Weekend two brought more storylines to the SEC. A shuffling in the rankings occurred after number one went down again. Some teams had dramatic comebacks and others had minor setbacks early in the young season.
Weekly Wrap-Up
Most teams got their first taste of the midweeks as the baseball season gets back in its groove. Below is the recap from last week’s schedule.
- Alabama: 4-1
- Midweek: 1-1 vs Jacksonville State (W), UT Martin (L)
- Weekend: 3-0 vs Wright State
- No.1 Arkansas: 4-0 vs SE Missouri State
- Auburn: 3-2
- Midweek: 2-0 vs Alabama A&M
- Weekend: 1-2 vs Oklahoma (L), Baylor (L), Texas A&M (W)
- No.6 Florida: 5-0
- Midweek: 2-0 vs North Florida
- Weekend: 3-0 vs Samford
- Georgia: 4-0
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Georgia State
- Weekend: 3-0 vs Gardner-Webb
- Kentucky: 4-0
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Miami (OH)
- Weekend: 3-0 vs Milwaukee
- No.11 LSU: 4-0
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Louisiana
- Weekend: 3-0 vs Youngstown State (2-0), Nicholls (1-0)
- No.4 Ole Miss: 2-2
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Arkansas State
- Weekend: 1-2 vs UCF
- No.3 Mississippi State: 3-1
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Jackson State
- Weekend: 2-1 vs Tulane
- Missouri: 2-2 vs Omaha
- No.14 South Carolina: 3-0
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Winthrop
- Weekend: 2-0 vs Clemson
- No.18 Tennessee: 4-2
- Midweek: 2-0 vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff
- Weekend: 2-2 vs Indiana State
- Texas A&M: 3-2
- Midweek: 1-1 vs Abilene Christian (L), Tarleton (W)
- Weekend: 2-1 vs Baylor (W), Oklahoma (W), Auburn (L)
- No.2 Vanderbilt: 4-1
- Midweek: 1-0 vs Western Kentucky
- Weekend: 3-1 vs Georgia State
South Carolina had a big weekend with their two-game sweep of in-state rival Clemson. Wes Clarke had himself a huge week with five homeruns, including two in the final game against Clemson. He now leads the SEC with eight in just six games.
ANDREW EYSTER DOES IT AGAIN 💥@GamecockBasebll TAKES THE SERIES OVER CLEMSON! pic.twitter.com/2RZDnbo8rC
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 28, 2021
Only two SEC teams lost their weekend series in Ole Miss and Auburn. We’ll break down their weekends a little more below but Auburn has since dropped from the rankings as a result. Tennessee and Missouri split their series.
Texas A&M had a big weekend despite the midweek loss. Five different teams had undefeated weeks including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and LSU. The shuffling in the rankings is shown below. The SEC now owns the top four rankings in college baseball and five of the top six.
- No.1 Arkansas: 7-0 +1
- No.2 Vanderbilt: 6-1 +1
- No.3 Mississippi State: 5-2 +2
- No.4 Ole Miss: 5-2 -3
- No.6 Florida: 6-2 +1
- No.11 LSU: 6-1
- No.14 South Carolina: 6-0 +3
- No.18 Tennessee: 7-2
No.1 Ole Miss Drops Series, Falls to No.4
For the second week in a row the number one team has changed. Last week Florida fell to No.7 after their series loss to Miami. Ole Miss is the next victim as they lost their series to UCF. The bats disappeared for the Rebels as they were nearly swept.
The Rebels held a 1-0 lead in game one before UCF took the lead in the seventh. A ninth inning homerun brought it to a 3-2 loss. Game two also came down to the ninth but this time the Rebels were able to complete the comeback. The Rebels scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to steal a 6-5 win.
Game three on the other hand was never close. UCF took a one nothing lead in the second and never looked back. They went on to win 7-2. After plenty of offense on opening weekend against the Big 12’s best, the Rebels couldn’t find the bats. Their 2-5 hitters in the lineup combined for a horrendous 7-45 on the weekend.
SEC Splits Round Rock Classic
Texas A&M earned the two wins for the SEC against Big 12 teams Baylor and Oklahoma. Auburn fell to both teams giving the conference a 2-2 tie. The Aggies dominated in the first two games defeating Baylor 12-4 and Oklahoma 8-1. It was a nice rebound after struggling in the midweek games.
On the other side Auburn lost a close one in extras in their opening game against Oklahoma. The Tigers fell 4-3 in ten innings, allowing the Sooners single runs in the bottom of the eighth, ninth and tenth. The following game wasn’t nearly as close as Baylor was leading 12-2 at one point en route to a 12-6 win.
The final game of the weekend was a 6-1 win by Auburn against Texas A&M in what counts as a nonconference game. It was a pitcher’s duel between the two starters who left the game in a 1-0 Auburn lead. The Tigers’ bullpen would hold out as their offense harassed the Aggies bullpen for eight hits and five runs over the final three innings.
SEC Teams Split Early Season Series
Outside of Ole Miss and Auburn losing their series, Tennessee and Missouri are two other teams disappointed with their weekends. The pair split their weekend series which is bad news for Tennessee being a ranked team, as well as for Missouri who is not three weeks into the season without a series win.
To be fair, both teams are expected to be pretty good. Tennessee’s opponent Indiana State won the Missouri Valley’s automatic bid in the tournament in 2019 and are expected to contend for the conference championship once again. Similarly, Missouri’s opponent Omaha is the favorite to win the Summit League.
Tennessee’s ranking wasn’t moved but they’ll want to make sure to win the series against Georgia State this weekend. The Panthers won the opening game of a four game series last weekend against Vanderbilt but lost the series 3-1. For Missouri, they need to get on track this season as they are now 3-5 with a tough weekend ahead of them.
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