SEC baseball Friday recap: Vols rally for romp, DeLucia shines again, Hilliard leads LSU past Georgia

Here's a recap of all seven SEC baseball games from Friday. 

Photo courtesy of Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee athletics

Vols rally with 15 in eighth and ninth to beat Auburn

Tennessee turned a 4-2 deficit into a 17-4 win as the Vols clubbed six home runs in a Friday night win over Auburn in Knoxville.

Jorel Ortega and Evan Russell had two homers each while Blake Burke and Trey Lipscomb each clubbed one. Russell drove in six runs and Ortega, five. Lipscomb, Russell and Drew Gilbert each had three hits for the Vols (39-3, 18-1).

One of Ortega's homers was a seventh-inning grand slam that put the Vols ahead for good. 

Tennessee starter Chase Burns allowed one run in five innings. 

In the sixth, Auburn’s Blake Rambusch hit a three-run homer to center that had given the Tigers a 4-2 lead. But the Vols tacked on eight in the seventh against the heart of the Auburn bullpen (Carson Skipper, Blake Burkhalter and Carson Swilling). 

The bigger concern for Auburn may be the health of two key pitchers. Burkhalter departed after giving up a grand slam just after an apparent hamstring issue popped up. Earlier, starter Hayden Mullins left after an apparent arm injury. 

DeLucia shines again as Rebels win at Arkansas

Starter Dylan DeLucia continues to shine in the Friday night role, throwing seven innings of two-run, nine-strikeout ball in leading Ole Miss to a 4-2 win at Arkansas. Brandon Johnson threw two perfect innings for his fifth save. 

Kevin Graham led the Rebels (24-17, 7-12) with two hits and two RBIs. All 11 Ole Miss hits came off starter Connor Noland, who threw eight innings and allowed all four runs. 

Braydon Webb’s two-run homer provided the offensive highlight for the Razorbacks (32-10, 12-7). 

Hilliard, bullpen lead LSU to win over Georgia

Ma’Khail Hillard threw six innings of two-run ball and the bullpen kept Georgia scoreless from there, as LSU (28-13, 11-8) earned a 6-2 win over Georgia at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge. Hilliard struck out seven while Paul Gervase retired all four hitters he faced to get a save.

Cade Doughty and Brandon McManus both homered for LSU (28-13, 11-8). 

Starter Nolan Crisp (3 1/3 innings, five runs, all earned) took the loss for Georgia (29-13, 11-8), which got a home run from Connor Tate.

Vandy blasts Aggies

Vanderbilt’s Dominic Keegan and Enrique Bradfield both homered and tripled, with Keegan also adding a single, as the Commodores (29-12-, 10-10) evened the series with Texas A&M (26-15, 11-9) with an 11-1 win at Nashville’s Hawkins Field.

Vandy’s Spencer Jones also homered. The Aggies left 11 men on against starter Carter Holton (five innings) and Christian Little (four) as the pair combined for 11 strikeouts.

Texas A&M starter Micah Dallas allowed seven runs (all earned) in four innings.

Yeager’s bombs lead Mississippi State past Missouri

RJ Yeager blasted two home runs, a double and a single and drove in five, leading Mississippi State to a 13-4 win at Missouri. Kamren James and Kellum Clark also homered for State (25-18, 9-10). 

MSU starter Brandon Smith went 7 1/3 innings, allowing three runs with eight strikeouts, to get a win. 

Mississippi State mashed 20 hits, with James (four), Yeager, Clark, Logan Tanner and Kellum Clark (three) leading the way. 

Luke Mann, Ross Lovich and Justin Colon homered for Missouri (22-17, 5-14) but starter Tony Neubeck (four innings, seven runs, all earned) struggled on the mound. 

Sproat shines in Florida’s win over Kentucky

Brandon Sproat threw 5 1/3 shutout innings as Florida topped Kentucky, 9-2, in the series opener in Gainesville. Wyatt Langford and Sterlin Thompson homered for the Gators (24-17, 7-12).

Kentucky’s (23-19, 6-13) runs came on home runs from Jacob Plastiak and Devin Burkes. Starter Mason Hazelwood gave up just six base runners in four innings, but five scored and all runs were earned. 

Hall, Becker pitch South Carolina to series win over Alabama

Noah Hall threw seven shutout innings and struck out eight, and Matthew Becker pitched the final two innings for the win, as South Carolina beat Alabama, 2-1, at Founder’s Park in Columbia, S.C.

Carolina led 1-0 until the eighth thanks to a Kevin Madden homer. Alabama catcher Dominic Tamez singled in Jim Jarvis to tie the game in the eighth, but the Gamecocks’ Brandt Belk hit a sacrifice fly to score Evan Stone in the bottom of the inning for the wining run. 

South Carolina (21-20, 8-12) moved into sole possession of fourth in the East, while Alabama (9-11, 25-19) dropped to sixth in the West.