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There could be several takeaways from Friday at the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover.
No, the top-4 seeding advantage in the new format doesn’t seem to have amounted to much as the top 4 went 2-2 in their first action. Accordingly, there are 2 mild surprise teams battling for regional hosting privileges. But Friday will go down in collective SEC memory as a day of a horrific collision and a Lazarus-like return to action. The second was probably more amazing, but the first did come with an insane visual.
In any case, yes, in the SEC, there was flesh and blood (and bone) evidence that it really does mean more.
What We Learned
Firstly, Jace LaViolette is one tough son of a gun. A day after apparently breaking his hand in Texas A&M’s second-round win, the last thing most people expected was to see LaViolette playing baseball again. Coach Michael Earley confirmed last night that LaViolette had broken his hand and would be out for the tournament. But between then and first pitch, something happened.
LaViolette, an almost certain first-round MLB Draft pick who has absolutely nothing to prove, basically played one-handed for a lame-duck A&M team that began the season as the universal No. 1 ranked team and would still need 2 wins after an upset today to make the NCAA Tournament. A young man who had literally every reason to sit, who would have caught no flack at all for not playing, wrapped/taped/whatevered an obliterated hand into action.
It’s a great story that LaViolette played. It’s a better one that he knocked in 2 of A&M’s 3 RBIs in the game, singling in a run in the fourth inning and knocking a sacrifice fly in the sixth to pull A&M within 4-3. LaViolette got one more at-bat in the ninth inning. Down a run, he worked a full count. If deserving the moment had meant anything, LaViolette would’ve hit the next pitch to Louisiana and led a shocking A&M rally to the title. He struck out and one last Aggie rally ended up coming up short.
LSU had raced to a 4-0 lead and had to play a little hang-on baseball. The 2 pitchers who worked the game, starter Kade Anderson and reliever Anthony Eyanson, combined for 16 strikeouts, which certainly doesn’t hurt.
Second, we learned that all inside-the-park home runs aren’t the same. Trailing 5-1 to Ole Miss in the early game, Arkansas’s Cam Koziel slugged a fly ball to right-center field. Off the bat, it looked like a mildly challenging but not difficult play for either Ole Miss center fielder Isaac Humphrey or right fielder Ryan Moorman. Instead, they collided when chasing the ball, looking for all the world like a middle linebacker and a wide receiver seeking a third down catch. Koziel might have even looked a little guilty as he circled the bases, but the immediate question was whether either outfielder would be okay. Humphrey not only made it to his feet, but played the rest of the game. Moorman departed, but without evidence of any long-running injury.
Aside from the near-kamikaze duel in the Rebel outfield, the other story of this game was the Rebel pitching staff. Starter Riley Maddox worked 5 2/3 solid innings, fanning 7, and gave way to a trio of relievers who allowed just 2 hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings to nail down a 5-2 win.
Arkansas simply lacked the offensive chops to rebound from a 5-0 first inning deficit. On to the NCAA Tournament.
What to watch for tomorrow
First, watch for an early wake-up call. Due to impending weather concerns, Vanderbilt and Tennessee were moved up from noon to 10 a.m. CT, with Ole Miss and LSU to follow that game. So yes, 4 of the last 5 College World Series champions will meet to decide the SEC Tournament. It’s hard to call it too much of an upset when that’s the situation.
The story for NCAA Tournament purposes is probably still Ole Miss and Tennessee seeking regional hosting nods. Baseball America moved Tennessee into a hosting spot and Ole Miss was one spot back of a hosting spot. Needless to say, tomorrow’s results are pretty pivotal. Would a UT win over Vandy lock down a hosting spot? That seems plausible. For the Rebels, would a win over LSU jump them into that situation? Very plausibly. So an Ole Miss/UT final would probably lock down two regional spots. It’s possible that a Vandy/LSU final would leave both UT and Ole Miss out in the cold. That’s the big story.
What does it mean?
It’s fair to consider Friday as a statement day for this question. Armchair head coaches around sometimes maintain that the best practice for the conference tournament is taking a quick loss and a few extra days in the whirlpool ahead of the NCAA Tournament. Suffice it to say that people who thought that way weren’t playing or coaching on Friday. The day certainly provided a couple of pretty good graphics to remind everyone watching that the SEC Tournament means plenty.
Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
