LSU wins SEC Baseball Tournament

HOOVER -- The city of Hoover capped another successful running of the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament on Sunday, as LSU defeated Arkansas 4-2 in the championship game at the Hoover Met.

The championship game drew 13,128 fans on Sunday, the fourth-largest championship crowd in the history of the tournament. The total draw for the week was 127,479 fans, the fifth-largest ever.

On Sunday, Arkansas struck first in the bottom of the third on leadoff hitter Eric Cole's home run to left field. But LSU responded the following half-inning, as a lengthy top half of the fourth inning yielded three Tiger runs on three hits, giving LSU a 3-1 lead.

The Tigers tacked on one in the sixth, as Nick Coomes' sacrifice fly made it 4-1.

Arkansas mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth, as a walk and hit by pitch set up a Cole RBI single to cut LSU's lead to 4-2, before the Hogs left the bases loaded to end the game.

Arkansas first baseman Chad Spanberger was named the tournament's MVP. Notably, he hit three home runs and drove in a tournament-record seven runs in the Razorbacks' win over Auburn on Thursday.

The top 12 SEC teams qualify for the tournament, meaning the bottom two finishers fail to qualify (this year, those two teams were Alabama and Tennessee).

No. 8 seed Auburn began its run in the tournament on Tuesday, with a 5-4 win over Ole Miss to move into the double-elimination portion of the bracket. Auburn experienced no such good fortune in that part, as a tight 5-4 loss to Florida on Wednesday evening (the game didn't conclude until 1:05 a.m. Thursday) led to a 12-0 no-hit drubbing at the hands of Arkansas on Thursday afternoon. 

DAY-BY-DAY RESULTS

Tuesday, May 23 (Single elimination)

South Carolina 6, Vanderbilt 4

Missouri 12, Texas A&M 7

Auburn 5, Ole Miss 4

Wednesday, May 24 (Double elimination)

Mississippi State 3, Georgia 0

Kentucky 7, South Carolina 2

LSU 10, Missouri 3

Florida 5, Auburn 4

Thursday May 25 (Double elimination)

Mississippi State 4, Arkansas 3

South Carolina 10, Missouri 2

Arkansas 12, Auburn 0

LSU 10, Kentucky 0

Friday, May 26 (Double elimination)

Florida 12, Mississippi State 3

South Carolina 3, Kentucky 0

Arkansas 9, Mississippi State 2

Saturday, May 27 (Single elimination)

LSU 11, South Carolina 0

Arkansas 16, Florida 0

Sunday, May 28 (Championship game)

LSU 4, Arkansas 2