Sunday recap: Another good day against the Big 12

The Rebels knock off Texas Tech, while Arkansas blanks Texas

The SEC went 8-4 in Sunday's games, including a 2-2 mark against ranked teams. Here's a look at what happened.

Ole Miss drops No. 3 Texas Tech

The Rebels, led by Gunnar Hogland's 11 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings, knocked off Texas Tech by a 5-4 count at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas on Sunday afternoon. 

Ole Miss struck out 16 Red Raiders on Sunday, which came a day after the Rebels fanned 13 TCU hitters in a win.

The Rebels got a game-tying, third-inning, two-run homer from freshman Jacob Gonzalez. Hayden Leatherwood added an RBI single in the third to give Ole Miss a 5-2 lead, that run proving to be just enough for a win. 

That's two wins against two teams ranked in the top 10 by D1 Baseball, and the Rebels get a chance at a third on Monday against No. 9 Texas.

Arkansas blanks Texas

Pitching was a bit of a question with Arkansas heading into this season, but three Razorbacks combined on a 15-strikeout, two-hit. 4-0 shutout of Texas on Sunday afternoon in Arkansas. 

Starter Peyton Pallette threw 4 /13 and struck out eight, Caden Monke fired 2/3 of a scoreless inning and Caleb Bolden finished the rest, fanning seven and allowing just two base runners.

Designated hitter Brady Slavens provided all the run production with an RBI single and a three-run homer. 

Florida drops Game 3, loses home series to Miami

Losing a weekend series wasn't something the top-ranked Gators--who'd dominated Miami under coach Kevin O'Sullivan--expected. But for the second-straight day, Florida had major control troubles, with four Gators combining to walk or hit 10 Hurricanes in an 8-6 loss.

Making matters worse, the Hurricanes hit UF starter Hunter Barco hard, too. Barco allowed all eight runs (six earned) and that included a double, triple and homer among six hits allowed. 

Jordan Butler, who pitched on Saturday, started at first for the Gators and led the team with three hits.

MSU falls 3-2 to TCU

The SEC couldn't pull off the Sunday sweep against the Big 12, but came close as Mississippi State lost a 3-2 decision to TCU.

Rowdey Jordan smacked his first homer of the year for the Bulldogs, while five pitchers combined to limit TCU to four hits. Control was an issue, though, Mississippi State pitchers walked seven men. 

Tennessee finishes road sweep at Georgia Southern

Tennessee capped a good weekend with Liam Spence's 12th-inning grand slam in a 7-3 win at Georgia Southern.

Pitcher Jackson Leath threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in middle relief to hold off the Eagles and get the game to extra innings.

The Vols hit just .198/.298/.378 for the weekend and struck out an astonishing 45 times, but got big hits when it needed them. 

Tennessee's pitching was excellent: The Vols had a 2.10 weekend ERA with 27 strikeouts to just six walks and one hit batsman.

South Carolina rolls to sweep

No. 19 South Carolina finished off a three-game sweep of visiting Dayton on Sunday with a 5-1 win. Four Gamecocks combined for 17 strikeouts and closer Brett Kerry  picked up a win with four strikeouts over two scoreless innings. 

First baseman David Mendham led the offense with two hits and four RBIs. The Gamecocks didn't blast a home run on Sunday, but got seven the previous two days, with three coming from All-American candidate Wes Clarke. 

South Carolina out-scored the Flyers, 29-7, on the weekend. Dayton was picked third of the Atlantic 10's 13 baseball teams in the league's preseason poll.

Alabama sweeps McNeese

Few teams were as probably anxious as Alabama to play baseball this year. The Crimson Tide went 16-1 last year but never got to see how that translated to conference action, and while we'll have to wait three weeks for that answer, a sweep over Southland Conference opponent McNeese was a nice start.

The Crimson Tide did it with power on Sunday, with Bryce Denton and Owen Diodati each slamming home runs for the second-consecutive day. Drew Williamson added a solo homer, his first of the season.

Air Force evens series at LSU

Air Force scored three runs in the ninth--all charged to Ty Floyd--coming from behind to knock off LSU at Alex Box Stadium on Sunday afternoon, evening the series at a game apiece.

The Tigers had just six hits, two coming from highly-touted freshman Dylan Crews, who had a home run. 

It wasted a good start by Landon Marceaux, who pitched five innings and allowed two runs (both unearned). 

It was Air Force's first win over a top-10 team since 2010.

Georgia one-hits Evansville to take series

Five Bulldog pitchers combined to one-hit Evansville in Georgia's 4-1 win at Foley Field on Saturday, giving Georgia a 3-1 win in the series.

It wasn't always pretty--Georgia walked 10 Purple Aces--but the weekend could have easily gone worse after the Bulldogs dropped Friday's opener. Georgia also rebounded well from losing its top two starters (Jonathan Cannon and Ryan Webb) for the weekend.

It wasn't a great offensive weekend for the Bulldogs, who scored 19 runs in 29 innings but Connor Tate's .583/.643/.667 weekend was a bright spot. 

Auburn sweeps Presbyterian

Auburn's Rankin Woley hit a one-out double down the left field line in the ninth, and Woley just beat the tag at home on Bobby Peirce's single as the Tigers scored a 2-1 win over the visiting Blue Hose on Saturday.

Four Auburn pitchers scattered seven hits and three walks, while striking out 10.

Auburn took the series by a 22-5 margin.

Aggies pummel Xavier, avoid sweep

Texas A&M catcher Mikey Hoehner rapped out two hits and three RBIs and teammates Will Frizzell, Hunter Coleman and Bryce Blaum each homered as part of a a 15-hit attack in a 15-0 win over Xavier. 

The problem for A&M was the six runs it generated the previous two games, leading to an 0-2 deficit in the series. 

But the one constant in College Station is power pitching and the Aggies showed that again, with its staff recording 44 strikeouts over 27 innings this weekend. Fourteen different pitchers saw action for Texas A&M this weekend.

Missouri falls at Grand Canyon, loses series

Grand Canyon scored nine runs in the first six innings on its way to an 10-3 smacking of Missouri on Sunday, taking the series from the visiting Tigers by a 10-3 count.

Missouri may have been picked at the bottom of the SEC, but the Tigers' showing at Grand Canyon ranks up there with A&M's performance among the SEC's most disappointing showings on opening weekend. 

Missouri got thoroughly dominated, losing by a composite 36-19. The Tigers made six errors and struck out just 17 Grand Canyon hitters, while walking 27 and hitting six.

Vanderbilt, Kentucky still waiting to play

A large amount of snow and ice caused postponements of Vandy's three games with Wright State, scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The teams will play a nine-inning doubleheader on Monday, starting at noon Central.

Kentucky's series with North Carolina was canceled due to Covid-19 concerns.