SEC Tournament report

Slugger still hero of the day

Chad Spanberger, Arkansas first baseman, takes pictures with fans Friday, May, 26, 2017, before a game against Mississippi State at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.

HOOVER, Ala. --Arkansas first baseman Chad Spanberger was greeted by dozens of autograph seekers, mostly Razorback fans, immediately after entering Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Friday evening.

Spanberger was a fan favorite after he broke SEC Tournament records with three home runs and seven RBI, including a fourth-inning grand slam, in Arkansas' 12-0 run-rule victory over Auburn on Thursday night.

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In Friday night's game, Mississippi State starter Jacob Billingsley took a cautious approach to Spanberger, but challenged him with a low fastball on a 3-2 count in the bottom of the first inning. Spanberger drove the pitch deep into the gap in right-center field for a double and later scored on Luke Bonfield's single.

Billingsley walked Spanberger on four pitches with two outs in the third, then issued him an intentional pass with two outs in the fifth. The latter decision drew boos from a large chunk of the fans.

HR tally

The Hoover Met was once an expansive pitcher's park that yielded few home runs to the college players who tested its deep fences.

Not anymore. After renovations that included moving the fences in for Alabama's home season here in 2015, the players in the SEC Tournament have had more success launching long balls.

Dominic Fletcher's home run in the sixth inning against Mississippi State gave Arkansas five in three games, including Chad Spanberger's three-home run night against Auburn and a shot by Luke Bonfield against Mississippi State on Thursday.

South Carolina leads the tournament with eight home runs in four games, while Missouri hit six in its three games.

Knight's night

Arkansas sophomore Blaine Knight, pitching on five day's rest, gave the Razorbacks a solid start late Friday against Mississippi State.

Through 6 innings, Knight struck out 7, walked 1 and allowed only 1 unearned run on 80 pitches. He had lowered his ERA from 3.23 to 3.00 entering the seventh.

Fan man

Arkansas left-hander Matt Cronin came in blazing against Auburn in the third inning of Thursday's night game.

Cronin got the call with runners on first and second after Dominic Taccolini walked the first two batters in the bottom of the third inning. He then struck out Jonah Todd swinging and Daniel Robert and Dylan Ingram looking to get out of the inning.

Cronin also struck out the side in the fourth inning, working around a walk and a hit batter. The 6-2, 190-pound freshman from Navarre, Fla., threw a season-high 71 pitches in his three-inning stint while improving to 3-0.

"We talk all the time ... and next year he could be a weekend starter for us," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "He has a really good breaking ball. He just hasn't been able to figure out how to throw it in these games yet, though we've seen it from time to time.

"There's some deception there. The board's reading 88-90 [mph], and they're swinging and missing it. He's not throwing 95. ... What he's done is earned a little more time, and next weekend at the regional he'll probably pitch in some tough situations."

Alternate lineup

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said his lineup shuffle for Thursday's late game, which he carried over to Friday, started with the idea of getting catcher Grant Koch, who has caught virtually every meaningful inning this season, lower in the order after he batted fourth most of the season.

A side effect of the changes, which moved freshman Dominic Fletcher into the cleanup spot, gave the Hogs alternating left-handed and right-handed batters through the order after switch hitter Eric Cole in the leadoff spot.

Left-handed batters Chad Spanberger, Fletcher, Jax Biggers and Jared Gates occupied the even-numbered spots, while Cole and righties Luke Bonfield, Carson Shaddy, Koch and Jake Arledge held the odd-numbered slots.

Pow! Ouch!

Playing center fielder for Florida proved rough Friday morning.

Gators center fielder Ryan Larson was hit by a pitch on the ear flap of his helmet as the game's leadoff batter by Mississippi State's Cole Gordon. Larson stayed in the game through the top of the first but gave way to Nick Horvath after that.

Horvath made it into the top of the fifth, but he had to come out after taking a one-hopper in the outfield off his face. Horvath slid to try to field a ball off the bat of MSU's Josh Lovelady, but the ball caromed hard off the grass and into his nose, which immediately caused blood to flow. Medical personnel rushed out to assist him off the field, and he was replaced by Blake Reese, who lasted through the end of the game.

Ow!

Mississippi State catcher Josh Lovelady needed a moment to compose himself after fouling a ball off his upper shin in the fifth inning Friday morning against Florida's Jackson Kowar. Lovelady hobbled around for a bit, but got back in and delivered a single to center field. He moved to third on Ryan Gridley's single and scored the Bulldogs' second run on a wild pitch.

Yeoww!

South Carolina's L.T. Tolbert was clearly in pain after sliding into third base on a single by Justin Row, the Gamecocks' first hit against Kentucky's Justin Lewis, in the sixth inning Friday afternoon. Replays showed Tolbert bent his left foot back while hitting the third base bag.

Bounce back

After being crushed 19-1 by Kentucky in their first meeting of the season, South Carolina rebounded to win two of their next three against the powerful Wildcats, including 3-1 in Friday's elimination game.

The Gamecocks won 5-1 on April 29, the day after losing by 18 runs, then Kentucky took the three-game series with a 9-4 victory in Columbia, S.C., the following day.

Carolina odds

South Carolina, thought to be on the outside looking in for an NCAA Tournament bid entering the week, has bolstered its chances with a 3-1 start in the tournament. The Gamecocks eliminated No. 9 Kentucky 3-1 on Friday and face LSU today in a tournament semifinal.

Around the horn

• Florida sophomore Jackson Kowar improved to 11-0 with a victory over Mississippi State in Thursday's morning game. Kowar gave up 9 hits and 2 earned runs and was the beneficiary of the Gators' 11-run eighth inning, which tied an SEC Tournament record and marked the highest-scoring inning in an SEC game this season.

• Mississippi State's 12-3 loss to Florida in the morning game was its sixth in a row against the Gators at the SEC Tournament dating to 1996.

• Mississippi State's Cole Gordon, making his seventh start of 2017, hit his first batter against Florida but opened with four no-hit innings and faced the minimum through four, thanks to a double play. Gordon threw seven shutout innings before allowing a leadoff hit in the eighth and was charged with one run.

Sports on 05/27/2017