Strike One: Palmetto State Sluggers
South Carolina’s John Jones and Clemson’s Seth Beer were nightmares for opposing pitching this weekend. Against (13) Arkansas, Jones collected seven hits in 14 at-bats with two home runs, eight RBIs and scored five runs for the Gamecocks, who swept the Razorbacks this weekend. In Sunday’s game, Jones totaled four RBIs on two hits against Arkansas’ All-American closer Zach Johnson, helping the Gamecocks complete a comeback from a 6-1 deficit.
Beer generated six base hits in 10 at-bats, aiding the Tigers’ in their sweep of Boston College this weekend. In the series, Beer homered twice, including a walk-off shot in the bottom of the tenth inning Sunday and extended his hit-streak to 17 games.
Strike Two: LSU’s “solar single”
Alabama went into the bottom of the eighth inning up 4-1, and the Tide looked like they were going to complete the sweep against the Tigers in the opening weekend of SEC play. The Tigers rallied to score two runs to cut Alabama’s lead to one, when LSU shortstop Kramer Robertson came to bat with the bases loaded and no outs. Roberston hit what looked like a routine fly ball to right field, and Alabama right fielder Chandler Taylor called off the second baseman and center fielder to try to make the catch.
That’s when it happened.
Taylor was blinded by the sun, and the fly ball dropped, allowing two runs to score that gave the Tigers a 5-4 lead. LSU plated three more runs in the bottom of the inning, tallying a six-run eighth and held off Alabama in the ninth to secure the 7-5 victory.
Strike Three: Longhorns drop another series
Texas dropped two-of-three games against Tulane to continue what has been a disappointing 2016. The Longhorns have yet to win a series since opening the season with a series-win against UNLV and have lost seven games this season by two runs or less. Sunday’s loss drops Texas to 8-12 this season, and the Longhorns will open Big 12 play this Thursday against (8) TCU.
