SEC Saturday baseball recap: MSU wins a wild one to take Ole Miss series; Georgia's Cannon and Vols' Tidwell shine in short starts

Here's what happened in SEC baseball on Saturday. 

Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics.

Mississippi State gets a wild win to take the series in Oxford

Brad Cumbest cranked an 11th-inning home run as Mississippi State beat Ole Miss, 7-6, at Oxford’s Swayze Field. RJ Yeager and Hunter Hines also added home runs for the Bulldogs (24-17, 8-10).

State saw a 6-2 lead cut to 6-4, then, Ole Miss’s Jacob Gonzalez hit a two-run homer to send the game to extra innings. KC Hunt pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings from there and got the win. 

Gonzalez hit two home runs and Hayden Leatherwood added another for the Rebels (22-17, 6-12). 

Starting pitchers Cade Smith (MSU) and Derek Diamond (Ole Miss) each allowed four earned runs in 5 1/3 and four innings, respectively.

Tidwell helps Vols win fifth in a row, take series at Florida

Blade Tidwell threw 4 2/3 innings and struck out five, and Camden Sewell finished the game from there with three strikeouts, as Tennessee beat Florida, 3-0, in Gainesville. 

Drew Gilbert and Luc Lipcius each homered for Tennessee (36-3, 16-1). Both came off Brandon Sproat, who allowed three runs in six innings for Florida (23-16, 6-11).

Tidwell, who was one of the league’s top returning pitchers, didn’t pitch until March 30 due to a labrum injury and hadn’t gone more than two innings in his previous six appearances. He took the place of Chase Dollander, who was hit in the arm by a line drive against Alabama last week. 

Lee, Guilfoil help Kentucky down Vandy

Kentucky reliever Tyler Guilfoil retired 12 of the 13 hitters he faced to close the game, helping the Wildcats (22-17, 6-11) to a 3-2, come-from-behind win to even the series with Vanderbilt at Kentucky Proud Park on Saturday.

Vanderbilt (27-11, 8-9) freshman Matthew Polk belted a two-run home run off Kentucky starter Zack Lee in the fourth, but Kentucky’s Adam Fogel returned the favor in the bottom of the inning off Carter Holton. An inning later, Ryan Ritter drove in the game’s last run with a one-out single. Guilfoil struck out four in four innings to lower his ERA to 1.62. Vandy’s Patrick Reilly added three innings of scoreless relief to lower his ERA to 2.20.

Kentucky’s Alonzo Rubalcaba had a third-inning single to snap a string of 17 1/3 hitless innings by the Commodore pitching staff. 

Berry continues hot hitting as LSU sweeps Missouri

Jacob Berry blasted another home run as LSU overcame a 2-0 first-inning deficit to kick off Missouri, 8-6, in Baton Rouge. Catcher Tyler McManus added three hits and two RBIs for LSU (27-12, 10-8). 

Missouri’s Tyler Austin had two hits and drove in four for the visiting Tigers (22-15, 5-13). LSU got six runs in five innings off Missouri starter Austin Marozas, and used six pitchers (none for more than 2 2/3 innings) to finish off the series. 

LSU coach Jay Johnson went to lefty Riley Cooper for the third-straight day, as Cooper picked up the save with a scoreless inning and a third. 

 Arkansas evens series at Texas A&M

The Arkansas bullpen tossed six scoreless innings as the Razorbacks went to College Station and beat Texas A&M (24-14, 9-8) by a 3-1 score. 

Arkansas (31-8, 12-5) freshman starter Hagen Smith struggled with control, walking five in three-plus innings. But in the midst of a fourth-inning jam, coach Dave Van Horn went to lefty Zack Morris, who got out of that with no damage and led the Razorbacks through the sixth. Evan Taylor (1 2/3 innings) and Brady Tygart (one scoreless) finished from there.  

Brady Slavens hit two home runs for Arkansas, both coming off starter Micah Dallas (4 IP, 3 ER, 2 K). 

Cannon perfect in return for Georgia

Georgia’s Jonathan Cannon threw five perfect innings with six strikeouts as Georgia beat Alabama, 3-0, in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. 

Parks Harber had three hits and drove in all three runs for the Bulldogs (28-11, 11-6). All there RBIs came on a second-inning double off Jacob McNairy.

Alabama (23-17, 8-9) had just two hits and four base runners. 

Cannon, normally Georgia’s Friday starter, was moved to Saturday after a non-throwing injury kept him out the last two weeks. 

Auburn comes from behind to win at South Carolina

Trailing by three in the seventh, Auburn stormed back to get an 8-6 win over South Carolina in Auburn on Saturday. Blake Rambusch and Sonny DiChiara led the Tigers (28-12, 10-7) with three hits each while Cole Foster hit a solo home run.

Braylen Wimmer led Carolina with two hits and three RBIs. Reliever Matthew Becker took the loss, allowing two runs in an inning of work. 

Gamecock starter Noah Hall allowed five earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. Auburn’s Trace Bright allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings of work. 

Carson Swilling pitched a third of an inning and picked up a win, while Blake Burkhalter got a save with a scoreless ninth.