May 25, 2016 – ##9 Alabama vs #1 Mississippi State
Seven teams are within a game of each other at the top of the standings. Three teams are at 14-7, while four teams are at 13-8 – five of those teams reside in the SEC West.
For the second weekend in a row the Auburn Tigers have taken 2-of-3 from the SEC West leader and now find themselves atop the division with Mississippi State.
Arkansas, Texas A&M and LSU are all just a game behind them.
Kentucky remains on top of the SEC East, but Florida is right behind them. There is a big drop off in the East after Florida with Vanderbilt next at 10-10, and then everyone else in the East has a losing conference record.
Here are the teams that are safe, on the bubble, or out for the NCAA Tournament at this point:
Safe – *Kentucky, *Florida, *Auburn, *Mississippi State, Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU
On the Bubble – Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Missouri
No Chance – Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama
* – Possible Host Sites
Weekend Schedule:
Arkansas at Tennessee
Despite dropping 2-of-3 at home to Ole Miss last weekend, the Razorbacks are just a game back of first place in the SEC West. They should get a chance to firmly plant themselves into the NCAA Tournament this weekend against Tennessee. The Volunteers have actually been a scrappy bunch lately winning two of their last three SEC games. They split a pair of games with Vanderbilt last weekend, and the third game of the series was rained out. Tennessee is just a game ahead of Georgia for the last spot in the SEC Tournament, so they have plenty to play for.
Prediction: Arkansas 2-1
Ole Miss at Florida
Ole Miss helped its NCAA Tournament case tremendously last weekend by winning a series against Arkansas. They’ll try to follow that up with a big series win at Florida this weekend. The Gators have been on a roll lately winning 12 of their last 14 games – those two losses were by a combined four runs. They’re looking like the team we all thought they would be this year. Ole Miss still ranks dead last in average in the conference, which isn’t good when going up against the Florida pitching staff on the road.
Prediction: Florida 2-1
Georgia at Kentucky
Georgia has one series win all year, and it came against Tennessee, which is important because that’s the team they’re fighting with for the last spot in the SEC Tournament. They’ll be hard-pressed to make up any ground this weekend on the road against possibly the best team in the SEC in Kentucky. The Wildcats are the highest ranked SEC team in the country and are coming off a big series win on the road against South Carolina.
Prediction: Kentucky 3-0
Alabama at Auburn
Auburn is right behind Kentucky in the standings, and they should also have an easy weekend hosting the worst team in the SEC. The Crimson Tide are hitting historical lows having lost seven games in a row and 13 SEC games in a row. That’s incredible. However, five of those losses were by one run. Alabama is in a lot of these games, but can’t get over that hump. Auburn just continues to get it done as they came back to win the last two games of the series on the road against Mississippi State last weekend to take over the top spot in the SEC West.
Prediction: Auburn 2-1
Missouri at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt missed out on a fairly easy win last weekend when the third game of their series against Tennessee was cancelled. They’ll need to make up for that against a struggling Missouri team this weekend. The Tigers have lost five SEC games in a row and fallen out of the NCAA Tournament picture. They need a big series win against Vanderbilt to rejoin that conversation. On the other side, Vanderbilt is slipping in the SEC East race and needs a couple of sweeps to gain some confidence before tournament time.
Prediction: Vanderbilt 2-1
Mississippi State at Texas A&M
This is the best matchup of the weekend, and the only SEC matchup between ranked teams. Texas A&M is on fire right now winning five straight and winning 18 of their last 22 games. They haven’t lost back-to-back games in over a month. Mississippi State has been just as hot, even though they were cooled down in a series loss at home to Auburn last weekend. The winner of this series would put themselves in a position to host a regional.
Prediction: Texas A&M 2-1
South Carolina at LSU
Unfortunately, I think South Carolina is going to have a tough finish to the season without Clarke Schmidt. Right now they are a game under .500 in the conference after dropping 2-of-3 at home to Kentucky last weekend. Things won’t get any easier this weekend as they travel to face a LSU team that is coming off a sweep over Alabama. If South Carolina can salvage a game this weekend, they finish the year against Missouri and Georgia, which should provide them enough wins to finish over .500 in the conference and make the NCAA Tournament.
Prediction: LSU 2-1
