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SEC Baseball Tournament Preview

By Justin Strawn

Jun 14, 2014; Omaha, NE, USA; Teams for game one of the 2014 College World Series between Texas Longhorns and UC Irvine Anteaters at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 14, 2014; Omaha, NE, USA; Teams for game one of the 2014 College World Series between Texas Longhorns and UC Irvine Anteaters at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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The SEC  Baseball Tournament kicks off in Hoover, AL starting today, and we take a look at who to watch as the Tournament plays out.

The SEC baseball regular season is over. Terrible bracket aside, the SEC Baseball Tournament gets under way in Hoover, AL. Actually, by the time you read this, Missouri and Vanderbilt will likely have made it through the first four or five innings of their game.

More bulldogs: How Mississippi State Baseball went from Worst to First

The SEC had as strong of a season as they have ever had. There are seven teams with legitimate cases for hosting regionals in the upcoming NCAA Baseball Tournament. Here is a guide to let you know who to watch out for and who you can ignore.

Thanks for Playing
Missouri and Tennessee

The Tigers and Vols simply aren’t good baseball teams. Tennessee needed a sweep of Georgia just to get into the Tournament, and Missouri is pretty inept at scoring runs.

I could see one of these teams playing lights out and pulling an upset on Day 1. But then Missouri would have to take on Texas A&M and Tennessee would then get Florida. They’re not making it any further than that.

The Havoc Wreakers
Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia

These are the teams that are likely playing for their NCAA Tournament lives. Since they need as many wins as they can get, expect them to pull out all the stops during the tournament. Each of them has different things they need to accomplish if they want any chance at playing past this weekend.

For Georgia, they enter the Tournament with a pretty solid RPI of 34. The problem is they have a losing record.

Georgia likely needs to win the tournament to have any chance at making the field, but if they could make it to the Championship game without taking a loss, their record would be just over .500 and would have a decent argument for making the field. The Bulldogs won’t go easily against the Ole Miss Rebels.

The loser of the Kentucky and Alabama game can pretty much kiss their NCAA Tournament chances goodbye. And the winner of the game is no lock.

This would be your biggest concern for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have little to play for outside of being an even better national seed. The winner of Alabama and Kentucky might seal the deal for a spot in the NCAA Tournament if they could pull out a win over the Bulldogs on Wednesday of the SEC Baseball Tournament.

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The Dark Horses
Vanderbilt and Ole Miss

Vanderbilt and Ole Miss are two very talented teams that struggled to find consistency. Both teams played really well against the weaker opponents in the SEC, but struggled when the competition stiffened up.

Vanderbilt went 6-9 when they played the top 5 teams in the SEC this season. Ole Miss struggled even more going 4-13 (one loss to Mississippi State in the Governor’s Cup and they did not play Florida).

Both teams have some wins against the best of the SEC baseball teams, but not enough to make me feel they are good picks to get to the semis. But it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if they did.

The Contenders
South Carolina, Florida, and LSU

Each of these teams have a really good chance at winning the tournament. But they also have some flaws that make me think they aren’t the favorites.

LSU can score with the best of them, and they are doing it in ways they never have in the past. The Tigers don’t hit a lot of home runs, but they get on base and cause chaos on the base paths.

My hesitation with putting them with the favorites is their pitching isn’t very consistent. The games are normally high scoring, but if you can slow their offense down, then beating them is very possible.

Florida is obviously one of the best teams in the country. They spent most of the season ranked number 1 and played as well as anyone. But they fell on the same side of the SEC Baseball Tournament bracket as LSU and Mississippi State. They went a collective 2-4 against those teams, so it could be a bad match up for the Gators.

South Carolina is a bit of an unknown to me. Yes, they went 20-9, but they didn’t play Mississippi State or LSU. They went 6-5 against the other top 7 teams. At times they looked like the best team in the country. Other times they looked like any decent team could handle them.

Any of these teams could win it if they are playing their best baseball. But I think they are just outside the teams I consider the favorites.

The Favorites
Mississippi State and Texas A&M

Both teams are beatable which was on full display when they each suffered sweeps. The Aggies were victims of a sweep on the road against Florida and the Bulldogs at home against the Aggies.

But these are the two most complete teams in the SEC Baseball Tournament. The Aggies are the top offensive club in the SEC and the Bulldogs are right behind them. Plus, they both rank in the top 5 in the SEC in most pitching statistics.

The Aggies played all six of the other top 7 teams in the conference and went an impressive 11-7 in those 18 games. The Bulldogs played all of them except South Carolina and came out with a winning record of 8-7.

More bulldogs: SEC Baseball Tournament Forecast

While neither team has an easy road to the SEC Baseball Tournament Final on Sunday, there the teams I think will make it there. Based on their previous three meetings, you would have to give the edge to the Aggies if they do, but the Bulldogs aren’t the SEC Champs for nothing. It could be a great game if they both make it to the final like I think they will.

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