HOOVER, Ala. -- South Carolina's 5-1 loss to Missouri might have dealt a death blow to the Gamecocks' hopes of earning an NCAA Tournament at-large big.
The Gamecocks have played in an NCAA Regional every year since 2000, but with an RPI rating of 61 and a 32-25 record, including a 13-17 SEC mark, they are in serious jeopardy of having that streak end.
South Carolina went into the SEC Tournament knowing it would take a productive week to ensure that it would make regional play, but Missouri jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning and the Gamecocks couldn't put together enough offense to overcome the Tigers.
"As bad as I feel, you can't have great years, sometimes even good years, every year," South Carolina Coach Chad Holbrook said. "In this league, sometimes when you play the competition we've played against and you face a lot of things -- and a lot of things didn't go our way -- this league can eat you up, and it did.
"This program has been good for a long, long time, and I'm not going to let, and I know these players aren't going to let, one difficult year define them, define me, or define us as a program. That's going to be our attitude as we move forward. Yeah, it's been a struggle, but this isn't who we are and this isn't who we're going to be. We're going to move forward the right way.
"South Carolina will be back."
If South Carolina doesn't receive an NCAA invite, Arkansas, which projects comfortably into the NCAA field, would own the longest active streak in the SEC. The Razorbacks have competed in the last 13 NCAA Tournaments.
Tide talk
Alabama's 6-1 victory over Ole Miss matched its third-highest run total of the season against SEC opponents at the Hoover Met, where the Crimson Tide played its home games with Sewell-Thomas Stadium under renovations. It was one more run than the Crimson Tide scored while being swept in a three-game series by Arkansas at its 2015 home park on April 30-May 2.
Alabama scored all six of its runs with two outs.
It's deep
Kentucky left fielder Ka'ai Tom hit the first home run of the SEC Tournament with a seventh-inning blast that broke up Cole Lipscomb's shutout bid in the Wildcats' 6-3 loss to Auburn. Tom's shot was a no-doubt blast far over the wall in right field.
Yer both out!
Auburn might have run itself out of a game-breaking inning in the third inning against Kentucky.
The Tigers sent Jackson Burgreen, who had walked, on a 3-2 pitch to leadoff man Anfernee Grier, who tried to check his swing on the pitch from Kentucky's Zack Brown. Second base umpire Morris Hodges did not make a call on Burgreen's slide, awaiting a ruling on whether Grier had walked. First base umpire Darrell Arnold called Grier out on the swing when Kentucky appealed, then Hodges signaled Burgreen out on the tag by Kentucky's JaVon Shelby.
Irate Auburn Coach Sonny Golloway argued with home plate umpire Keith Sanders, then took his dispute to Hodges to no avail. The Tigers rebounded to score one run in the inning on Daniel Robert's RBI single. Burgreen made up for his out with a two-run triple in Auburn's fourth inning.
Confident Hogs
The Arkansas Razorbacks took plenty of confidence into the SEC Tournament, having swept three games from Alabama at the Hoover Met and hitting three home runs at the cavernous park in the process.
Andrew Benintendi, Michael Bernal and Rick Nomura all hit home runs as the Razorbacks posted victories by scores of 5-1, 8-4 and 4-0 over the Crimson Tide in a series that ended on May 2.
"Bernal's was a shot," Arkansas outfielder Joe Serrano said last week. "He got a pitch that was apparently in his wheelhouse and he just drilled that thing."
Wild early
Arkansas had its chances in the early going against Tennessee left-hander Andy Cox, who struggled with wildness.
The Razorbacks had five base runners in the first two innings, all on walks and hit batsmen, but could not come up with a clutch hit.
Cox walked the bases loaded in the first inning, but he escaped by getting a key strikeout of Andrew Benintendi on a check swing on a 3-2 pitch, fanning Tyler Spoon looking and striking out Cullen Gassaway.
Nice glove
Tennessee center fielder Chris Hall laid down a good bunt down the third-base line in an effort to lead off the third inning with an infield single, but Arkansas third baseman Bobby Wernes would have none of it.
Wernes charged in, gloved the ball and fired to first with his throw easily beating Hall to first base.
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Sports on 05/20/2015