HOOVER, Ala. — Alex Faedo allowed one run in six innings, and Christian Hicks drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning to score what proved to be the winning run in the No. 4 and top-seeded Florida baseball team’s 5-4 victory against No. 20 and eighth-seeded Auburn on Wednesday night in the Southeastern Conference tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Faedo struck out seven to push Florida (41-15) past Auburn, which beat Ole Miss in the tournament’s opening round. Sophomore Michael Byrne pitched a scoreless ninth to set a school record with his 14th save.
Florida advances in the winners’ bracket and will play at 11 a.m. Friday against the winner of today’s game between No. 13 and fourth-seeded Arkansas and No. 18 and fifth-seeded Mississippi State.
Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan praised the effort of Faedo, who received a no decision. Tyler Dyson (2-0) earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief after Auburn (35-23) tied the game at 4 with four runs in the top of the seventh inning
“He located his pitches for the most part and threw some really quality changeups,” O’Sullivan said of Faedo. “Auburn’s hitters did a nice job of laying off of a few of them because out of the hand they looked like fastballs, and I thought he might get some swings and misses on some of those. His changeup is a pitch that is much improved for him and his slider was really good. He fastball was good too.”
“Michael Byrne, what a great story. He broke the school record tonight with his 14th save and we had no idea he was going to be our closer until about a month into the season so congratulations to him. I thought we had some really good at-bats in the third and fourth inning, especially with two outs.”
Jonah Todd led Auburn with three hits. Calvin Coker (2-3) took the loss.
Florida took the lead in the bottom of the third. Catcher Mike Rivera, playing for the first time since April 11 due to a hand injury, reached on a dropped popup in shallow right. Deacon Liput’s single to center made it 1-0.
Florida added three runs in the fourth inning after two were out. JJ Schwarz doubled down the right-field line and Jonathan India singled to center to bring him home. Christian Hicks’ double scored India and Mark Kolozsvary singled to make it 4-0.
In the seventh, Auburn led off with a single and walk before Florida went to the bullpen and called on Frank Rubio. The Gators couldn’t turn the double play and left-hander Nick Horvath replaced Rubio with runners on the corners and one out. A chopper to third by Todd got Auburn on the board and an errant through from India kept the Tigers’ rally going. Horvath allowed a two-out walk and Conor Davis lined a double to the wall in right field to bring home two runs.
After another pitching change, Auburn tied the game on a wild pitch by Dyson, who then ended the threat with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Gators loaded the bases with one out after singles by Schwarz and India and a walk to Horvath. Hicks’ walk provided the winning run.
n LSU 10, Missouri 3: Cole Freeman had four hits and four RBIs, Caleb Gilbert pitched five strong innings and No. 8 and second-seeded LSU beat 10th-seeded Missouri.
The win was coach Paul Mainieri’s 500th at LSU, as he improved his record at the school to 500-199-3 (.714) in 11 seasons.
LSU, which was won eight straight games and 12 of its last 13 against SEC teams, will play No. 10 and third-seeded Kentucky at approximately 8 tonight. Tenth-seeded Missouri will face 11th-seeded South Carolina at approximately 1 p.m. today in an elimination game.
“It was nice to get our 40th win of the year today,” Mainieri said. “We knew Missouri was going to be a tough game. I knew the key to the game would be the job Caleb Gilbert did. He pitched his heart out, and I knew he would. I thought he made great pitches and gave us a chance.”
LSU (40-17) scored four runs in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead and then added two more in the fifth. Gilbert (4-1) gave up three hits in five innings and struck out three.
Gilbert, a Hoover, Alabama, native pitching in his hometown, worked five innings and limited Missouri to one run on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
“It was awesome, I always love coming back to the SEC Tournament,” Gilbert said. “It was a special thing for me growing up to go to all of the SEC Tournament games. I got a start here last year, and it was a good bridge to this year. The nerves weren’t there, and I could just go out and attack hitters and give our team the best chance to win.”
Kirby McGuire and Chris Cornelius had two hits for Missouri (36-22). T.J. Sikkema (8-3) gave up five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Missouri took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on left fielder Kameron Misner’s seventh home run of the season.
LSU scored four runs on four hits against Sikkema in the bottom of the third to take the lead. Center-fielder Zach Watson belted a run-scoring double to tie the game before Freeman gave the Tigers the lead with a sacrifice fly. Center fielder Antoine Duplantis and first baseman Nick Coomes had RBI singles.
The Tigers added two runs in the fifth when Duplantis delivered another run-scoring single, and Coomes contributed an run-scoring groundout.
Missouri narrowed it to 6-2 in the eighth with an unearned run against reliever Zack Hess, but LSU struck for four runs in the bottom of the frame, as shortstop Kramer Robertson lined an RBI double and Freeman blasted a three-run home run.
n Kentucky 7, South Carolina 2: Evan White drove in four runs to lead Kentucky past South Carolina.
The win was the first for Kentucky (39-18) in the SEC tournament since 2014.
White had a three-run double and a run-scoring grounder. Kole Cottam had two hits, including a home run. Connor Heady went 2-for-2 and scored twice.
Cottam, who has nine hits in his past four games, hammered his sixth home run of the year in the fourth. White added a three-run opposite-field double in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Brad Schaenzer drew the start and lasted three innings before Zach Logue (7-5) relieved him in the fourth and threw three innings to earn the win. Chris Machamer worked the final three innings to earn his first save.
Jonah Bride went 2-for-4 with an RBI double for the Gamecocks, who committed four errors. Alex Destino also drove in a run.
South Carolina outhit Kentucky, the league’s top hitting team, eight to seven.
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