SEC Baseball Tournament 2019: LSU Avoids Elimination, Georgia Wins on Thursday

Thursday marks the biggest day of the 2019 SEC baseball tournament thus far, with the field being narrowed down from eight to six teams.

LSU is facing the most difficult task of trying to keep its run alive with a quick turnaround following a 17-inning loss to Mississippi State that finally ended at 3:03 a.m. local time Wednesday night. 

Below are the results and recaps from the third day of action at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. 

SEC Tournament Bracket

SEC Tournament Results—Thursday, May 23

No. 7 Mississippi def. No. 6 Texas A&M: 1-0

No. 5 LSU def. No. 8 Auburn: 4-3

No. 3 Georgia def. No. 2 Arkansas: 3-1

No. 1 Vanderbilt def. No. 4 Mississippi State: 1-0

No. 5 LSU 4, No. 8 Auburn 3

LSU continues to be the most dramatic team in the SEC tournament, though things went in its favor this time around. 

The Tigers earned a 4-3 walk-off win over Auburn thanks to savvy baserunning and poor defense. 

When Auburn reliever Brooks Fuller threw a pitch that bounced in the dirt, catcher Matt Scheffler accidentally kicked the ball when he was trying to corral it. That allowed Giovanni DiGiacomo to score the tying run from third base. 

On the same play, first baseman Rankin Woley ran in to try making a play at home to get DiGiacomo out, but Scheffler was out of position to make a catch. The ball rolled toward the third-base dugout, leading to Saul Garza crossing the plate for the winning run. 

Both teams came to life late in the game, with six of the seven combined runs coming in the final three innings. Auburn took a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh on back-to-back RBI singles from Kason Howell and Judd Ward.

LSU responded in the bottom of the frame on Josh Smith's RBI single. Auburn regained the lead in the eighth inning, setting up the ninth-inning drama. 

The loss ends Auburn's tournament run in devastating fashion. LSU, meanwhile, lives to play at least one more day. 

No. 7 Mississippi 1, No. 6 Texas A&M 0

In a tense pitching duel, Texas A&M was the first one to blink in a 1-0 loss to Mississippi. 

After going hitless for eight innings against Aggies starter John Doxakis, the Rebels finally broke through against relievers Bryce Miller and Chandler Jozwiak in the ninth. Thomas Dillard led off the ninth with a single and came around to score on Cole Zabowski's two-out double. 

Doxakis took a hard-luck no-decision despite his masterful outing because Mississippi freshman Doug Nikhazy matched him pitch for pitch. The southpaw allowed just three hits in his eight innings before closer Parker Caracci shut the door in the ninth inning. 

Since an 8-7 win over Florida in the first round, Texas A&M's offense has stagnated. The lineup hasn't scored a run and has just five hits (four singles) in the past two games. 

Baseball America's Teddy Cahill projected the Aggies to host a regional entering Thursday. There's no concern they will be left out of the field of 64, but these past two games aren't an encouraging sign. 

Ole Miss has another must-win game on Friday if it wants to repeat as SEC tournament champions. 

No. 3 Georgia 3, No. 2 Arkansas 1

Late-inning magic helped Georgia pull out a 3-1 victory over Arkansas during the third round of the tournament Thursday.

The Razorbacks got on the board first in the top of third following a one-out double by third baseman Jacob Nesbit. Thanks to a wild pitch and a passed ball, he came around to score even though the ball was never put in play again.

That would be the only run of the game for quite some time, as both starting pitchers were on top of their game.

Arkansas redshirt junior Isaiah Campbell threw five innings of shutout baseball, allowing just two hits while striking out three. Meanwhile, Georgia freshman Cole Wilcox nearly matched his counterpart pitch for pitch, allowing just one unearned run in 6.1 innings of work.

It wasn't until the seventh that the Bulldogs were able to push across the tying run. A leadoff single by shortstop Cam Shepherd got the rally started, and he evened the score on an RBI double by Connor Tate two batters later.

Georgia third baseman Aaron Schunk led off the bottom of the eighth with a double, and a two-out, two-run double by first baseman Patrick Sullivan gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the day.

The Razorbacks were able to get the potential tying run to third in the top of the ninth, but Schunk was able to wiggle off the hook to close out the Bulldogs' victory. Sophomore Ryan Webb also gave Georgia 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Georgia will now be off until Saturday as it has earned a bye into the semifinals.

No. 1 Vanderbilt 1, No. 4 Mississippi State 0

Drake Fellows' brilliant performance on the mound led Vanderbilt to a 1-0 victory over Mississippi State in a pitchers' duel Thursday night.

The Commodores took an early lead by using small ball to its advantage. Left fielder Stephen Scott reached base via a hit-by-pitch with one out in the second, and after a bunt single by second baseman Harrison Ray moved Scott to second, first baseman Julian Infante came through with a clutch, two-out RBI single to open the scoring.

That would be all Fellows and the Commodores pitching staff would need on this day. The Vanderbilt sophomore threw six innings of shutout baseball, striking out eight, to improve to 11-0 on the season.

Ethan Smith, Zach King and Tyler Brown combined to shut the Bulldogs out while allowing just one hit over the final three frames.

Mississippi State redshirt junior Ethan Small was nearly as dominant, allowing just three hits in seven innings while striking out 11. However, the run he allowed in the second proved costly, making him the tough-luck losing pitcher. Peyton Plumlee added a scoreless inning of relief for the Bulldogs.

After playing into the wee hours of Thursday morning in the longest game in SEC tournament history, the Mississippi State bats never woke up in this game. As a result, the Commodores are headed to the semifinals, and the Bulldogs will have a rematch of Wednesday night's marathon game against LSU on Friday.