA center fielder Ben Anderson scored on a fielder's choice.
LSU had the bases loaded and no one out in the first. A groundout into a double play scored one run, but the inning ended without any further damage after a strikeout.
LSU starting pitcher Landon Marceaux bore down after Georgia's first-inning four-spot and finished the day striking out nine over eight innings of work, giving the Tigers a chance to put a dent into the Bulldogs' lead.
However, the Tigers' bats went down in order in the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
They did muster potential rallies in the fourth and eighth frames. In the former inning, Drew Bianco and Jordan Thompson hit back-to-back singles to lead off. However, a strikeout was followed by a strikeout/throwout double play to end the threat.
In the eighth, LSU loaded the bases with one out off a walk, single and hit-by-pitch, but two strikeouts ended that inning.
Shortstop Connor Tate paced Georgia with three hits. UGA relief pitcher Jaden Woods earned the win after coming on in relief of starter Luke Wagner to throw 3.2 shutout innings.
UGA now has a date with No. 1 seed Arkansas on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
LSU's conference tournament stay is over, but the Tigers can still earn an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament field.
No. 5 Mississippi 7, No. 12 Auburn 4
Ole Miss third baseman Justin Bench kick-started a four-run third inning with an inside-the-park solo home run to help the Rebels beat Auburn 7-4.
Peyton Chatagnier's two-run single and TJ McCants' bases-loaded walk rounded out the scoring for Ole Miss in the bottom of the third.
McCants' RBI gave Ole Miss a 5-1 lead, but Auburn stormed back courtesy of Garrett Farquhar, who registered a fifth-inning RBI single and a seventh-inning RBI double.
Ryan Bliss, who led off the game with a solo home run, then brought home Farquhar to cut the lead to 5-4.
However, a Hayden Dunhurst two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh gave Ole Miss some more breathing room.
Auburn got a runner on in each of the last two innings, but neither advanced past first base.
Ole Miss starting pitcher Doug Nikhazy tossed six innings of two-run ball while striking out seven for the win.
Closer Tyler Broadway earned his 13th save after tossing 2.1 shutout frames.
Ole Miss (39-17) will now play No. 4 Vanderbilt on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET. Auburn's season is over after a 25-27 campaign.