Texas Longhorns catcher Rylan Galvan (6) and infielder Adrian Rodriguez (24) celebrate a home run by outfielder Tommy Farmer IV (43) during the Lone Star Showdown against Texas A&M at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday, April 25, 2025. [Austin American-Statesman]

SEC Weekly Roundup: Gut-Check Time For SEC Teams

Hunter DeLauder April 29, 2025 Baseball, College Baseball, Gators Baseball, NCAA, SEC 26 Views

With only three weeks left in the baseball regular season, it was gut-check time for plenty of SEC teams this weekend.

Florida saved its season with an impressive home series win against Arkansas and Georgia snapped a five-game losing streak and won its series against Oklahoma. Ole Miss bounced back to beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky held off South Carolina in three games.

While teams fought for their life, Texas and LSU continued showing everyone why they were two of the top favorites to win it all. The Longhorns swept longtime rival Texas A&M for the first time since 2010. While the series results were one-sided, it lived up to the billing.

LSU hosted Tennessee this weekend in a battle between college baseball’s last two champions. For three days, 13,142 Tigers and Vols fans packed into Alex Box Stadium to watch a top-10 showdown.

The series saw everything from 2 a.m. walk-offs to great pitching and the unlikeliest of heroes. The Tigers secured the series win after Sunday’s 12-2 run-ruling victory.

SEC Top 5

  1. Texas (37-5, 19-2)
  2. LSU (36-9, 14-7)
  3. Tennessee (35-9, 13-8)
  4. Georgia (35-11, 12-9)
  5. Arkansas (37-9, 14-7)

Ever since Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle left Texas A&M after last season’s heartbreaking loss in Game 3 of the College World Series final. The whole college baseball world has had this year’s Lone Star State Showdown marked on their calendars.

The Aggies came into this hot, winning its last three SEC series and 10 of 11 games. But so was Texas, and the Longhorns showed again why they are the No. 1 team in the country.

With their Friday night ace Jared Spencer out for the year, junior right-hander pitcher Ruger Rojas stepped up and held a red-hot Aggie lineup scoreless through 5.2 innings, giving up only five hits and striking out three. With a 1-0 lead in the seventh, sophomore Tommy Farmer IV blasted his first home run of the year to make it a 2-0 game.

It proved to be the difference-maker, as the Aggies scored a run in the eighth but were shut down the rest of the way by freshman left-handed pitcher Dylan Volantis.

On Saturday, sophomore infielder Ethan Mendoza came up clutch for the Longhorns. Mendoza went 3-for-4 with a home run to tie the game at 1-1 in the third and a RBI double in the seventh to make it 3-1. It proved the difference as A&M tacked on one in the ninth to cut the lead to 3-2 before Volantis came in to secure the final two-outs and close the series.

It looked like Texas A&M was about to salvage the series with a win on Sunday, but again, Texas found a way to pull out the win. The Aggies led 4-2 in the sixth, but Texas responded with a three-run inning to take the lead 5-4. A&M punched back with a home run to tie the game at 5-5 in the seventh.

But in the eighth inning, freshman Adrian Rodriguez hit a go-ahead home run on the first pitch he saw to give Texas a 6-5 lead. The Longhorns turned a double-play in the ninth to secure the sweep and now head to Arkansas this weekend.

The clock had just hit 2 a.m., and LSU trailed 3-0 in the ninth, staring down a game-one defeat. After two Tennessee errors put two runners on, the Tigers tied the game with back-to-back singles.

Then stepped in junior first baseman  Jared ‘Bear’ Jones, who came into the at-bat 1-for-3 with two strikeouts. But with the game on the line, Jones turned around a 96 mph fastball and sent a ball 452 feet over the batter’s eye to walk it off for LSU and win the game 6-3.

Tennessee bounced back in game two with a masterful performance from right-handed pitcher Marcus Phillips. Phillips pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and striking out six.

After LSU cut the Tennessee lead to 3-2 in the seventh, the Volunteers broke it open in the eighth — scoring six runs to make it a 9-2 game — ultimately closing it out in the ninth to win 9-3.

It set up a game three rubber match where LSU took care of business with a 12-2 run-rule victory to lock up the series. Freshman outfielder Derek Curiel, who had his 43-game on-base streak snapped the night before, went 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs. LSU will now hit the road to College Station to take on Texas A&M, while Tennessee returns home to face Auburn.

Georgia got back on track with a solid home-series victory against Oklahoma. After dropping game 1, the Bulldogs entered Saturday’s contest dropping its last five games.

It was gut-check time for Georgia, who needed a win to help get the season back on track. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second before going up 9-2 in the fifth off a Tre Phelps three-run home run.

Some inconsistencies on the mound allowed the Sooners right back in it and saw the Bulldogs’ lead shrink to 9-7 in the seventh. But freshman infielder Cade Brown hit an RBI double to extend the lead to 10-7. It turned out to be the difference after Oklahoma cut the lead to 10-9 in the eighth before Georgia held on to win.

Trailing 2-1 in the sixth, junior first baseman Brennan Hudson slammed a three-run home run over the batter’s eye to give Georgia a 4-2 lead.

Georgia hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh to extend its lead to 6-2 before closing it down in the ninth to win 6-3. Georgia has now won two of its last three SEC series and will now hit the road to take on a Missouri team that is 0-21 in conference play.

Arkansas continues to slide after dropping two out of three to Florida this past weekend. The Razorbacks have lost three straight SEC series for the first time since 2016. After dropping game 1, Arkansas bounced back to shutout Florida 7-0.

Junior right-handed pitcher Gage Wood set the tone early with his three shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out five. Sophomore right-handed pitchers Gabe Gaeckle and Aiden Jimenez closed it the rest of the way.

On Sunday, the Razorbacks jumped to a 5-1 lead before surrendering eight unanswered runs and losing 9-5. Arkansas pitching managed to hold Florida scoreless only once.

They had a chance in the ninth inning when the Hogs loaded the bases with one out. But Gators right-handed pitcher Jake Clemente locked it down and secured the win for Florida.

Arkansas will try to get back on track when they welcome No. 1 Texas to the Hog Pen.

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