2012 SEC BaSEB all M Edia Guid E - Southeastern Conference

YEAR IN REVIEW
ALABAMA • ARKANSAS • AUBURN • FLORIDA • GEORGIA • KENTUCKY • LSU
Team-By-Team Notes
LSU Tigers
The LSU baseball team (36-20) learned Monday that it’s season would
not continue into June, as the six-time national champions were left without
an at-large bid to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. LSU baseball associate
head coach David Grewe has resigned to pursue other career
opportunities, head coach Paul Mainieri announced Tuesday. Grewe, 35,
has served as the Tigers’ recruiting coordinator and pitching coach for
the past three seasons. LSU junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook is one of 30
semifinalists for the 2011 Golden Spikes Award, USA Baseball announced Tuesday. This
marks the 34th consecutive year that the award has been presented to the nation’s top
amateur baseball player. GoldenSpikesAward.com -- powered by MLB.com -- will be the
online home for the award. The Web site features content devoted exclusively to the GSA,
including news, voting history, past winner photo galleries, and photographs and video
highlights for the 2011 semifinalists. Fans can follow online at GoldenSpikesAward.com
as the list of 30 players is narrowed to three finalists on Monday, June 6. For the first time
ever, the GSA will be awarded live on MLB Network. The presentation will begin at 6:00
p.m. ET on MLB Tonight, Friday, July 15. The three finalists for the award will be at MLB
Network’s studios for the presentation, which will feature interviews, video highlights and
the announcement of the winner. Online footage of the event also will be available via
www.GoldenSpikesAward.com and www.MLB.com. Mahtook, a native of Lafayette, La.,
was a 2011 First-Team All-SEC selection, and he leads the conference in slugging percentage
(.709), walks (41), triples (5) and steals (29). He is No. 2 in the SEC in batting average
(.383), home runs (14), total bases (139), on-base percentage (.496) and runs scored
(61) and No. 3 in the league in RBI (56). Mahtook batted .441 (26-for-59) in the final 15
games of the season with four doubles, two triples, four homers, 18 RBI, 19 runs and eight
steals. His consecutive games reached-base streak is currently at 70 - he reached base
safely in all 56 games this season and in the final 14 games of 2010.
OLE MISS Rebels
Sophomore second baseman Alex Yarbrough and senior outfielder Matt
Smith garnered honors from the SEC when Yarbrough was named an
All-SEC selection and Smith was named to the Southeastern Conference
Community Service Team, the league office announced on Tuesday. Yarbrough,
an All-SEC second team selection at second base, started all 55
games played in the regular season and paced the Ole Miss offense,
hitting .350 with a team-leading 24 extra-base hits that included 14 doubles, three triples
and seven home runs. The seven home runs was the second most on the team. He also
led the Rebels in multiple-hit games (24) and multiple-RBI games (11). In Southeastern
Conference play, Yarbrough was even better, hitting at a .358 clip with a .600 slugging
percentage as all seven of his home runs came against SEC competition to lead the team
in both categories. It’s the 11th straight season the Rebels have had a player selected for
All-SEC honors. Smith was also honored by the Southeastern Conference when he was
named as one of the members on the Community Service team for his efforts in the Ole
Miss and Oxford communities. The Milan, Ga., native has been active in the local community
as a participant in several outreach projects. He has been a part of the “Reading
With The Rebels” program which allows local athletes to visit local elementary schools to
read with school children. He has also participated in the SEC “Together We Can” Food
Drive and the Rebel Re-Run program to collect athletic shoes for youth in Africa. Smith has
also made visits to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis and participated in the 2010
“Dash for Hash” 5k run to raise funds to help defray the medical costs of teammate Taylor
Hashman who was injured in an accident last summer. The senior also put on a “Pitch, Hit
and Run” baseball clinic for local youth.
MISSISSIPPI STATE Bulldogs
Mississippi State’s dream postseason run came up short Sunday afternoon
as the 16th-ranked Diamond Dawgs dropped an 8-6 heartbreaker
to No. 1 Florida in the championship game of the Gainesville
Super Regional played at UF’s McKethan Stadium. The Bulldogs
pushed the tournament’s No. 2 national seed to the brink before
falling in dramatic fashion. MSU evened the best-of-three series with
a 4-3 win on a Nick Vickerson two-run walk-off home run Saturday. Vickerson also hit a
three-run blast Sunday. The Maroon and White actually led 6-4 in the seventh inning but
could not close the deal. Florida (50-17) hit five total home runs Sunday to advance to
the College World Series for the seventh time in program history. The Gators will be making
back-to-back appearances. Meanwhile, MSU (38-25) was trying for Omaha for the
first time since 2007. The Bulldogs capped an improbable run by sweeping the Atlanta
Regional and then falling short in the school’s first-ever third game of a Super Regional
series. While the postseason did not end on a positive note, Cohen and his staff can
take great pride in its 2011 accomplishments. After three consecutive losing seasons, the
Bulldogs posted 38 overall wins, while making the SEC Tournament, a regional and a
super regional for the first time since 2007. The Bulldogs were playing for the Southeastern
Conference’s Western Division championship on the regular season’s final day. This
success came a mere three months after being picked by league coaches to finish last in
the league.
SOUTH CAROLINA Gamecocks
South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner has been named National Coach of
The Year by Diamond/American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). One
of the most respected coaches in college baseball, Tanner led the Gamecocks
to their second consecutive national championship at the recent College World
Series. Collegiate Baseball also honored Tanner earlier this year as the National
Coach of the Year. This is the third time in Tanner’s career that he has earned
National Coach of the Year honors as he also picked up the accolade in 2000 from Baseball
America as well as in 2010 by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. Tanner, who just
completed his 15th season at South Carolina and 24th overall in NCAA Division I baseball,
has led the Gamecocks to the College World Series five times including in 2002, 2003, 2004
and 2010. Tanner owns a 689-296 record at South Carolina with a .699 winning percentage,
second highest all-time among SEC coaches. His career record is 1,084-469-3 for a winning
percentage of .698. Under Tanner’s leadership, South Carolina owns the longest current
streak of NCAA Regional appearances among the 12 SEC schools with 12 straight trips dating
back to the 2000 season. In that span, Carolina has nine NCAA Super Regional appearances
(2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011). South Carolina has now won
a record 16 consecutive NCAA tournament games (2010-11), breaking the all-time record
of 15 shared with Texas (1983-84). In addition, the Gamecocks have now won their last 11
College World Series games dating back to last season, an all-time record. South Carolina
broke the mark of 10 consecutive CWS wins they shared with both Southern California (1972-
74) and Louisiana St. (1996-98). South Carolina finished the CWS with a microscopic 0.88
ERA in five games, the fourth lowest team ERA in the event’s history and the lowest since 1972
(Arizona St., 0.68). Only five teams have ever finished the CWS with a team ERA under 1.00.
South Carolina’s team ERA is the lowest by a CWS champion since California in 1957 (0.60).
TENNESSEE Volunteers
The Tennessee baseball team closed out the 2011 campaign on a high note,
claiming its second SEC series victory of the year with a walk-off win in the
season finale against Auburn. The Volunteers finished the 2011 campaign
with an overall record of 25-29, including a 7-23 mark in SEC play. Freshman
Andrew Toles delivered UT’s second walk-off hit of the season with an RBI
single to center in the bottom of the ninth of Saturday’s contest against the Tigers. The Big
Orange had been 0-28 when trailing after seven innings this season before the victory, which
gave the Vols a 5-2 record against teams from the state of Alabama this season. Junior Davis
Morgan led the team’s offensive effort on the weekend, hitting a cool .500 (5-for-10) with
five RBIs against Auburn. Fellow classmate Steven Gruver set the tone on the mound for UT,
firing 7.1 innings of five-hit, two-run ball in the series opener on Thursday. He finished with
seven strikeouts as he picked up his fifth win of the year. He completed the 2011 campaign
with a team-high 95.2 innings pitched, a 3.95 ERA and 84 strikeouts. Saturday’s walk-off
win not only closed out the season, but the careers of five Tennessee seniors – Rob Catapano,
Matt Duffy, Tyler Horne, Josh Liles and Khayyan Norfork – as well. Liles, who finishes his
career ninth in school history in games played, hit a home run, his first of the year, in his final
collegiate at-bat. It marked his 199th career hit. Norfork, meanwhile, ended the year as UT’s
leading hitter with a .332 batting average. As a team, Tennessee finished with a success rate
of 75 percent on the basepaths, swiping 90 bases in 120 attempts. That is the squad’s highest
stolen base total since tallying 160 in 2001. The Vols also set a new school record with 24
outfield assists (stat was first kept in 2000), including eight from sophomore Chris Fritts and
seven from junior Charley Thurber. The Big Orange averaged 1,455 fans in 35 home dates
and averaged two hours, 34 minutes per nine-inning contest in 2011.
VANDERBILT Commodores
Vanderbilt finishes the 2011 season with a 54-12 record, as five of the 12
losses came against Florida. The Commodores 54 wins is second nationally
and matches the school record. The team’s 13 losses are the fewest in a season
in school history. Vanderbilt has lost only six games since May 7th with five
of those losses coming to Florida. The Gators handed Vanderbilt its only losses
at the SEC Tournament and in the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt falls to 7-2
in NCAA play and 27-20 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Sonny Gray’s 7.0 inning effort
against Florida is his longest outing since going 8.0 innings against Kentucky on May 6. He
has gone seven or more innings in nine of his 19 starts this season. The six runs Grey has allowed
is a season-high (previous high was four vs. Georgia on May 19). It is the only time in 19
starts he has allowed more than four runs in a start. Grey is 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA in two starts at
the MCWS. Gray now ranks first on Vanderbilt’s single-season list in wins (12, tied), second in
innings pitched (126.0), and third in strikeouts (132). With his first-inning homer Aaron Westlake
has now hit five homers in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, tying Florida’s Preston Tucker
for the lead in that category. Jason Esposito’s eighth-inning single snapped an 0-for-20 dryspell
- including 0-for-15 at the MCWS - dating back to a two-hit game against Oregon State
in the Super Regional opener on June 10. Connor Harrell’s RBI single in the seventh inning
was his sixth RBI of the MCWS, tying Preston Tucker for the lead in Omaha. Harrell hit .417
(5-for-12) with six RBIs in four MCWS contests. Vanderbilt was looking to become the eighth
team to win a MCWS title in its first appearance, and would be the first since Minnesota in
1956. The other teams to win an MCWS title in their first appearance in Omaha are California
(1947), Southern California (1948); Texas (1949); Oklahoma (1951); Holy Cross (1952) and
Michigan (1953). The last first-time qualifier to play for a national title is Georgia Tech in 1994.
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vanderbilt • tennessee • south carolina • missISSIPPI state • ole miss