The field has narrowed significantly in the 2021 SEC Baseball Tournament with two more teams eliminated on Day 4 in Hoover, Ala.
Here were the biggest takeaways from the two SEC Tournament games on Day 4:
5. Hit By Pitches Plague Jack Leiter in Loss
Much like is rotation mate Kumar Rocker, loss of command at times hurt Jack Leiter on Friday. He only allowed 3 hits over 6.2 innings, but he walked two batters and hit two more. Three of those four runners came around to score, and those were the 3 runs he allowed in Vandy’s 4-1 loss to Ole Miss.
4. What to Make of Vandy’s Short Run in Hoover
It’s always hard to gauge the level of interest for the top teams in this tournament. Florida and Vandy have been teams in the past that have come in with a national seed in hand and not done well.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Vandy’s early exit in this one — nor Mississippi State’s ugly exit. They’ll be just fine next weekend once regionals start and I’d still be shocked if they didn’t reach Omaha.
3. Tennessee Shows Why They’re a Legit Threat For Omaha
I hadn’t been able to watch Tennessee in person until this week, but even from those series against Arkansas and Vanderbilt, you could tell there was something special about this team — even though they lost both of those series.
They lost their first game of the tournament to Alabama, but let’s be honest, they could have very easily won that one.
But they didn’t let that deter them as they bounced back to run-rule Mississippi State and Alabama in their next two games. This lineup has mashers up-and-down. And the pitching has only allowed 5 runs in three games.
Blade Tidwell was electric on Friday, and he’s their third starter. If you didn’t know before, you should know now, Tennessee is a legit national title contender.
2. Ole Miss Trying to Steal a National Seed
Yesterday I mentioned that Florida could steal a national seed from Mississippi State in this tournament. Well, you could say the same for their in-state rivals.
Ole Miss’ only loss in this tournament was a walk-off loss to Vandy. They avenged that loss on Friday and are now in a position to win the SEC Tournament and try to earn a top eight seed.
1. Alabama Leaves it Up to the Committee
Alabama did all they could do to try and sway the committee in this SEC Tournament, they simply just ran out of gas. Coming into this tournament I thought they needed two wins to get into regionals and they got that done.
But a third win would have almost certainly punched their ticket. Now they leave it up to the committee who they’ll hope will overlook the fact they had a 14-19 record in SEC play this year.
