Saturday SEC recaps; Ole Miss posts huge comeback; Bednar and Tanner lead MSU past Vandy

Ole Miss had a comeback for the ages, erasing an eight-run deficit to knock off LSU 10-9 on Saturday. The Rebels scored eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 9-9. Freshman right fielder Kemp Alderman won with a walk-off homer in the ninth.  The Miss. State battery of Will Bednar and Logan Tanner proved too much as the Bulldogs evened the series with Vanderbilt. Bednar was the winning pitcher and Tanner had two hits and three RBIs. Texas A&M and Tennessee split their double header and Georgia beat Missouri in extra innings. Here is a look at Saturday’s SEC action.

TEAM OF THE DAY:

Ole Miss posted a comeback for ages in its 10-9 win over LSU on Saturday. The Rebels trailed 6-0 in the third inning and 9-1 in the eighth inning before mounting a late-inning comeback to salvage the final game of the series. Ole Miss scored eight runs, all with two outs, in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 9-9. Second baseman Peyton Chatagnier hit a three-run home run and centerfielder T.J. McCants added a grand slam to pull the Rebels even with the Tigers. Ole Miss freshman Kemp Alderman hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch of the ninth inning for the win. It was his first career home run.

PLAYER OF THE DAY:

Mississippi State catcher Logan Tanner blasted a two-run home run off Jack Leiter in the fourth inning to lead the Bulldogs to 7-4 win over the Commodores in Nashville. Tanner went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, one double, one home run and three RBIs in the win. In addition to his two-run homer, he stroked an RBI double and scored a run in the three-run seventh inning that gave MSU a 7- 1 lead.

PITCHER OF THE DAY:

MSU right-hander Will Bednar out-dueled Jack Leiter in the Bulldogs 7-4 win at Vanderbilt. Bednar limited the Commodores to one run and three hits in five innings. He added eight strikeouts and three walks for his third win of the season.

RAINOUTS:

Two games were rained out on Saturday. Alabama and Kentucky were postponed due to weather in Lexington. The two teams will play two 7-inning games on Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT). Florida and Auburn were also rained out on Saturday. The Gators and Tigers will play two 7-inning games on Sunday at Noon (CT).

SATURDAY RECAPS:

Ole Miss 10, LSU 9 (Oxford)

Records: LSU (24-15, 6-12 SEC); Ole Miss (28-12, 10-8 SEC)

Series: LSU won series, 2-1

Ole Miss freshman outfielder Kemp Alderman was expecting to redshirt this season on Oxford.

On Tuesday, head coach Mike Bianco gave him his first start of the season in a midweek win over Little Rock. He went 1-for-4 in his collegiate debut. Alderman made his SEC debut as a pinch-hitter against LSU on Friday night.

He made his first career SEC start and capped one of the biggest comebacks in school history.

In just his ninth at-bat of the season, Alderman sent the first pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning into the Ole Miss student section in right field for walk-off home run in the Rebels improbable 10-9 come-from-behind win.

Ole Miss trailed 6-0 in the third inning and 9-1 in the eighth inning before the comeback of the ages.

The Rebels scored eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, all with two outs, to tie the game at 9-9.

Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez plated the first run with an RBI single. Second baseman Peyton Chatagnier hit a three-run home run and centerfielder T.J. McCants added a grand slam to pull the Rebels even with the Tigers.

During the rally, LSU head coach Paul Mainieri was ejected by home plate umpire Hank Hinnaman. Mainieri was ejected after he voiced his displeasure about a 3-2 pitch that resulted in a walk to third baseman Justin Bench. McCants hit the grand slam on the very next pitch and Maineri was ejected.

LSU led 6-0 in the third inning on a pair of home runs by shortstop Jordan Thompson and left fielder Gavin Dugas, and a two-run single by second baseman Drew Bianco.

Chatagnier had an RBI single in the third inning to put Ole Miss on the board.

LSU stretched the lead to 9-1 with two runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth.

Vanderbilt 6, Mississippi State (Nashville)

Records: Vanderbilt (30-6, 12-4 SEC); Mississippi State (28-9, 10-6 SEC)

Series: Vanderbilt leads series, 1-0

Rowdey Jordan and Tanner Logan both homered off Vanderbilt's Jack Leiter, handing the Vanderbilt superstar his first loss of the season as Mississippi State evened the series at a game apiece with a 7-4 win over the Commodores at Nashville's Hawkins Field.

Jordan hit the second pitch of the game out to right, giving MSU a lead it never relinquished. In the fourth, Logan smacked a hanging curve way out to left for a 4-1 advantage.

MSU's Will Bednar got the win, going five strong innings while striking out eight and giving up just one run. His fastball sat 94-95 on the stadium gun and gave Vandy fits with that pitch as well as his slider, as he was able to keep both down in the zone consistently all evening.

State's Landon Sims pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, striking out six and giving up a run, while also allowing the two runs he inherited from Preston Johnson to score. 

Tennessee 6, Texas A&M 1 (Game 1)

Texas A&M 6, Tennessee 5 (Game 2) (College Station)

Records: Tennessee (31-9, 11-6 SEC); Texas A&M (23-18, 5-12 SEC)

Series: Series tied, 1-1

Tennessee and Texas A&M split their Saturday double header at Blue Bell Park. The Volunteers posted a 6-1 win in the opener before the Aggies stormed back to a 6-5 win in the nightcap.

Trailing 5-2 in the seventh inning, Texas A&M scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn the split. The Aggies scored all four runs of Tennessee lefty Kirk Connell, who suffered his first loss of the season.

Shortstop Kalae Harrison drove in the first run with an RBI single to left field. Left fielder Austin Bost smashed a two-run double down the left field to line to tie the game at 5-5. First baseman Will Frizzell lifted a sac fly to centerfielder to score Bost with the winning run.

Tennessee raced out to 4-0 lead on a pair of RBIs by centerfielder Drew Gilbert and a solo home run by right fielder Jordan Beck in the fourth inning.

Frizzell cut the lead in half to 4-2 with a two-run homer in the fifth inning.

Tennessee first baseman Luc Lipcius added an RBI single in the seventh to extend the lead to 5-2.

Mason Ornelas picked up his third win of the season with three innings of work.

Chandler Jozwiak tossed the final two innings for his sixth save.

Tennessee raced out to a 5-0 lead in the opener and cruised to a 6-1 win.

Third baseman Jake Rucker and catcher Connor Pavolony both homered for the Vols.

Chad Dallas tossed seven strong innings for his sixth win of the season. He allowed one run and five hits, with five strikeouts and no walks. Sean Hunley retired all six batters he faced with two strikeouts.

Georgia 7, Missouri 5 (Columbia)

Records: Missouri (12-24, 5-12 SEC); Georgia (25-13, 8-9 SEC)

Series: Series tied, 1-1

Georgia shortstop Cole Tate smacked a two-run triple in the top of the tenth inning to lift the Bulldogs to a 7-5 comeback win at Missouri.

The Bulldogs improved to 3-0 in extra-inning games this season. Missouri played its first extra-inning game on Saturday.

First baseman Chaney Rogers drew a one-out walk and second baseman Buddy Floyd reached on a two-out error by Mizzou second baseman Luke Mann. Tate made the Tigers pay when he blasted a triple, his second of the game, into right-center field.

Ben Harris (4-0) allowed one unearned run in four innings for the win. Darryn Pasqua tossed a scoreless tenth inning for his second save.

Lukas Veinbergs (1-2) was charged with the loss.

Missouri scored an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. Mann, who made the error for Mizzou in the top of the tenth, scored the tying run when Floyd dropped a pop up in shallow right field with two outs. Ty Wilmsmeyer scored the tying run from place on the misplay.

The teams traded leads until the Bulldogs took a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh inning. Third baseman Garrett Blaylock recorded the game-tying single and left fielder Riley King plated the go-ahead run on ground out.

King finished with three hits, three RBIs and scored two runs. He belted a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth inning.

Missouri right fielder Andrew Keefer had two hits and two RBIs.