Two weekends into SEC baseball, we’ve had a lot of parity and a few definitive statements. But Tennessee delivered the most definitive in Oxford this past weekend. At least so far … it’s a long road yet to go. Much of the other action of the weekend seemed to counter what we’d previously seen. Teams going up, teams going down. Here’s your recap of the week that was in the best baseball conference in America.

1. Tennessee absolutely is legit

After a 13-3 win over Butler on Tuesday, UT was 20-1. But there were questions. Their SEC wins were over lowly South Carolina and the Vols hadn’t exactly scheduled the 1927 Yankees in pre-conference play. Well, the doubts are gone. UT went into Oxford and delivered a 12-1, 10-3, 4-3 series sweep against the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

They blasted their way to the sweep, too, hitting 5 in the opener to pump their league-high HR total to 64. Florida is 2nd in the SEC with 48.

It’s safe to say the Rebels won’t be No. 1 this week in Baseball America’s poll. Tennessee was No. 7 last week. How high will they climb?

It’s honestly hard to say which is more impressive — racking up 26 runs and 36 hits on the Rebels’ pitching staff, or holding the Ole Miss offense to 7 runs on 15 hits. But the combination … well, suffice it to say that Tennessee took over the Ole Miss mantle as the most well-rounded team in the SEC.

Their Twitter account is must-follow, and they threw a little post-series shade at Lane Kiffin and his golf ball first pitch …

https://twitter.com/Vol_Baseball/status/1508218348827512839

The chirping was non-stop all weekend.

After getting roughed up in Game 1, Ole Miss reliever Dylan DeLucia told reporters that the Rebels took the Vols lightly and guaranteed a win on Saturday. Needless to say, that did not go over well and it became fodder for the rest of the series. So much so, that one has to believe somebody told somebody to tone it down a tad …

Gotta love SEC baseball.

2. LSU climbs off the mat

LSU had been in a rough patch. Two weekends ago, they lost a series to Texas A&M, barely avoiding a sweep. Then, they lost to Louisiana Tech on Wednesday of last week. So with doubts crowding in, the Tigers were promptly mowed down at home by Hunter Barco and Florida …

And then the Tigers turned around and won the series, dropping 27 runs on Florida in the next 2 games. The Gators entered the series No. 9 in the country. Now, LSU is smack in the middle of the topsy-turvy West and with Jacob Berry, Cade Doughty, et al, they’re going to be must-see TV throughout the spring.

3. Likewise for Mississippi State

The Tigers weren’t the only team to turn aside from recent rough luck. After the loss of Landon Sims went official, the Bulldogs felt doomed to the bottom of the SEC West. So they responded in the best way possible — winning their series over Alabama courtesy of back-to-back walk-offs.

https://twitter.com/HailStateBB/status/1507545191242031106

Yes, the Bulldogs did lose the Sunday finale 6-2 … which suggests that the bats need to keep churning. But after an early season of bad news, a pair of walk-off moments might have just shifted the feeling around Starkville.

4. Kentucky pulls off a surprise

Meanwhile, another pitching-challenged squad broke out the bats for a big series. Kentucky had been swept by Arkansas the previous weekend and dropped their opener to Georgia 4-2 on Friday. But on Saturday and Sunday, UK slugged out 28 runs to win the series. Trailing 6-1 in the 2nd inning on Saturday, UK chipped away, taking a 10-6 lead in the 5th and holding on for the win. Sunday was easier — an 18-5 drubbing. But Nick Mingione’s ‘Cats grabbed a much-needed series win and will host a struggling Ole Miss squad next weekend.

5. Carolina topples the Vandy Boys

Vanderbilt, No. 5 in the country last week had the opposite weekend of Tennessee. Like the Vols, the Dores were red-hot, riding an 18-game winning streak into their weekend series. And after a 10-0 win in the opener in which Chris McElwain looked like Vandy’s next great starter, Vandy fell apart, losing the last 2 games to South Carolina 8-2 and 8-6. Vandy’s pitchers had 16 strikeouts in that 8-2 loss, but to give USC credit, when they hit the ball, they hit it hard: 10 extra-base hits in 2 days might be the way out of a tough start to the season for the Gamecocks.

6. Auburn wins a very even series with Texas A&M

Unlike many of the weekend’s big games that ended up one-sided, the entire Auburn/Texas A&M series was super-competitive. Auburn won 6-5 in 10 innings on Friday, but A&M then retaliated with a 5-4 walk-off in 11 innings on Saturday. Catcher Nate LaRue’s 5 RBIs on Sunday helped Auburn grab the series in a 13-9 game that was 8-8 going into the 7th inning. Both teams showed why they’re dangerous … and why it’s going to be a dogfight to stay out of the SEC West basement (which Ole Miss currently shares, oddly enough, with Alabama).

7. Logan Britt’s interview

Meanwhile, one of the absolutely beautiful things about the super-competitive series between A&M and Auburn was a quick peek behind the curtain at how fun college baseball really is. Take Texas A&M’s Logan Britt, who scored the winning run on Saturday and then got the works from his teammates during his postgame interview. Suffice it to say, it’s one for the ages.

8. Arkansas just fights off Mizzou

Overall, the story of the weekend had to be the intense competitive balance of the SEC. Consider Arkansas — doubtlessly one of the league’s top teams — scratching all weekend to best cellar-dwellar Mizzou in 2 of the 3 games. How close was the series? Well, Mizzou out-hit Arkansas, 29-26. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they couldn’t quite pull off the series win, despite a 7-5 victory on Saturday. But there was nothing easy about it for the Razorbacks, which bodes well over the long haul for Missouri skipper Steve Bieser.

9. The East on the line in the week ahead

Is the 3rd series of the year too soon to slate the pecking order for the SEC East? Hopefully not, because Vandy hosts likely No. 1  Tennessee as Georgia hosts Florida, with both of those preseason contenders teams looking to rebound from disappointing weeks. South Carolina (fresh off beating Vandy) will travel to Mizzou (fresh off that tough series with Arkansas) and only Kentucky is out of the division, albeit hosting a suddenly vulnerable Ole Miss squad. This should be a weekend that will go a long way toward setting the pace in the East.