West teams best in SEC semis
Spanberger homers twice for Hogs vs. Gators; LSU awaits in final
HOOVER, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference crowns its baseball tournament champion here today when Arkansas meets LSU.
Chad Spanberger might have ended the debate about the tournament’s most valuable player.
Arkansas’ junior first baseman hit his fourth and fifth home runs in four games at Hoover Met Stadium as the Razorbacks thumped Florida 16-0 in the second semifinal Saturday.
Seeded fourth as SEC West Division runner-up, Arkansas (42-16) faces West champion and No. 2 seed LSU (42-17) at 2 p.m. on ESPN2 (Resort Channel 29). Both Arkansas and LSU won seven-inning semifinals under the mercy rule, LSU by 11-0 over No. 11 seed South Carolina.
As in his three-homer game against Auburn Thursday night, Spanberger went deep on his first two at-bats against Florida (42-16). His five homers are tied for second in a single SEC tournament.
Spanberger’s first homer, a two-run shot, ignited a fiverun first inning for Arkansas, the visiting team on the scoreboard. Jax Biggers followed with a two-run single and Grant Koch with a sacrifice fly.
Eric Cole hit a two-run homer in the second inning, Spanberger following with his second blast of the game and chasing Florida strater Brady Singer. Dominic Fletcher hit a two-run homer in the fourth, Arkansas adding four runs in
the fifth and two in the seventh.
Kacey Murphy (5-0) pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts.
It’s the first SEC tournament final for Arkansas since 2007 and fourth overall. The Razorbacks seek their first SEC tournament title, which LSU has won 11 times.
LSU won two out of three from Arkansas in the regular season, taking the second game 10-8 with a five-run ninth and stopping the Razorbacks 2-0 in the rubber game at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Arkansas won the April 7 opener 9-3 with six strong innings from Blaine Knight and homers by Spanberger, Cole and Jared Gates.