Alabama’s Connor Short (11)
Photo by Paulo Viteri
03-17-17 MBA vs Missouri
If week one in the SEC taught us anything, it’s that we know nothing about these teams until conference play starts.
It’s really hard to judge a team based on their first four weeks if they don’t play a competitive schedule. For some teams like Tennessee, it shows that they weren’t as good as their record indicated from a weak schedule to start the season.
However, for Auburn, this past weekend indicated that their gaudy record for a weak out-of-conference schedule was justified as they swept previously ranked No. 5 Florida at home.
I only predicted two series correct last weekend with LSU sweeping Georgia (that was the layup) and Ole Miss taking 2-of-3 from Vanderbilt.
Three series went the complete opposite of what I predicted.
Now that we have a better idea of where each team stands, let’s have a look at week two of SEC play.
Here are my SEC Baseball Power Rankings after week five:
- LSU (Up One)
-
South Carolina (Up Two)
-
Ole Miss (Up Three)
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Missouri (Up One)
-
Auburn (Up Seven)
-
Florida (Down Five)
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Kentucky (Up One)
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Arkansas (Up Two)
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Texas A&M (Down Six)
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Vanderbilt (Down Three)
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Tennessee (Down Two)
12. Mississippi State (Down One)
- Alabama (Same)
-
Georgia (Same)
Weekend Schedule
Ole Miss at Kentucky
Kentucky is coming off of an impressive sweep on the road against Texas A&M in some tight ball games. Sean Hjelle was named the SEC pitcher of the week after throwing a complete game shutout with 9 strikeouts, while only allowing 4 hits and a walk. The tall, lanky sophomore will try to build on that start against Ole Miss this weekend. The Rebels fought back against Vanderbilt on Sunday to pick up the series win. This should be a very good series, but I’m on the Kentucky bandwagon so I have the Wildcats winning 2-of-3.
Thursday (Parkinson – 2.03 vs. Hjelle – 4.99)
Friday (Feigl – 4.45 vs. Logue – 2.43)
Saturday (Will Ethridge – 3.32 vs. Lewis – 3.07)
Prediction: Kentucky 2-1
Auburn at Georgia
The Tigers are one of the hottest teams in the country right now coming off a sweep of Florida at home and then beating Georgia Tech on Tuesday in their first road game of the year. Now they head back to the state of Georgia to face a miserable Bulldogs team that was swept by LSU last weekend. The 1-2 punch of Keegan Thompson and Casey Mize for Auburn almost guarantee a series win. The question will be whether or not they can get the sweep in their first road series of the year?
Friday (Thompson – 0.78 vs. Gist – 5.09)
Saturday (Mize – 0.30 vs. Locey – 7.65)
Sunday (Daniel – 5.75 vs. Adkins – 2.97)
Prediction: Auburn 2-1
Alabama at South Carolina
Not far behind Georgia at the bottom of the conference is the Alabama Crimson Tide as they were swept by Missouri at home last weekend. The pitching is in flux right now, and if they can’t win with Friday night starter Jake Walters, it could be another long weekend. The Gamecocks are coming off an impressive sweep over Tennessee on the road without their best pitcher in Clarke Schmidt. I’m not sure what his status for this weekend is, but they shouldn’t need him to win this series.
Friday (Walters – 1.91 vs. Hill – 1.54)
Saturday (Duarte – 2.78 vs. Crowe – 2.73)
Sunday (Eicholtz – 6.48 vs. Morris – 1.35)
Prediction: South Carolina 2-1
Arkansas at Missouri
This might be the most intriguing matchup of the weekend with both teams picking up sweeps last weekend. The Razorbacks took care of Mississippi State thanks to some great pitching by Blaine Knight and Trevor Stephan. Missouri has some good pitching of their own, including future first round draft pick Tanner Houck. The Friday night pitching matchup will be one you won’t want to miss. With an 11-8 win over Little Rock on Tuesday, Missouri has now won 20 games in a row. That streak ends this weekend, but I don’t know who wins the rubber game.
Friday (Knight – 2.39 vs. Houck – 2.27)
Saturday (Stephan – 1.19 vs. Plassmeyer – 2.89)
Sunday (Alberius – 3.18 vs. Toelken – 3.57)
Prediction: Missouri 2-1
Texas A&M at Vanderbilt
Two teams that started the year as College World Series contenders now find themselves in a desperate situation as Texas A&M was swept last weekend by Kentucky and Vanderbilt lost a series on the road to Ole Miss. We still don’t know who either of these teams are, but we’ll find out this weekend. Texas A&M has the better offense, but Vanderbilt has the better pitching, which gives them the edge at home. The loser of this series will be in early panic mode.
Friday (Hill – 2.61 vs. Wright – 4.33)
Saturday (Kolek – 2.54 vs. Raby – 1.71)
Sunday (Kilkenny – 4.01 vs. Fellows – 1.72)
Prediction: Vanderbilt 2-1
Tennessee at Mississippi State
One of these two teams will get their first SEC win of the season on Friday night as both were swept last weekend. Tennessee came into last weekend with a very good record, but they were humbled quickly by South Carolina. Despite the series loss, I liked the approach at the plate for the Volunteers in the game I watched on Saturday. I think they feast off of Mississippi State’s pitching staff this weekend for a series win; especially if the Bulldogs don’t win on Friday with Konnor Pilkington on the mound. However, if you aren’t watching Brent Rooker for Mississippi State, you’re missing out.
Friday (Martin – 3.49 vs. Pilkington – 2.12)
Saturday (Warren – 3.80 vs. Plumlee – 3.51)
Sunday (Neely – 5.30 vs. Mangum – 4.76)
Prediction: Tennessee 2-1
LSU at Florida
This will probably be the series to watch this weekend, even though Florida was swept by Auburn last weekend. There is still a chance that these teams end up being the two best teams in the conference. The pitching matchups in this series are must see, especially the Saturday matchup between Jared Poche and Brady Singer. Florida is 13-2 at home this year and 1-6 on the road, while LSU is 15-1 at home and 0-2 on the road. For that reason alone I think the Gators bounce back with a much needed series victory.
Friday (Lange – 5.04 vs. Faedo – 2.93)
Saturday (Poche – 0.25 vs. Singer – 1.74)
Sunday (Walker – 2.67 vs. Kowar – 2.35)
Prediction: Florida 2-1
