Bama, LSU unbeaten in SEC tournament

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Posted 7:08AM on Friday, May 24, 2002

HOOVER, ALABAMA - Brent Boyd hit his eighth home run of the season to lead second-seeded Alabama to a 7-4 win over third-seed Florida Thursday night in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Alabama (46-12) took the lead in the fourth on Allen Rice's RBI double to left field. Brent Boyd's solo home run in the seventh gave the Tide a 4-1 lead. Chad White had a two-RBI double and Zach Welch's RBI single in the eighth brought the lead to 7-3. Florida (41-15) scored three more in the eighth, on RBIs from Ben Harrison and Pat Osborn. Harrison led the Gators, batting 2-for-4 for two hits and two RBIs. Lance Cormier (10-3) threw 7 2/3 innings for four strikeouts and allowed eight hits and four runs for the win. Florida's Alex Hart (13-2) pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing five hits and five walks for the loss. The Tide could face the Gators again Saturday, if Florida beats Mississippi State Friday at 3 p.m. LSU 8, S. CAROLINA 3 Sean Barker hit 3-for-5, including his seventh home run of the season, to lead No. 4 seed LSU to an 8-3 come-from-behind win over top-seed South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference tournament Thursday night. LSU (40-17) trailed 3-2 going into the seventh, then took the lead on RBI singles from Wally Pontiff, Wally Barker and Chris Phillips. David Raymer had a two-RBI double to bring the Tigers' lead to 7-3. South Carolina (45-13) took a 2-0 lead on an RBI single by Brian Buscher in the third. Steve Thomas scored in the fifth on a throwing error. Thomas, Buscher and Gary Bell posted two hits each. Brian Wilson (9-4) pitched seven innings, allowing two earned runs for the win. Reliever Jake Tompkins allowed one run in two innings, with four strikeouts. Blake Taylor (5-1) lasted one inning in relief, facing eight batters and giving up four runs, to take the loss. South Carolina faces Arkansas at 6 p.m. on Friday in an elimination game. The winner faces LSU on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ARKANSAS 8, AUBURN 5 Andrew Wishy went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs to lift Arkansas to an 8-5 win over Auburn Thursday in an elimination game of the Southeastern Conference tournament. Scott Roehl (4-0) allowed just one hit in 4-2/3 innings of relief to earn the win, striking out three with no walks. The Razorbacks (31-25) play the LSU-South Carolina loser in an elimination game Friday night. Arkansas snapped a 3-3 tie with a four-run fifth, capped by Scott Hode's two-run, two-out double. Michael Conner and Cody Clark each added three of Arkansas' 15 hits. The Tigers (34-24) were led by Sean Gamble, who went 4-for-4 and scored twice. Trent Pratt was 2-for-3 and drove in three runs. Fifth-seeded Auburn went 0-2 in the tournament, possibly damaging its hopes of making an NCAA regional.