Vanderbilt uses long ball to reach final

HOOVER, Ala. -- Dansby Swanson, Will Toffey and Zander Wiel all hit home runs as Vanderbilt powered its way to a 12-3 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

The defending national champion Commodores (42-18) advanced to today's championship game with the victory. Vandy, which faces Florida in today's 3:30 p.m. championship game, is in the final for the 10th time and is seeking its first SEC Tournament title since 2007 and fifth overall.

Swanson and Toffey both hit two-run home runs and Jeren Kendall drove in two more runs with a triple during a five-run fifth inning. Swanson has hit four home runs in the tournament.

"[Swanson] doesn't come in here looking to hit home runs," Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin said. "He just comes in to center the ball. He certainly can hit it."

Vanderbilt's offensive outburst came a day after a 16-1 victory over Alabama, and against a team that had held opponents to one earned run its previous 15 2/3 innings.

The Aggies (45-11) committed two of their three errors in the big inning to help the Commodores.

Walker Buehler gave up three runs over four innings for Vanderbilt, but reliever John Kilichowski retired all 15 Texas A&M batters he faced while striking out five in five innings.

Logan Taylor had a double and an RBI, while Nick Choruby and Nick Banks each drove in runs for the Aggies.

FLORIDA 2, LSU 1

HOOVER, Ala. -- Mike Rivera hit a home run to open the top of the ninth inning and Florida beat LSU to advance to the SEC Tournament championship.

Taylor Lewis (6-1) allowed one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, including a perfect ninth, for the Gators (43-16). They'll face Vanderbilt, a 12-3 winner over Texas A&M, for the title.

The top-seeded Tigers (48-10) had been seeking their third consecutive SEC Tournament title and sixth in eight years.

LSU led 1-0 until Florida tied it in the eighth when JJ Schwarz drove in Josh Tobias.

Rivera then drove a pitch from reliever Jesse Stallings over the left-field fence for the eventual game-winner in the ninth.

Sports on 05/24/2015

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