SEC baseball weekend recap: May 3-6

There were a bunch of key wins this week, with LSU hanging on to their regional hopes. The Tigers took two of three from Arkansas. Alex Box magic is back! The Tigers can pick up three more wins this weekend when Alabama visits Baton Rouge. Paul Mainieri picked up another much needed series win. Ho hum.

Another key series win came down in Knoxville. Tennessee snagged two games from Kentucky. The Volunteers are now just one game back of a spot in the SEC Tournament, which would be a big step forward for this program. The Vols will have to cheer hard for Kentucky this weekend, which will kill UT fans. The Wildcats face Mississippi State, who are currently only just a game up on Tennessee for the final SEC tournament spot.

Missouri’s RPI is in great shape for a regional, but they now sit dead last in the SEC standings after being swept by Georgia at home. Georgia vaulted all the way up to No. 16 in the rankings and are in great shape to be one of the 16 hosts come Selection Monday, barring no late season lapses. As for the Tigers, it will be interesting to see how the committee views a team that did not even make their conference tournament.

What did we say about South Carolina? They took two of three from Ole Miss, and are steadily climbing in the RPI rankings. They sit at 42nd, and their remaining two series are against Missouri and at Texas A&M, two perfect chances to improve the resume even more!

Oh, Vanderbilt. The losing streak is now five games after getting swept at Auburn. Their RPI is still in the Top 40, but a losing record will simply not get them in. If they can finish above .500 and win a game in the SEC Tournament, they could very well be looking at a postseason bid. A Top 3 strength of schedule will do that, but they need to turn it around, and fast.

Guess what? Florida still has yet to lose a series. They took two of three from Texas A&M and are now 38-11. That’s 38-11 with the top SOS and top-ranked RPI. This team is better than the one that won it last year.