And so we arrive at the midpoint of the SEC season. I'll have a more complete halfway report later this week, but for now let's take a look at the standings:
|
EAST |
W-L (SEC) |
W-L |
GB |
|
WEST |
W-L (SEC) |
W-L |
GB |
|
Georgia |
11-4 |
29-6 |
-- |
|
Arkansas |
10-4 |
24-8 |
-- |
|
Florida |
9-6 |
23-12 |
2.0 |
|
LSU |
10-5 |
26-9 |
0.5 |
|
Vanderbilt |
7-7 |
21-13 |
3.5 |
|
Ole Miss |
9-6 |
25-10 |
1.5 |
|
South Carolina |
7-8 |
23-12 |
4.0 |
|
Auburn |
7-8 |
23-12 |
3.5 |
|
Kentucky |
4-11 |
18-16 |
7.0 |
|
Alabama |
7-8 |
22-12 |
3.5 |
|
Tennessee |
3-12 |
15-21 |
8.0 |
|
Mississippi St |
5-10 |
19-17 |
5.5 |
Kentucky and Tennessee are just about out of things in the East, and Mississippi State is pretty much gone in the West. Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Auburn and Alabama all remain on life support in their races -- particularly Alabama and South Carolina, not far out of it in the games behind category, but behind far too many teams to make a plausible run.
And, for those who don't know, the baseball tournament is not like basketball. Only the top eight teams go. So the Vanderbilt-South Carolina-Auburn-Alabama dance is interesting for at least one reason: One of them ain't going to Hoover.
VANDERBILT AT ARKANSAS
|
Series |
Vanderbilt, 2-0 |
Runs: 22-6 |
|
Friday |
Vanderbilt 9 |
Arkansas 0 |
|
Saturday |
Vanderbilt 13 |
Arkansas 6 |
|
Sunday |
ppd |
Good job, Arkansas. You put yourself in a prime position to be ranked No. 1, quiet all the skeptics with a two-game sweep of Arizona State -- and then you lose to Vanderbilt? I mean, Vanderbilt's okay and everything -- but, really?!? Poor pitching and errors will catch up to you every time, even if you are about to be ranked No. 1. Make that were about to be ranked No. 1. The upside: Play well, and the series with Georgia could be the matchup of the weekend. Things could get interesting if that postponed game matters and they have to make it up.
THIS WEEK FOR ARKANSAS: vs. Louisiana-Monroe (Tuesday-Wednesday), at Georgia (Weekend)
THIS WEEK FOR VANDERBILT: vs. Middle Tennessee (Tuesday), vs. Morehead State (Wednesday), vs. Alabama (Weekend)
LSU AT ALABAMA
|
Series |
LSU, 2-1 |
Runs: 25-25 |
|
Friday |
LSU 8 |
Alabama 5 |
|
Saturday |
Alabama 13 |
LSU 5 |
|
Sunday |
LSU 12 |
Alabama 7 |
This has to be getting pretty old for Alabama fans, especially now that the defense has decided to chip in and help the bullpen implode in the latter innings. The problem isn't that Alabama can't score -- the Tide does that in bunches. The problem is that the relievers, in particular, can't keep the other team from scoring. And so you get slugfests, weekends where each team scores 25 runs -- and weekend that usually end up with Alabama on the wrong side of the series. All that said, it was a good series win for LSU, one that moves them within a half game of Arkansas. Those two play May 1-3.
THIS WEEK FOR LSU: vs. New Orleans (Tuesday), vs. Nicholls State (Wednesday), vs. Tennessee (Weekend)
THIS WEEK FOR ALABAMA: at UAB (W, 10-6, Monday), vs. Missisippi Valley State (Tuesday), at Samford (Wednesday), at Vanderbilt (Weekend)
SOUTH CAROLINA AT OLE MISS
|
Series |
South Carolina, 2-1 |
Runs: 21-17 |
|
Friday |
South Carolina 12 |
Ole Miss 10 |
|
Saturday |
South Carolina 8 |
Ole Miss 1 |
|
Sunday |
Ole Miss 6 |
South Carolina 1 |
There are two ways to view this game: From the perspective of South Carolina fans, desperate to get what was looking like a lost season back on track, or from the perspective of Ole Miss fans, who have a pretty good team but watched it gain just half a game on slumping Arkansas and lose ground to LSU. On the other hand, there's not much here (except Saturday's great showing by Nolan Belcher) to suggest that the Gamecocks have their pitching issues worked out. And Ole Miss can always rely on Scott Bittle, who gave up one run in six innings and, as he put it, "graded out as maybe a C-plus." Want to see his A stuff?
THIS WEEK FOR SOUTH CAROLINA: vs. College of Charleston (Tuesday), vs. The Citadel (Wednesday), vs. Auburn (Weekend)
THIS WEEK FOR OLE MISS: Governor's Cup vs. Mississippi State (Tuesday, "non-conference game"), at Florida (Weekend)
FLORIDA AT AUBURN
|
Series |
Florida, 2-1 |
Runs: 36-11 |
|
Fri/Sat (11 innings) |
Auburn 8 |
Florida 7 |
|
Saturday |
Florida 24 |
Auburn 2 |
|
Sunday |
Florida 5 |
Auburn 1 |
Um, I think Auburn made Florida angry. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is your Florida box score for Saturday. Ugh. It's not every day you see 49 at-bats. Or, for that matter, many of the numbers you see there. How would you feel, though, to be Matt den Dekker, the only guy with more than two at-bats to ngt get a hit? Walks are good and all, but ...
Fourteen of those runs, by the way, came in the seventh and the ninth inning.
THIS WEEK FOR FLORIDA: at Florida State (Tuesday), vs. Stetson (Wednesday), vs. Ole Miss (Weekend)
THIS WEEK FOR AUBURN: at South Alabama (Tuesday), vs. South Alabama (Wednesday), at South Carolina (Weekend)
GEORGIA AT KENTUCKY
|
Series |
Georgia, 3-0 |
Runs: 19-12 |
|
Saturday (Game 1) |
Georgia 7 |
Kentucky 4 |
|
Saturday (Game 2) |
Georgia 7 |
Kentucky 4 |
|
Sunday |
Georgia 5 |
Kentucky 4 |
Kentucky might want to try scoring more than four runs when they're playing at a metal-bat level, but save for oddities like the 19-run outburst against South Carolina back on March 27, this has been about par for the course for the Wildcats in the SEC this year. And its one of the reason the Kentucky faithful probably won't be reserving any hotel rooms in Hoover this year.
THIS WEEK FOR GEORGIA: vs. Georgia Tech (Tuesday), vs. Arkansas (Weekend)
THIS WEEK FOR KENTUCKY: vs. Louisville (Tuesday), at Mississippi State (Weekend)
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT TENNESSEE
|
Series |
Tennessee, 2-1 |
Runs: 19-13 |
|
Friday |
Tennessee 6 |
Mississippi State 1 |
|
Saturday |
Tennessee 4 |
Mississippi State 2 |
|
Sunday |
Mississippi State 10 |
Tennessee 9 |
Hooray for Tennessee, who will not go the entire season without winning an SEC series. Who's now the worst team in the league? Does it matter? At this rate, both of them are just going to be happy when the season ends.
THIS WEEK FOR MISSISSIPPI STATE: Governor's Cup vs. Ole Miss (Tuesday, "non-conference game"), at Kentucky (Weekend)
THIS WEEK FOR TENNESSEE: vs. Belmont (Tuesday), vs. Middle Tennessee (Wednesday), at LSU (Weekend)
THE POLLS
|
|
Baseball America |
Collegiate Baseball |
USA Today/ESPN |
|
LSU |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Georgia |
8 |
2 |
1 |
|
Arkansas |
11 |
5 |
12 |
|
Ole Miss |
17 |
19 |
16 |
|
Florida |
-- |
20 |
25 |