SEC Baseball Tournament - Day 4

Saturday, May 25, 2002

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2002 SEC SEC Baseball Tournament
Hoover Metropolitan Stadium
Birmingham, Ala., May 22-26.

#3 Florida 7, #2 Alabama 4

Birmingham, AL (AP) -- Pat Osborn homered, doubled and drove in three runs as Florida stayed alive in the Southeastern Conference tournament with a 7-to-4 win over Alabama today in Hoover.

The teams meet again this afternoon, with the winner advancing to the championship game.

The Gators, now 43-and-16, scored five runs in the first two innings and Mike Pete pitched a career-long seven innings to snap a 12-game losing streak in the series and set up the rematch.

Osborn was 2-for-4 and scored twice, hitting a two-run shot over the left field fence in the first inning.

Mark Kiger also was 2-for-4 with an R-B-I.

Pete, four-and-oh, had never made it through the sixth inning, going 5-1/3 against Florida A&M on Feb. 13. He allowed seven hits and three runs but didn't walk anybody.

Alabama, now 46-and-13, couldn't string any runs together, scoring once in four innings, including the sixth, seventh and eighth.

The biggest missed opportunity came in the eighth. Scott McClanahan reached on a throwing error to open it and scored on Brent Boyd's single.

Reliever Kevin Coleman then struck out pinch-hitter Zac Welch but Adam Pavkovich singled. Coleman retired the next two batters as Alabama stranded eight baserunners in the final five innings.

Ben Harrison plated an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth for the Gators.

Alabama starter Shane Sanders, eight-and-three, needed 50-plus pitches to get through the first two innings as Florida jumped to a 5-0 lead. He still made it through the seventh, allowing nine hits and six runs while walking and striking out four.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Florida............. 230 010 001 -  7 10  1
Alabama............. 010 001 110 -  4 10  2
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#1 South Carolina 10, #4 LSU 8

Birmingham, AL (AP) -- Drew Meyer went 4-for-5 and Steve Thomas hit a two-run double in the eighth to lift South Carolina to a 10-8 win over LSU Saturday in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Gamecocks' victory set up a late-night rematch for a trip to Sunday's title game against the Alabama-Florida winner.

South Carolina is trying for its first SEC tournament title while LSU (40-18) is trying to make the championship game for a third straight year.

South Carolina (47-13) scored four runs in the eighth, three of them unearned, capped by back-to-back doubles by Meyer and Thomas. Meyer scored three runs and tied the school record with his 104th hit of the season.

Matt Campbell (3-2) picked up the win, going 3-2/3 innings in relief and allowing two runs, one earned.

John Wesley, who had thrown 3-2/3 innings all season, pitched the final two innings for his first save.

The Gamecocks got a boost from the return of SEC Player of the Year Yaron Peters. Peters, who hadn't played since pulling a hamstring in the regular season finale, had a two-run double in the third.

Justin Harris was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. He also scored from second on a fly ball to deep center field which was caught by a diving David Raymer.

LSU's Matt Heath hit his fifth triple and was 3-for-4, driving in two runs. Jon Zeringue added a solo homer, his second.

The teams combined for 24 hits and neither starter lasted more than four innings.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
South Carolina...... 104 001 040 - 10 11  1
LSU................. 030 211 010 -  8 13  2
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#2 Alabama 11, #3 Florida 9

Birmingham, AL (AP) -- Leadoff man Travis Garner hit a fourth-inning grand slam and Peter Stonard followed with a solo homer as Alabama rallied for an 11-9 victory over Florida Saturday night to earn a spot in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

The Crimson Tide advanced to the title game for the fifth time in eight years and meet the LSU-South Carolina winner for the championship Sunday.

Alabama (47-13) got homers from each of its top four batters after the Gators (43-17) forced the second game with a 7-4 victory earlier Saturday.

The Gators loaded the bases with one out in the ninth off reliever Brian Reed (5-0). Sophomore Jeffrey Norris needed just one pitch to get Matt Goss to ground into a double play back to the mound.

Jeremy Brown had a two-run shot in the first inning, his first homer since April 6. Scott McClanahan's two-run homer gave Alabama the 11-8 lead and capped a four-run sixth.

Garner was 3-for-5 with a stolen base and two runs after coming in 2-for-15 in the tournament. Stonard doubled twice, drove in two runs and scored three more.

Brown drew his 200th career walk in the fourth, becoming the first SEC player to get 300 hits and 200 walks.

Reed allowed only a ninth-inning run in 4-1/3 innings. He got Florida to hit into double plays to end the sixth and seventh.

But the Gators knocked him out in the ninth on two singles, a wild pitch, a balk and a hit batsman.

Florida manufactured a five-run third inning on an error and seven hits for a 7-2 lead.

It lasted two outs into the fourth, when Garner hit his sixth homer to left and Stonard followed with a shot to right, his fifth. That chased Florida starter David Bartelt.

Florida's Ben Harrison had a two-run homer in the second and lacked only a single to hit for the cycle. Ryan Shealy was 4-for-5 with a double and scored three times.

In the first game, Pat Osborn homered, doubled and drove in three runs to end the Gators' 12-game losing streak against the Tide.

Florida scored five runs in the first two innings and Mike Pete pitched a career-long seven innings to set up the rematch.

Osborn was 2-for-4 and scored twice, hitting a two-run shot over the left field fence in the first inning.

Mark Kiger also was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Pete (4-0) had never made it through the sixth inning, going 5-1/3 against Florida A&M on Feb. 13. He allowed seven hits and three runs but didn't walk anybody.

Alabama couldn't string any runs together, scoring once in four innings, including the sixth, seventh and eighth. The Tide stranded eight baserunners in the final five innings.

Tide starter Shane Sanders (8-3) needed 50-plus pitches to get through the first two innings as Florida jumped to a 5-0 lead. He still made it through the seventh, allowing nine hits and six runs while walking and striking out four.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Alabama............. 200 504 000 - 11 12  3
Florida............. 025 010 001 -  9 15  2
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#1 South Carolina 5, #4 LSU 4

Birmingham, AL (AP) -- South Carolina flirted with disaster in the ninth inning before closer Blake Taylor got Blake Gill to ground out to second base to leave the bases loaded in a dramatic 5-4 victory over LSU Saturday night.

The top-seeded Gameocks will face Western Division champion Alabama in Sunday's Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

It didn't come easily.

South Carolina (48-13), which had never made the title game, stayed alive with a 10-8 victory over the Tigers earlier Saturday.

Trailing 5-2, LSU (40-19) loaded the bases with nobody out against freshman starter Aaron Rawl in the ninth. Taylor then walked home a pair of runs.

Then, Sean Barker hit a grounder to shortstop Drew Meyer who leaped over Wally Pontiff's high slide and Meyer threw late to first.

Umpire Ken Couch ruled that Pontiff interfered on the play, giving South Carolina a double play and forcing J.C. Holt back to third base.

Taylor, who leads the nation with 19 saves, then intentionally walked Matt Heath to load the bases again.

Blake Gill grounded past first but Yaron Peters briefly bobbled the ball before recovering and tossing it to Taylor for the final out.

Steve Thomas hit a three-run homer and Rawl (5-1) struck out eight before leaving with two men on. His longest previous outing was 4-1/3 innings.

LSU hadn't lost two games on the same day since Kentucky swept a doubleheader in 1991. The Tigers went on to win a national championship that year.

The Tigers' Bo Pettit (8-7) struck out eight in eight innings.

Thomas' homer to left-center in the fifth staked the Gamecocks to a 3-2 lead. Landon Powell opened the inning with a single and Kevin Melillo reached on an error.

South Carolina added to its lead with a two-run seventh. Meyer's school-record 105th hit of the season was an RBI triple and he scored on a wild pitch by Bo Pettit (8-7).

The Tigers had made the title game the past two years.

In the first game, Meyer was 4-for-5 and scored three times and Thomas added a two-run double in the eighth.