2012 SEC BaSEB all M Edia Guid E - Southeastern Conference

YEAR IN REVIEW
ole miss • MISSISSIPPI STATE • SOUTH CAROLINA • TENNESSEE • VANDERBILT
ALABAMA Crimson Tide
The 2011 season for the Alabama baseball team came to an end with an
11-1 loss to the No. 6 ranked Florida State Seminoles in the championship
game of the Tallahassee Regional from Mike Martin Field at Dick
Howser Stadium on Monday. The Crimson Tide allowed a season-high 19
hits to the top seeded team in the regional. Alabama (35-28) had five hits
in the game, with the only run coming off the bat of Taylor Dugas when
he hit a solo home run to lead-off the sixth inning. Dugas was 2-for-4 and hit his teamleading
eighth home run of the season. Brett Booth, Andrew Miller and Brandt Hendricks
also had a hit for the Tide. Alabama had four players selected to the Tallahassee Regional
All-Tournament Team. Centerfielder Taylor Dugas and shortstop Jared Reaves were the
two position players on the team, while pitchers Nathan Kilcrease and Jonathan Smart
were all-tournament selections. Starting pitcher Adam Windsor took the loss to drop to
3-3 on the year after allowing three runs in the second inning. Officially, Windsor threw
1.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits with two walks. Florida State (45-17)
starter Mike McGee got the win to improve to 4-3 on the year, after throwing 5.0 innings,
allowing one run on three hits. Scott Sitz threw the final 4.0 innings of scoreless relief, allowing
two hits with two strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.
ARKANSAS Razorbacks
Arkansas closed the season last week going 2-2 at the Tempe Regional
to finish second behind regional champion Arizona State …
The Razorbacks finished the 2011 season with a 40-22 record …
Arkansas finished with 40 wins for the 17th time in program history
and for the third straight year … Arkansas hit .265 as a team at the Tempe Regional, while
the pitching staff had a 3.50 ERA … DJ Baxendale, Jarrod McKinney and Ryne Stanek
were each named to the All-Regional Team … As a team, Arkansas finished the 2011
season with a .270 team batting average and a 3.20 team ERA … The 3.20 ERA is the
lowest for a Razorback pitching staff since 1982 when Arkansas had a 3.00 team ERA ...
The Razorbacks also swiped an SEC-leading 122 stolen bases, which is the sixth most in
school history and the most since the 1999 team stole 136 bases. Junior Jarrod McKinney
led Arkansas at the plate in the Tempe Regional, hitting .533 (8-for-15) with two RBI,
three runs scored, three doubles and a triple … McKinney had at least one hit in each
game of the regional and had three multi-hit games … Junior Bo Bigham went 5-for-16
(.313) in the four games in Tempe, driving in three runs and scoring three times … Junior
James McCann drove in a team-high five runs in the regional … Dominic Ficociello tied
the Arkansas freshman record for hits in a season, finishing the year with 75 hits, which
tied the record also held by Jeff King (1984) … After being hit by a pitch three times in the
regional, junior Collin Kuhn set a new UA career record for hit by pitches with 53, besting
the previous record of 52, held by Jack Welsh (1997-2000). Sophomore DJ Baxendale
earned his 10th win of the season on Saturday against New Mexico, throwing eight shutout
innings and allowing just four hits, while striking out seven … Baxendale became the
first Razorback pitcher to record double-digit wins in a season since Nick Schmidt won
11 games in 2007 … Freshman Ryne Stanek tossed his first collegiate complete game
on Sunday against Charlotte, giving up three runs, two earned, on six hits, while tying a
career-high with six strikeouts … Freshman Brandon Moore was excellent in relief in the
regional opener against Charlotte, throwing 5.1 scoreless innings, surrendering three hits
and striking out three … Cade Lynch and Nolan Sanburn each turned in a scoreless outing
out of the bullpen on Sunday night against Arizona State … Lynch threw 1.1 shutout
innings, while Sanburn pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
AUBURN Tigers
Auburn finished the 2011 season 29-29, advancing to the SEC Tournament
for a second consecutive season ... It marked the first time Auburn
has advanced to back-to-back SEC Tournaments since going to seven
straight from 1997-2003 ... Auburn’s 34 SEC Wins over the last two seasons
is most over a two-year period for the program since it won 35 in
®
1999 (18) and 2000 (17), coach Hal Baird’s final two seasons at Auburn ... The only other
time Auburn has won 34-or-more SEC games in back-to-back years was in 1998 (16)
and 1999 (18) ... Junior shortstop Casey McElory was named First Team All-SEC, his first
All-SEC honor ... McElroy finished the year leading the team in average (.372), runs (46),
hits (87), doubles 18), home runs (nine), RBI (53) and sluging (.564) ... Senior catcher Tony
Caldwell was named Second Team All-SEC, his first All-SEC honor ... Caldwell finished his
career throwing out 58 runners trying to steal a base, an Auburn record, and he is one of
13 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award as the nation’s top catcher.
FLORIDA Gators
University of Florida head baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan earned
2011 College Coach of the Year honors from Baseball America on
Thursday. O’Sullivan just completed his fourth year and guided the
Gators to a runner-up finish at the NCAA College World Series with a
school-record 53 victories and an overall mark of 53-19. He is the first
baseball coach from UF to collect the publication’s yearly accolade. Under O’Sullivan’s tutelage,
Florida earned a trip to Omaha in consecutive seasons for the first time and made
Team-By-Team Notes
the CWS for the seventh time in school history (1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2010,
2011). Although UF fell in the CWS Championship Finals to South Carolina, it notched a
second-place showing for the second time in school history (2005). The Gators secured the
All-SEC final round by downing Texas (8-4) and then knocking off league rival Vanderbilt
twice (3-1, 6-4). Florida had been the second national seed in the NCAA Tournament,
its third-straight year within the Top-8 seeds. The Gators swept the NCAA Gainesville
Regional with victories over Manhattan (17-3) and Miami (Fla.) (5-4, 11-4) and then defeated
Mississippi State twice (11-1, 3-4, 8-6) in a classic Gainesville Super Regional to
advance to the College World Series. O’Sullivan joined Joe Arnold (1988, 1991) and Andy
Lopez (1996, 1998) as Gator head coaches who have made multiple trips to Omaha. This
season marked the 10th time that McKethan Stadium has hosted NCAA Regional action
and the third-straight year for the first time in school history. The Gators have now gone on
to the College World Series from Gainesville on six occasions: 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005,
2010 and 2011. Florida is 35-10 (.778) on its own turf during NCAA play and claimed
five of the six outings on its own turf this season. O’Sullivan is 13-3 (.813) in NCAA play
at home, 9-0 (1.000) in Regionals and 4-3 (.571) in Super Regionals.
GEORGIA Bulldogs
The 16th-ranked Oregon State Beavers posted a 6-4 win over Georgia
Sunday to capture the NCAA Corvallis Regional in front of 3,032 at
Goss Stadium. The Bulldogs saw their impressive post-season run end
that included battling to the NCAA Regional final here after dropping
their opening game. On Saturday, they beat Arkansas-Little Rock and
on Sunday rallied past No. 25 Creighton 5-4 in 11 innings and then battled OSU. Also
last week, they reached the SEC Tournament semifinal after losing their opening game in
Hoover, Ala. They needed three straight wins to qualify for the postseason and knocked
off Auburn, top-ranked South Carolina and third-ranked Florida. The Beavers improved
to 41-17 and advance to an NCAA Super Regional where they will play second-ranked
Vanderbilt in Nashville as the Commodores are a national seed. Against the Beavers,
Georgia (33-32) struck for a run in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Junior second
baseman Levi Hyams, who was named to the NCAA All-Regional team, continued his
torrid hitting with a single. After an 0-4 for start to the regional Friday, this latest base hit
made him 7-for-his-last 10. A wild pitch by OSU left-hander Josh Osich moved him to second
and a fly ball by Curt Powell allowed him to get to third. Then, sophomore shortstop
Kyle Farmer notched his team-leading 56th RBI with a groundout to score Hyams. OSU
answered with one out in the second when first baseman Parker Berberet connected for a
home run off sophomore left-hander Blake Dieterich to tie it at 1-1.University of Georgia
junior outfielder Zach Cone was selected by the Texas Rangers with the 37th overall pick of
the Major League Baseball Draft Monday. The Bulldogs are en route back to Athens after
reaching the NCAA Corvallis Regional final on the campus of Oregon State. Cone learned
he had been drafted while on a plane in Des Moines, Iowa. The team left Eugene, Oregon
Monday afternoon and made a stop in Iowa before heading to Atlanta and ultimately
returning to Athens. Cone and his teammates were watching and listening to the draft
as they boarded the charter plane. When the Rangers announced their selection on MLB.
com., everyone on the plane started clapping and cheering for Cone.
KENTUCKY Wildcats
The Kentucky baseball team wrapped up its 2011 season with three
games at No. 4 Florida, posting one win in the second game of the
series. UK fell in the opener, 9-6, before posting the largest win over
UF in program history, 14-1 on Friday night. In the rubber match,
with Florida playing for the Southeastern Conference regular-season
championship, the Gators clinched the league with a 19-3 win. Kentucky (25-30, 8-22
SEC) rode the arm of ace righty Alex Meyer to a win on Friday night, posting a 13-run advantage,
the largest win over the Gators in program annals. Meyer went seven innings for
his seventh win on the year and UK got a breakout offensive performance, including the
blistering-hot bat of Thomas McCarthy. UK fell shy of winning its first series in Gainesville
since the 1999 season after the rubber match loss on Saturday. Meyer (7-5, 2.94 ERA)
finished leading UK in nearly every pitching category, ranking first in the SEC in strikeouts
(110), first in complete games (four), first in complete-game shutouts (two), ranking second
in innings pitched (101). Meyer’s 110 strikeouts rank ninth in single-season history
and his 253 career strikeouts checks in sixth in UK annals. The 6-foot-9, 220-pounder
tossed 10 quality starts in 14 outings, including seven consecutive quality starts to end the
season. Offensively, McCarthy finished on a 10-game hitting streak and finished just shy
of a pair of SEC batting titles, batting .371 overall and .411 in SEC play. McCarthy totaled
19 doubles, two triples, seven homers and 39 RBI, stealing eight bases. In SEC play, Mc-
Carthy hit .411 with five homers and 24 RBI, totaling a .652 slugging mark in SEC play.
Outfielder Chad Wright totaled a .359 average in 2011, with 16 doubles, six homers and
40 RBI. Senior shortstop Taylor Black added a .319 mark with 16 doubles, four homers
and 38 RBI. Braden Kapteyn led UK with 42 RBI and UK’s catching tandem of Luke Maile
and Michael Williams combined for 16 homers and 59 RBI.
lsu • kentucky • georgia • florida • auburn • arkansas • alabama
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