This Week In SEC Baseball..

This Week In SEC Baseball

Posted: April 13, 2010 | Last updated: April 13, 2010 at 12:30 PM

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Justin Fradejas • Auburn
Junior • OF • Pensacola, Fla.

• Hit .474 for the week, hitting safely in all five games to extend his hitting streak to 14 games ... Four of the five games were multi-hit games as he went 9-for-19 with three doubles...Scored six runs on the week, including two in each of the first two games of the LSU series.

• Had five RBI on the week after entering the week with just five on the year...Dropped down a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday to score the game-winning and series-clinching win over No. 3 LSU as Auburn won its first series over LSU at home since 1998 and its first series overall since 2007, snapping an eight-game losing streak on Saturday.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Jay Brown • South Carolina
Senior • RHP • Brunswick, Ga.

• In his second career SEC start, South Carolina senior right-hander Jay Brown pitched a season-high 6.1 innings and combined with a pair of relievers to face the minimum in Sunday’s 2-0 victory at nationally ranked Vanderbilt to help the Gamecocks clinch the rubber game of a three-game SEC series.

• Brown did not walk a batter and allowed just two singles…He also did not allow a batter to get past second base in the entire outing…It was the third longest outing in Brown’s career at Carolina…Combined with a pair of relievers for a two-hit shutout, the first time since 2005 that Vanderbilt had been shutout at home in an SEC game…The loss was only Vanderbilt’s third of the season at home.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Hudson Randall • Florida
RHP • Atlanta, Ga.

• Led Florida to its first series victory at Tennessee since 2002 by claiming Sunday’s rubber game…Held the Vols hitless until a leadoff single in bottom of the sixth inning and worked a career-high eight innings in the Gators’ 9-1 victory.

• Allowed four singles and one run while matching his career high of six strikeouts to earn his first SEC win…Retired the first eight batters of the game, which was scoreless into the sixth -Is now 3-3 with a 3.98 ERA and has 30 K in 40.2 innings.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
April

13 (Tuesday)
Samford at Alabama, 6:30 p.m. CT
New Mexico at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m. CT
Florida at Florida State, 6 p.m. ET
Ole Miss at Memphis, 6:30 p.m. CT
Lipscomb at Tennessee, 7 p.m. ET
MTSU at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m. CT

14 (Wednesday)
Alabama at SE Louisiana, 7 p.m. CT
New Mexico at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m. CT
New Orleans at Auburn, 6:30 p.m. CT
Georgia Tech at Georgia [CSS], 7 p.m. ET
Tulane at LSU, 6:30 p.m. CT
South Alabama at Miss. State, 6:30 p.m. CT
South Carolina at The Citadel, 7 p.m. ET

16 (Friday)
*Alabama at LSU [CST], 7 p.m. CT
*Georgia at Arkansas [#ESPN2], 6 p.m. CT
*Auburn at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m. CT
*Florida at Kentucky [BBSN], 7 p.m. ET
*Ole Miss at S. Carolina [SPSO], 7 p.m. ET
*Tennessee at Mississippi State, 6:30 p.m. CT

17 (Saturday)
*Alabama at LSU [CST], 7 p.m. CT
*Georgia at Arkansas, 2 p.m. CT
*Auburn at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m. CT
*Florida at Kentucky [BBSN], 7 p.m. ET
*Ole Miss at S. Carolina [#SPSO], 3 p.m. ET
*Tennessee at Mississippi State, 1 p.m. CT

18 (Sunday)
*Alabama at LSU [CST], 1 p.m. CT
*Georgia at Arkansas, 1 p.m. CT
*Auburn at Vanderbilt [ESPNU], 1 p.m. CT
*Florida at Kentucky, 1 p.m. ET
*Ole Miss at South Carolina, 1:30 p.m. ET
*Tennessee at Mississippi State, 1:30 p.m. CT

* SEC Game
All Times Local to Game Site Unless Noted
# - Available on ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360)

FSN - Fox Sports South, Sun Sports, Fox Sports
Southwest, Fox Sports Houston
SPSO - SportSouth, Sun Sports, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Houston
CSS - Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast
SUN - Sun Sports
CST - Cox Sports Television
BBSN - Big Blue Sports Network (via FS South)
JUM - Jumbo Sports Network
FSFL - Fox Sports Florida

ALABAMA Crimson Tide

Alabama (21-11, 5-7 SEC) went 2-3 last week as the Tide split a pair of midweek games with UAB and Jacksonville State and dropped an SEC road series at Kentucky … The Crimson Tide played four road games last week and will play four more road games this week at SE Louisiana (April 14) and LSU (April 16-18) … From April 7-18, Alabama will play eight of nine games on the road … Alabama posted an improbable 11-9 come-from-behind win over Kentucky on Sunday, April 11 … The Crimson Tide trailed 9-0 after five innings, but rallied for the win … Alabama scored five runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by senior third baseman Jake Smith’s fourth career grand slam … The Crimson Tide took the lead with five runs in the eighth inning as junior shortstop Josh Rutledge knocked in two runs with a two-out single to put Alabama in front 10-9 … Alabama had trailed by eight runs in a game three times in the last 10 years, winning all three games … Alabama erased an 8-0 deficit against Arkansas on April 24, 1999 and posted a 15-8 win … The next day, Alabama trailed 8-0 in the sixth inning and rallied for a 9-8 win … The Crimson Tide found itself down 10-2 in the third inning against South Carolina on April 29, 2007 and rallied for an 11-10 win, capped by Alex Avila’s three-run home run in the eighth inning … Alabama scored six runs in the 11th inning en route to an 10-4 win at Jacksonville State on April 7 … In the win, Alabama tied and NCAA and SEC record with six sacrifice bunts … Junior DH David Kindred was the leading hitter in five games this week … Kindred hit .400 (6-for-15) with two runs scored, two doubles and four RBI … He made his first start for the Tide against UAB on April 6 … Kindred went 2-for-5 with one double and one RBI in the Tide’s win at Kentucky on April 11 ... He had an RBI double in UA’s five-run eighth inning … Junior RHP Nathan Kilcrease posted a 1-0 record with one save and 0.00 ERA in two relief appearances this week for Alabama ... He threw six scoreless innings this week and allowed three hits with seven strikeouts and three walks ... He held opponents to a .158 batting average … Rutledge has hit safely in all 12 road games this season, including a three-hit game at Kentucky on April 11.

ARKANSAS Razorbacks

The Razorbacks posted a 4-0 record this past week with a midweek win over Saint Louis and a weekend sweep at Mississippi State. The Arkansas bats came to life early in a 32-8 win against Saint Louis. The Hogs scored 14 runs in the first inning of the midweek contest, the school record for runs scored in an inning. Arkansas’ 32 runs are the second-highest total in program history. The Razorbacks also tied the school mark with 30 team RBI. During its weekend SEC series in Starkville, Miss., Arkansas earned its first-ever road sweep against Mississippi State. In game one, the Hogs came away with an 8-3 win which was the 300th win at Arkansas for head coach Dave Van Horn. The Razorbacks took game two, 8-5, and completed the sweep with a 13-3 triumph in Sunday’s finale. With the win, Arkansas moved into first place in the SEC Western Division with the help of an LSU loss at Auburn. Collin Kuhn was recognized by CollegeBaseball360 last week as a Primetime Performer. It was the third consecutive week a Razorback was selected to the weekly honor roll. On the upcoming schedule, the Razorbacks will host five games at Baum Stadium, beginning with a Tuesday-Wednesday matchup with New Mexico. Both midweek contests are scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. start. The Georgia Bulldogs will visit Fayetteville for a weekend series to close out the week. Game one of the conference series will be televised by ESPN2 at 6 p.m. as part of the 2010 SEC baseball television package.

AUBURN Tigers

With its first series win over LSU since the 2007 season and its first at home since 1998, Auburn improved to 7-5 in the SEC, two games behind West leader Arkansas (9-3) … Auburn’s 7-5 league mark is its best after 12 games since the 2003 team was 9-3 at the same point … The series loss was only the second for LSU in its last 18, was its first in nine road SEC series and with wins on Saturday and Sunday, Auburn handed LSU only its second losing streak in its last 135 games … Jr. OF Trent Mummey returned to the lineup with a bang, hitting three home runs and driving in 11 runs after missing the first 28 games of the season due to a severely sprained ankle … Jr. OF Justin Fradejas extended his hitting streak to 14 games by hitting safely in all five games last week, collecting multiple hits in four of them as he went 9-for-19 (.474) with three doubles and six RBI … With its win on Saturday against Jr. LHP Chris Matulis, Auburn has now gone 12-1 in games in which the opponent has started a lefty, including a perfect 10-0 at home … Auburn remains the top hitting club in the SEC with a .347 team batting average, also pacing the league in slugging percentage (.580), runs scored (298), hits (417), home runs (54), total bases (672) and sac flies (22) … After finding itself down 14-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth on Friday night, Auburn outscored LSU 24-12 and had 27 of its 34 hits on the weekend (compared to 18 for LSU) … Auburn will play host to New Orleans at 6:30pm on Wednesday night to close out its six-game home stand and then head to Nashville to face Vanderbilt … Auburn is in search of a second consecutive series win over Vanderbilt for the first time since the team won its last series in Nashville in 2001 and then came home to win the next series in 2002.

FLORIDA Gators

Florida (23-8/8-4 SEC) claimed three of four games last week, overpowering Jacksonville (12-2) on Tuesday before taking two of three games from Eastern Division rival Tennessee for its first series triumph in Knoxville since 2002…Sophomore Alex Panteliodis worked a career-high eight innings to lead the Gators to a 4-2 victory in Friday’s opener...The left-hander (6-1, 1.99) gave up six hits and two runs to pick up the win, while junior Kevin Chapman (1-0, 1.21) collected his sixth save by registering the final three outs...Panteliodis is 2-1 with a 2.48 in four SEC starts covering 29.0 innings…Sophomore outfielder Daniel Pigott (.262, 17 RBI) drove in a pair of runs and had his first career triple as the Gators kicked off their eight-game road trip with their first series-opening win in Knoxville since April 12, 2002…Behind the strong pitching of senior Stephen McCray and an opportunistic offense that scored seven runs with two outs, UT evened the series with a 12-4 victory on Saturday…Freshman Austin Maddox (.356, 37 RBI) went 3-for-5 and had his first multiple-homer game with a pair of solo shots in the setback…He leads the Gators in slugging percentage (.629), multiple-hit games (15), multi-RBI games (11), doubles (nine) and homers (nine)…Freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana (.287, 10 RBI) committed his first error after 127 consecutive successful chances in game two…Freshman right-hander Hudson Randall (3-3, 3.98) held Tennessee without a hit until the sixth inning and Florida erupted for a season-high seven runs in the sixth to cruise to a 9-1 victory in the rubber game of the weekend series…Over a career-high eight innings, Randall limited the Vols to four singles and a run and matched his personal-best of six strikeouts…He was supported by an offense that banged out 13 hits, including seven doubles…Sophomore Jerico Weitzel (3-for-4, two runs) had a career-high three doubles and junior Josh Adams (.243, 21 RBI, 5 HR) jacked a three-run homer in the sixth when the contest was scoreless…Weitzel’s effort marked the first time that a Gator had three two-baggers in a game since Jeff Corsaletti accomplished the feat against Nebraska on June 19, 2005, at the NCAA College World Series…Weitzel entered the game with two career doubles…Senior Jonathan Pigott hit .417 (5-for-12) at Tennessee, while Weitzel was 3-for-7 (.429) and Maddox was 5-for -14 (.357)…Sophomore Preston Tucker (.357, 24 RBI) enters this week’s action on a team-best six-game hitting streak…Florida wraps up its four-game regular-season series with No. 7 Florida State (25-7/10-5 ACC) in Tallahassee on Tuesday before heading to Lexington for a weekend series against Kentucky (21-12/4-8 SEC).

GEORGIA Bulldogs

Sophomore center fielder Zach Cone is having an All-Star season as he leads the Bulldogs with a .372 batting average, .674 slugging percentage, six triples, seven home runs, 32 RBI and a perfect fielding percentage in 67 total chances including six assists. He had an 18-game hitting streak end this past Wednesday. In SEC action, Cone is batting .340-4-13. Georgia defeated 15th-ranked Ole Miss 6-3 this past Sunday in Athens, and it marked head coach David Perno’s 300th career win. Perno becomes only the third coach in Georgia baseball history to reach that milestone, joining Steve Webber (500-403-1 from 1981-1996) and Jim Whatley (336-237-3 from 1950, ’52-75). The Bulldogs snapped a five-game losing streak with the win over the Rebels. Georgia’s pitching staff posted a 3.19 ERA in the Ole Miss series and all three starters pitched into the seventh inning. Georgia’s staff registered 32 strikeouts and only seven walks on the weekend and limited Ole Miss to 11 runs and a .231 batting average. The Bulldogs will be back in action Wednesday at Foley Field when they play host to second-ranked Georgia Tech (27-5). First pitch Wednesday will be at 7:06 p.m., and CSS will televise the game. On March 16 in Atlanta, the Yellow Jackets edged Georgia 6-5. This will be second game of a three-game set against Tech. The final game will be April 27 at Turner Field in the eighth annual "Spring Baseball Classic For Kids." Game one of the Arkansas this Friday will be televised by ESPN2. It will mark the third straight Friday night that Georgia will appear on the ESPN network.

KENTUCKY Wildcats

The Kentucky baseball team wrapped up its best week of the season with a series win over No. 19 Alabama, also picking up a midweek win over No. 7 Louisville. UK will not play a midweek game this week, returning to action with the weekend series with No. 8 Florida. Kentucky (21-12, 4-8 Southeastern Conference) started the week with a dominating performance in a 5-0 win over Louisville. UK got a homer from senior Gunner Glad and a stellar pitching performance from Jordan Cooper, Mike Kaczmarek and Nick Kennedy. UK then opened the SEC series with Bama, taking game one 7-6, using a four-run rally in the bottom of the eighth to come-from-behind for the win. UK third baseman Andy Burns belted a pair of homers in the game with Chad Wright and Keenan Wiley each charting three hits. In the Saturday game, UK notched an 8-2 win, getting three hits and three RBI from shortstop Taylor Black, who hit his third homer of the year. UK freshman southpaw Taylor Rogers was dynamic on the bump, twirling 7.2 innings and allowing only five hits and two runs, striking out five. Sunday, UK jumped out to a 9-0 lead after five innings, before Alabama scored 11 unanswered runs to salvage the series with a 11-9 comeback win. UK will return to action Friday-Sunday, hosting No. 8 Florida in a three-game series. The Wildcats and the Gators will play on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, and Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The first two games will be televised on the Big Blue Sports Network, with Dick Gabriel (play-by-play), MLB Gold Glove infielder Doug Flynn (Color) and Ryan Lemond (sideline), calling the action. All three games in the UK-UF series will be broadcast live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio), with the Voice of UK Baseball, Neil Price, calling the action. The Wildcats have been led offensively by Wright, who leads UK with a .373 (50-for-134) average, leading the club in hits (50), doubles (nine), triples (two), adding two homers, 27 RBI and seven stolen bases. Glad has posted a .366 (45-for-123) average with eight doubles, seven homers and 33 RBI, stealing three bases. Wiley has hit .364 (43-for-118) with five doubles, one triple, four homers and 27 RBI, stealing 11 bases. Junior All-American second baseman Chris Bisson has hit .339 (38-for-112) with six doubles, two homers, 18 RBI and 15 steals. Kapteyn has added a .295 (31-for-105) average with six doubles, four homers and 20 RBI, while Black has hit .283 (28-for-99) with four doubles, four homers and 21 RBI, stealing seven bags.

LSU Tigers

LSU is ranked in the Top 10 of a college baseball poll for the 32nd consecutive week, a streak that began on May 19, 2008 … LSU dropped two of three games at Auburn last weekend, marking the Tigers’ first SEC series loss since April 17-19, 2009 versus Tennessee in Alex Box Stadium … LSU had won seven straight league series overall and eight consecutive conference series on the road prior to last weekend … LSU has won 16 of its past 18 SEC series since April 25, 2008 … the Tigers lost two straight games at Auburn on Saturday and Sunday, marking just the second time LSU has lost two in a row over the past 134 games, a stretch that began on April 22, 2008 … junior catcher Micah Gibbs had another excellent week at the plate for the Tigers, batting .444 (8-for-18) in four games with one double, one triple, one homer, six RBI and six runs … Gibbs is batting .403 on the year with six doubles, three triples, five homers and 33 RBI … sophomore third baseman Grant Dozar batted .438 (7-for-16) last week with two doubles, one triple, six RBI and five runs … senior designated hitter Matt Gaudet, who leads the SEC with 11 home runs this season, hit .421 (8-for-19) in five games last week with five RBI and two runs scored … sophomore rightfielder Mikie Mahtook batted .409 (9-for-22) last week with one double, one triple, one homer, four RBI, four stolen bases and eight runs scored … LSU hit .350 (69-for-197) as a team in its five games last week with 13 doubles, five triples, five homers and 49 runs scored, an average of just under 10 runs per game … junior right-hander Anthony Ranaudo earned his first win of the season when the Tigers defeated Auburn on Friday… Ranaudo, who missed four starts due to a stress reaction in his throwing elbow, allowed three runs on five hits in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts … Ranaudo fired a season-high 86 pitches in the victory … freshman left-hander Chris Cotton earned his first career save on Friday at Auburn, retiring the final two batters with two runners on base and the tying run on deck … LSU is 8-1 in one-run games this season, including Wednesday’s 6-5, 12-inning victory over Southern Miss at Zephyr Field in Metairie, La. … this Saturday’s LSU game versus Alabama will be "Ben McDonald Day" at Alex Box Stadium … McDonald’s jersey No. 19 will be formally retired and permanently displayed on the fascia of the Alex Box Stadium grandstand … McDonald, a 6-7 right-hander from Denham Springs, La., won the 1989 Golden Spikes Award and he was the No. 1 overall selection in the ’89 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles … he is the SEC leader in single-season strikeouts with 202 Ks in 1989.

OLE MISS Rebels

Ole Miss moved its record out to 23-10 and 7-5 in SEC play with a series win at Georgia over the weekend behind some ace pitching and some critical hits in a couple of pitching duels. Junior LHP Drew Pomeranz (6-0) picked up the win on Friday night in a season-long 8.0 innings of work as he tied a season-high with 15 strikeouts against the Bulldogs in teh 4-1 win. The southpaw leads the SEC in strikeouts with 80 and has moved into second on the Ole Miss career strikeout list with 285 in three years. He needs 48 to overtake career leader Lance Lynn who has 332 strikeouts for his career. Pomeranz was named the Midseason Player and Pitcher of the Year by Baseball America heading into the weekend series. Senior RHP Aaron Barrett turned in his eighth quality start of the year in as many appearances, but took no decision after the Rebels gave up a tying run in the ninth in a 13-inning game on Saturday. Barrett worked a career-long 7.1 innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters while allowing only two hits and no runs in his time on the mound. The senior right-hander is second in the SEC in strikeouts with 63 on the season after his performance on Friday night. Ole Miss went on to win the game 4-3 after a two-run home run from Taylor Hashman - his third of the season - and an RBI double from Kevin Mort that proved to be the deciding run. Mort also hit a solo home run on Friday night - the second of his career - to snap a 1-1 tie and put the Rebels in the eighth inning on Friday. Ole Miss continues to play on the road with a single midweek game against Memphis at AutoZone Park on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. before staying on the road for a weekend series at South Carolina. The Rebels and Gamecocks will play on television both Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. CDT, respectively. Both games will be televised by SportSouth. Sunday's game is set for a 12:30 p.m. CDT start.

MISSISSIPPI STATE Bulldogs

Mississippi State continues its nine-game April homestand with four games this week. The Bulldogs (16-16, 3-9 SEC) welcome South Alabama (23-13, 11-4 SBC) to Dudy Noble Field for a Wednesday (6:30 p.m.) makeup game of a contest rained out March 2. State then hosts SEC East foe Tennessee (16-17, 3-9 SEC) for a three-game set that is part of MSU’s annual spring homecoming celebration, Super Bulldog Weekend, presented by Regions Bank … State opened its homestand in impressive fashion with an 18-2 midweek romp past Jackson State. Senior outfielder Ryan Duffy (.300) went 5-for-5 with nine RBI, a school record-tying three home runs and an MSU record 15 total bases in the game. Duffy went 9-for-13 (.692) with three home runs and 10 RBI for the week … The Bulldogs were unable to sustain that level of play against the ninth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks (26-6, 9-3 SEC), who knocked off State 8-3, 8-3 and 13-3 for their first three game series sweep at Dudy Noble Field … Junior infielder Nick Vickerson (.314) led State at the plate against Arkansas with a 4-for-8 worksheet that included a double and two home runs … Senior first baseman Connor Powers (.371, 9 HR) drove in six runs last week, raising his SEC-leading seasonal RBI total to 45 and climbing to eighth among MSU’s career RBI leaders with 183.

SOUTH CAROLINA Gamecocks

South Carolina went 3-1 this past week with a non-conference win vs. College of Charleston on Wednesday night and two victories in three games in a weekend series at Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks are now 25-7 on the year and 9-3 in SEC play. South Carolina is tied for the lead in league play with Arkansas and one game ahead of Florida in the SEC Eastern Division. The Gamecocks are the only SEC squad to have won all four of its conference series. With the 2-0 win at Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon, head coach Ray Tanner tallied his 1000th career victory. He is the fourth fastest active coach to tally 1,000 Division I victories in games played (Tanner is 1,000-446-3 in Division I, .691 winning percentage). He is 605-273 in 14 years at South Carolina (.689). The Gamecocks won their second consecutive series vs. Vanderbilt and now lead the series history 42-18 vs. the Commodores. Sunday’s win vs. Vanderbilt saw South Carolina pitchers Jay Brown, Michael Roth and Matt Price combined to face the minimum and record a two-hit shutout to defeat Vanderbilt 2-0 in the rubber game of the three-game SEC series. In his second start of the year, Brown commanded the zone and worked ahead of the Vanderbilt hitters yielding just two hits while striking out two batters. He is now 2-0 on the year. Brown recorded a double play, as did Michael Roth in the seventh inning putting the Gamecocks in position to face the minimum 27 batters. It would be freshman right-hander Matt Price that would close it out, as the righty worked two perfect innings with three strikeouts to earn his fourth save of the season. The shutout was the first for Vanderbilt at home in SEC play since LSU won 3-0 on May 1, 2005. Price also earned a save in Friday’s victory over Vanderbilt with 0.2 perfect innings of relief. Price has been strong out of the pen for the Gamecocks with a 3-0 record and a 1.23 ERA in 13 appearances. He now has four saves on the year as well. Price has struck out 35 batters and walked just five in 22 innings pitched. Opponents are batting just .133 against him. All four of his saves have come in SEC play, the most among SEC relievers in SEC games. He is tied for fifth overall in the conference. Senior right-hander Blake Cooper also was effective on the mound for Carolina in Friday’s 3-2 win over Vanderbilt. Cooper ended up going 7.1 innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits with three strikeouts and four walks to improve to 6-0 on the year. He is tied with three other pitchers for first in victories in the SEC (6) and also ranks second in the conference in opposing batting average (.195) and innings pitched (53.2). He also is seventh in the league in strikeouts (47) and ninth in ERA (2.85). Cooper now is tied for 10th on the all-time career victory list at Carolina with 27 career wins alongside Jason Haynie (1993-96). The Gamecock pitching staff leads the SEC in opposing batting average with opponents batting just .217 for the season. The staff also ranks second in the league in ERA (3.43) and strikeouts (309). The staff owns five shutouts on the year as well. Carolina’s pitchers faced a Vanderbilt team that came into the weekend series batting .340 for the season and the Gamecock staff limited the Commodores to 19 hits in three games. Junior Whit Merrifield continues to be one of the top bats in the Southeastern Conference. Merrifield had two hits including a game-winning homer to lead off Sunday’s 2-0 victory at Vanderbilt. He has hit safely in 31 of 32 games this year and currently owns a 19-game hitting streak. Merrifield is now tied for 15th on the all-time hits list at Carolina with 215 alongside Reese Havens (2006-07-08). He is also 10th on the all-time list in singles with 157. Merrifield is the only Gamecock player to have started all 32 games and is batting .353 (47-for-133) with seven HR and 24 RBI. He has a .428 on-base percentage and a .571 slugging percentage. Merrifield is third in the SEC in runs scored (40) and is tied for ninth in hits (47) as well as total bases (76). He is 18-for-47 (.383) in SEC games.

TENNESSEE Volunteers

The University of Tennessee baseball team will close out a five-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts Lipscomb at 7 p.m. The Volunteers will then travel to the Magnolia State for the second time in three weeks when it makes the trek to Starkville, Miss., for a three-game set against Mississippi State, April 16-18. They will be looking to return to the win column after dropping three of four contests last week. UT suffered a 14-9 setback to Western Carolina last Wednesday before falling in the first and third games of its weekend series with No. 8 Florida. The Orange and White’s lone win on the week came against the Gators on Saturday when senior Stephen McCray tossed 6.1 strong innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just one run while tying his career high with seven strikeouts and not walking a batter. With his effort, the Lilburn, Ga., native staked claim to his team-leading fourth win of the season. Redshirt junior D.J. Leffler came out of the bullpen in all three games against UF, finishing the weekend with four punchouts in 3.1 scoreless innings. The Yorba Linda, Calif., native allowed just one hit and retired 10 of the 11 batters that he faced. Offensively, sophomore Matt Ramsey and junior Josh Liles paced the Big Orange, hitting .455 and .400, respectively, on the week. Juniors Cody Hawn and Blake Forsythe were the team’s top run producers over the course of the four games as both players knocked in six runs. Following their contest against the Bisons on Tuesday, the Vols will open "Super Bulldog Weekend" with a 7:30 p.m. ET contest at Dudy Noble Field. UT and MSU will then square off at 2 p.m. ET the next day before closing out the series with a 2:30 p.m. ET showdown on Sunday.

VANDERBILT Commodores

Vanderbilt went 2-3 on the week, dropping its third SEC series of the season against South Carolina … The Commodores outscored the Gamecocks 10-7 on the weekend and lost in spite of stellar starting pitching by the trio of Sonny Gray, Jack Armstrong and Taylor Hill. The trio combined to pitch 24.2 innings out of a possible 27 and allowed just six runs, five earned, on 15 hits with 15 strikeouts and eight walks. They had a cume 1.82 ERA and each had the longest outings of their career … Jack Armstrong allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks over eight innings in the Commodores 8-2 win on Sunday. He is now 5-0 on the season with a 3.43 ERA … Taylor Hill gave up a solo homer on the first pitch of Sunday’s game and just allowed a single in the next 7.2 innings. He was the tough luck loser, allowing one run on two hits in 7.2 innings with a walk and three strikeouts … Sonny Gray continued his solid pitching in SEC play, allowing three runs in his first collegiate complete game on Friday. He took the loss despite striking out eight and is now 1-3 in conference action with a 1.93 ERA … As a team the Commodores had a 2.75 ERA for the week (including midweek against Belmont) with 31 strikeouts and 10 walks in 36.0 innings … Will Clinard pitched three innings of two-hit scoreless relief with two strikeouts and a walk in the win over Belmont … Grayson Garvin struck out all three batters he faced against the Bruins and now has six strikeouts in two innings of work on the year … Offensively the Commodores hit just .270 on the week with six doubles, a triple and 22 runs scored in five games … Brian Harris led the team with a 4-for-12 (.333) week, he walked four times and was hit once (.529 on base percentage) … Aaron Westlake was 4-for-13 (.308) with five runs scored … Mike Yastrzemski was 3-for-9 (.333) with two doubles in four games, including three starts … The Commodores close out their eight-game homestand this week with a midweek game against Middle Tennessee and then a three game series against Auburn over the weekend. The Tigers beat LSU two out of three this weekend in Auburn and are 7-5 in league play. Sunday’s game will be televised on ESPNU, marking the first time the Commodores have been on that station ... VU will then play 12 of its final 19 regular season games away from Hawkins Field.

2010 HITTING STREAKS
As of April 12

Current (min 10)
Whit Merrifield, SC 19
Matt Smith, UM 17
Justin Fradejas, AU 14
Monk Kreder, ARK 14
Micah Gibbs, LSU 13
Collin Kuhn, ARK 11

Season (min 10)
Zack Cox, ARK 24
Josh Rutledge, UA 21
Zach Cone, UG 18
Anthony Gomez, VU 14
Andy Burns, UK 13
Matt den Dekker, UF 13
P.J. Polk, UT 13
Jet Butler, MSU 12
Brian Fletcher, AU 12
Brian Johns, VU 12
Whit Merrifield, SC 12
Keenan Wiley, UK 12
Chris Bisson, UK 11
Adrian Morales, SC 11
Jason Esposito, VU 10
Braden Kapteyn, UK 10
Austin Maddox, UF 10
Peter Verdin, UG 10
Trey Watkins, LSU 10