Standings
Georgia enters the weekend comfortably in the lead in the SEC standings. They’ll have Tennessee in Knoxville this weekend, a team that has lost their last two SEC series.
Three interdivision matchups are getting underway tonight. LSU heads to Columbia to play Missouri, Ole Miss has Kentucky at home, and in the biggest series of the weekend Arkansas will head to the Music City to take on Vanderbilt.
Rankings
The SEC loses another team from the USA Today Top 25 rankings after last weekend. Florida falls out after being swept by Ole Miss in Oxford, leaving eight teams ranked.
- #2 Georgia (1)
- #6 Mississippi State
- #7 Vanderbilt
- #8 LSU
- #10 Arkansas
- #12 Texas A&M
- #15 Ole Miss
- #19 Auburn
Georgia is the new team atop the rankings in the SEC as well as receiving one first-place vote. The Bulldogs have the biggest jump, up five spots after dominating Vanderbilt last weekend.
Auburn has the biggest drop of the week, down four spots from #15. The Tigers went 1-3 last week, losing badly in the midweek to Georgia Tech as well as 2 out of 3 to Arkansas.
Midweek Winners and Losers
Winners:
Ole Miss: The Rebels took on in-state rival Southern Miss in a neutral site game. After a closely contested battle, it ended in a lopsided 11-2 victory for Ole Miss. It is the fifth straight win against the Golden Eagles.
Junior Zack Phillips was able to settle down after giving up two early runs. He finished the game with two earned runs in 4.1 innings. The final 4.2 innings was finished off in a dominating 2-hit pitching performance from the bullpen.
Freshman Knox Loposer got the start at catcher in front of his home city. He was the biggest bat for the Rebels going 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
Florida: The Fresh from Florida Sunshine Showdown went the Gators way again, completing the season sweep in with a 3-1 victory over Florida State.
The bats were quiet for most of the day as the game entered the ninth in a 1-1 tie. Florida put two runners on and junior Kirby McMullen was called on to pinch hit. In just his 11th at-bat he delivered his first double of the season to give the Gators the 3-1 lead.
Florida has now won 11 in a row over Florida State as well as 16 of the last 17. With the win, Florida finishes with a 77-76 record over Florida State head coach Mike Martin, who is retiring at the end of the season.
Georgia: Winning nearly every week at this point, Georgia knocked off rival Georgia Tech with an easy 12-2 victory.
After losing 11-2 to the Yellow Jackets earlier this year, the Bulldogs returned the favor at home in a game that saw every starter record a hit. Midweek starter Tim Elliott shined again, throwing seven innings and allowing just two runs.
First baseman Patrick Sullivan and catcher Mason Meadows both returned to the lineup after being sidelined to injuries back in March. Sullivan finished 1-for-3 with an RBI, Meadows finished 1-for-3 and caught the first six innings.
The teams have one final meeting, a neutral site at SunTrust Park on April 23.
Losers:
Auburn: #19 Auburn fell to Jacksonville State at home Tuesday by a score of 11-6. After taking an early 6-0 lead, the Gamecocks of JSU scored eleven unanswered runs for their first win against Auburn since 2015.
It was a mess of juggling pitchers for Auburn coach Butch Thompson. The top of the seventh in a 6-6 tie saw four different Auburn pitchers try to finish off the inning. The Gamecocks scored five runs off of six walks.
Jacksonville State is Auburn’s lowest RPI loss of the season at 173. The Gamecocks have now won five of their last nine over Auburn. The teams will meet again on April 23 at Jacksonville State.
LSU: The #8 LSU Tigers played an away game across town at Southern and fell 7-2. The Jags pitcher Eli Finney pitched a gem, seven innings of two-hit baseball. LSU never got anything going in the game, getting out-hit ten to two. Freshman starter Landon Marceaux gave up five runs before being pulled after just 1.2 innings.
LSU has now lost three of their midweek games, all to teams with sub 100 RPI. Southern is the worst loss at 183.
Games to Watch For
This week features just two series between ranked teams in the SEC. #19 Auburn looks to turn it around against #12 Texas A&M while #10 Arkansas heads to #7 Vanderbilt in the series of the weekend.
#19 Auburn 23-10 (7-5) @ #12 Texas A&M 25-9-1 (7-4-1)
Texas A&M’s trio of dominant pitching takes on a cold Auburn club that has dropped eight of their last eleven. A&M will try to get the advantage early with ace John Doxakis who has a 1.35 ERA in his last two starts.
Playing at home with favorable pitching against a slow Auburn offense gives the Aggies the edge. Auburn will have an uphill in the first two games against dominant Aggie pitching. If they can’t find a win early in the weekend they’ll be fending off a sweep by Sunday.
#10 Arkansas 25-8 (8-4) @ #7 Vanderbilt 25-8 (7-5)
Vanderbilt’s bats got quieted last week against some very good Georgia pitching. They enter the weekend standing second in the East facing Arkansas who is in a three-way tie for first in the West.
Arkansas ace Isaiah Cambell has dominated all year at 6-0 and a 2.29 ERA. He’ll give the Razorbacks the advantage to start the weekend. If Arkansas can find a win on Saturday or Sunday, they’ll have a good chance to steal a big series from the Commodores.
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