Alabama bounces back, Arkansas stays perfect in SEC tourney (2024)

The SEC baseball tournament continued with four games Thursday in Hoover, Ala. Here’s what you need to know:

• Texas A&M shut out South Carolina 5-0.
• Alabama rebounded from a tough loss to Florida on Wednesday with a 7-4 win over Auburn.
• Arkansas edged LSU 5-4.
• Top-seeded Florida improved to 2-0 in the tournament with a 6-3 win over Vanderbilt.

Alabama responds

Alabama interim coach Jason Jackson saw his team respond as well as it could’ve given the circumstances Thursday afternoon. The Crimson Tide blew a three-run lead over second-ranked Florida just the night before in an extra-innings thriller. There was little time to digest the loss as they had to play rival Auburn in an elimination game.

Both teams entered the contest jockeying for national seeding positioning in the NCAA Tournament. But Alabama prevailed behind a strong outing by pitcher Garrett McMillan and an offense that tallied 14 hits.

“It’s a credit to these guys after (Wednesday) night,” Jackson said. “You lose a heartbreaker and go back to the hotel, and like I said here in this press conference (after the Florida game), it’s OK to be pissed but don’t bring it with you to the yard today.

“You could tell this morning when we were in our pregame stuff, they were loose as could be, and we were riding on the bus over here, and you could just feel it, they had kind of turned the page.”

4⃣0⃣ wins for the first time since 2⃣0⃣1⃣0⃣https://t.co/GpzSVjgces#RollTide pic.twitter.com/00K8YRDk1x

— Alabama Baseball (@AlabamaBSB) May 25, 2023

Auburn’s big highlight arrived in the sixth inning when Bryson Ware broke the program home run record in a season (24) with a solo shot. The Tigers attempted a rally in the ninth, cutting their deficit to 7-4 and had runners in scoring position. But Alabama closed the door and avoided a repeat of the previous night.

Alabama reached the 40-win mark for the first time since 2010. As of Thursday, the team was the projected No. 11 national seed by D1Baseball, meaning it would host a regional for the first time since 2006. A win over the No. 19 team in the country only bolsters those chances. The Crimson Tide will play again on Friday against Vanderbilt.

Auburn, a projected No. 10 national seed, will await its NCAA fate on Selection Monday.

Texas A&M continues strong pitching

Texas A&M threw its second one-hitter of the tournament in its win over South Carolina. This time freshman Justin Lamkin delivered career highs in innings pitched (seven) and strikeouts (nine).

The Aggies entered the tournament as the No. 10 seed and played in a single elimination game on Tuesday. Now, they’ll play LSU on Friday at 3 p.m. CT for a chance at the semifinals on Saturday. Currently, they’re a projected No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina is eliminated and finds itself on the regional host bubble ahead of Selection Monday.

Costly LSU mistake

The third game of the session featured a pair of top-five-ranked teams. The Razorbacks broke open a tightly contested game in the fourth inning and never looked back.

LSU opted for All-America pitcher Paul Skenes, but after surrendering two runs and loading the bases in the fourth inning with two outs, he was pulled for reliever Riley Cooper. It appeared that Cooper got the Tigers out of the jam by forcing a fly ball, but the umpires called for catcher’s interference, resulting in a run and Arkansas back at the plate. Right fielder Jace Bohrofen took advantage with a single that brought home two more runs and Arkansas for a 5-2 lead.

The Tigers scored two more runs, including a Dylan Crews home run in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to fully mount a comeback.

Arkansas remains undefeated in the tournament and has a bye into Saturday’s semifinals.

Riopelle does it again

Florida catcher BT Riopelle was the catalyst for the Gators with two home runs and five RBIs, and he’s tied for the tournament lead with three home runs. Riopelle, who entered the tournament battling a 4-28 batting slump, has been Florida’s most clutch player thus far. Thursday’s performance came one day after his three-run walk-off home run to defeat Alabama.

Florida earns a bye during Friday’s action and will play again Saturday in the semifinals against the winner of Alabama-Vanderbilt, which will take place Friday night.

Required reading

• A weekend at-bat with a generational talent and MLB’s likely No. 1 draft pick

(Photo of Tommy Seidl: Michael Wade / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Kennington Lloyd Smith III is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering Alabama football. Kennington most recently covered University of Iowa football and men's basketball for the Des Moines Register. He is a three-time state press association award winner in feature writing, enterprise writing and podcasting. Kennington attended The University of Georgia and originates from Atlanta, GA. Follow Kennington on Twitter @SkinnyKenny_