Tennessee needed multiple things to happen to secure the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC baseball tournament. After Kentucky clinched at least a share of the league title, the Vols needed the Wildcats to lose in addition to a victory over South Carolina.
Tony Vitello’s group took care of the first order of business Saturday afternoon, defeating the Gamecocks 4-1 to improve to 22-8 in SEC play. That left the Kentucky game – and Vanderbilt left no room for doubt.
The Commodores’ offense woke up in a big way Saturday in Lexington, defeating Kentucky 12-4 to spoil the Wildcats’ chances of an outright SEC championship. As a result, Tennessee will officially be the No. 1 seed next week in Hoover while Kentucky drops to the No. 3 seed behind Arkansas.
Now, the top four seeds are set as Saturday’s games continue. Tennessee holds the top spot, followed by Arkansas at No. 2, Kentucky at No. 3 and Texas A&M at No. 4. The final bracket will become official Saturday night as the top 12 teams get ready to head to Hoover for the conference tournament starting Tuesday.
Zander Sechrist got the win for Tennessee after a dominant showing against South Carolina. In six innings of work, he held South Carolina scoreless and allowed just four hits while striking out four. Aaron Combs got the save as he struck out two Gamecocks hitters in his 1.2 scoreless innings of work.
This story will be updated.
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