SEC baseball standings, April 21: Tennessee takes 2 from Kentucky; LSU wins first conference series
Another weekend of SEC baseball is in the books. There were plenty of storylines to follow as the second half of the conference slate, with SEC East leaders clashing and increased interest in the NCAA Tournament picture.
Kentucky and Tennessee was the headlining series of the weekend. The Vols took 2-of-3 from the Wildcats, trimming UK’s lead to 3 games in the SEC East.
Here’s an updated look at the standings:
SEC East
- Kentucky – 15-3 SEC (32-7 overall)
- Tennessee – 12-6 (33-7)
- Vanderbilt – 10-8 (29-11)
- Georgia – 9-9 (29-10)
- South Carolina – 9-9 (27-13)
- Florida – 8-10 (20-19)
- Missouri – 6-12 (18-23)
SEC West
- Arkansas – 14-4 SEC (34-6)
- Texas A&M – 13-5 (35-5)
- Mississippi State – 10-8 (26-14)
- Alabama – 7-11 (25-15)
- Ole Miss – 6-12 (21-18)
- LSU – 5-13 (25-16)
- Auburn – 2-16 (19-20)
NCAA Tournament bubble watch
Stock down: Florida
Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad entered the weekend as a projected 3-seed in the Tallahassee Regional (FSU hosting) and D1Baseball’s Last Four In. That was before the Gators dropped another SEC series.
While Jac Caglianone stayed hot at the plate, Vanderbilt managed to get the better of UF. The Commodores took Thursday’s series opener 10-5 and clinched with a 5-2 win Friday.
With Cags on the mound, the Gators got a 6-2 victory to avoid the sweep. UF hosts Stetson in midweek action before a trip to Arkansas, a team with its sights set on winning the College World Series.
Stock down: Ole Miss
Mike Bianco picked up career win No. 1,000, but that’s about all the Rebels are celebrating from the Georgia series.
Ole Miss entered the weekend as a “First Four Out” team according to both Baseball America and D1Baseball. Falling 17-6 in an 8-inning run rule game on Friday and then falling 7-2 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader hurt the overall and conference records.
The Rebels get a midweek tune of North Alabama before hosting the Alabama Crimson Tide for a weekend series in Oxford.
Stock up: LSU
The defending national champions went 3-12 in the first half of conference play. With that record, it was fair to wonder if LSU would make the cut for the SEC Tournament. Only the top 12 teams from the conference standings get to play in Hoover.
Entering the weekend series, LSU was a “First Four Out” team according to D1Baseball, while Baseball America did not mention the Tigers in its projected field of 64.
It took 6 tries, but LSU finally has an SEC series win. The Bayou Bengals took 2-of-3 from the Missouri Tigers, winning 12-1 for a 7-inning run-rule victory on Friday. LSU bounced back from an 8-7 Saturday loss with a 6-2 win in Sunday’s rubber game.
LSU will look to keep the momentum going against Nicholls in midweek action and a struggling Auburn squad next weekend.
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big road series win by tn. i had my doubts, as they’ve struggled on the road the last 2 yrs.
looks like it’ll really be a battle in jockeying for #5 – 10 seeds, while there’s apparently no clear-cut favorite to win the league either. both a&m and uk have shown that they’re beatable.
yes that was a big series win. we have had our issues in lexington but the bats really came alive yesterday. Two very good teams in 3 pretty close games. Too bad it was on secn+.
I was at the game Sunday. It was a packed crowd. Tennessee is a very good team and the UT fans really showed up.
We need to sweep AU.
True. We need that, and more. A&M will be tough, but the others are manageable.
This year you can sweep AU with a 12-year-old travel team. I am going to guess that Butch’s seat may be getting a little warm.
We’re about to find out what this Arkansas team is all about. Big time May trips to Lexington and College Station…
UT has struggled on the Road as much as any other team in the SEC. Many of those road game woes have been from simply poor playing conditions like opening the last couple seasons at Mizzou and at UK the 2 most northern locales and where it stays dead cold until May.
ESPN made a VERY poor choice in not having UK-UT series on the U at minimum. SEC + crummy option for that level of competition
They only care about eyeballs and CBB doesn’t get many.
Watched it just fine on SEC+. Great series. two really good teams going toe-to-toe. Anyone with a service provider can watch on the ESPN app (tv/tablet/phone) for free. This was not a series to miss if you follow college baseball.
LSU really needed a sweep over Missouri but blew the second game. We are in the same boat this weekend. We need a sweep. This team is in real danger of missing the post season. That would be embarrassing after winning the NC last season and still having a ton of talent to work with. This team is definitely underperforming.
You know what Jerry Reed said… “When you’re hot you’re hot and when you’re not you’re not”
We’ve been in the Not category since conference play began. I’m not used to this.
The Wes Johnson affect perhaps? He seems to have the pups playing better ball.
Embarrassing… Ole Miss and Mississippi State would agree.
Bama lost another series, that should move them further up and well ahead of Ga-SC-Vandy-Ms St-FL in the updated D1 BB rankings