SEC Baseball Tournament 2023

[toddc 10,187]

2023 SEC Baseball Tournament Schedule

*All times in CT

Tuesday, May 23

Game 1: No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 6 South Carolina — SEC Network — 9:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 10 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Tennessee — SEC Network — After Game 1
Game 3: No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Kentucky — SEC Network — 4:30 p.m. 
Game 4: No. 12 Missouri vs. No. 5 Auburn — SEC Network –After Game 3
 

Gotta love this first draw for Auburn 

Edited May 20 by toddc

[woodford 2,865]

The last two reigning national champs don’t make the conference tourney. Baseball is so unforgiving. 

[aubiefifty 13,048]

bleacherreport.com

 

SEC Baseball Tournament 2023: Tuesday Schedule and Bracket Predictions

Joe Tansey

4–5 minutes

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Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The 2023 SEC baseball tournament begins on Tuesday in Hoover, Alabama with four games.

Five of the eight teams participating in the first round are looking to improve their positions in the NCAA baseball tournament field.

The Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide and Kentucky Wildcats are all projected as regional hosts by D1 Baseball. The South Carolina Gamecocks and Tennessee Volunteers are No. 2 seeds in the latest bracket prediction.

Auburn, Tennessee and South Carolina come into Tuesday with the goal of avoiding a bad loss that would affect their NCAA tournament seeding. They take on the three worst teams that qualified for the SEC tournament.

Alabama-Kentucky should be the most competitive game of the opening-round slate. The winner of that matchup gets a shot at the top-seeded Florida Gators on Wednesday.

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Tuesday SEC Tournament Schedule

No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 6 South Carolina (10:30 a.m. ET)

No. 10 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Tennessee (30 minutes after first game)

No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Kentucky (5:30 p.m. ET)

No. 12 Missouri vs. No. 5 Auburn (30 minutes after third game)

All games televised by SEC Network.

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Preview

Three of the four opening-round contests should be won by the higher seeds.

Auburn enters Hoover in the best position of the teams participating on Tuesday. The Tigers are on an eight-game winning streak after a series win over the LSU Tigers and sweeps over the Ole Miss Rebels and Missouri Tigers.

Auburn wrapped up the regular season with three wins by a combined score of 20-9 against Missouri, who it faces in Tuesday's night cap.

Missouri produced an 11-16 record in road and neutral-site games this season. Its lack of success away from home and its recent set of losses versus Auburn could lead it to an early elimination.

Tuesday's four winners advance into an eight-team double-elimination format. The first round is single elimination, so the four losers do not have the chance to play their way back into the final.

South Carolina is the higher seed in the most danger of losing because of its recent skid. It lost two of three against Tennessee last weekend and is 2-9 in its last 11 games.

The Gamecocks need a win over the Georgia Bulldogs to stabilize things and then they can focus on chasing down a regional hosting bid. South Carolina and Tennessee both need multiple victories in Hoover to have a shot at landing one of the top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

The good news for South Carolina and Tennessee is that one of Alabama and Kentucky will go home after Tuesday. Alabama is currently projected as the No. 14 national seed and Kentucky is No. 9 in D1 Baseball's bracket prediction.

A Kentucky win would probably work better for the Gamecocks and Vols because of where the projections stand.

Kentucky beat Alabama twice on March 24 and 25. The Crimson Tide won a one-run game to close out that series on March 26.

Alabama is 7-1 in its last eight games and scored over 10 runs in three of their last five contests.

Its bats could be the biggest story to emerge from Tuesday's games. Another strong performance at the dish could propel the team into the second round, which would give it a few shots at beating the top four sides in the SEC.

Kentucky allowed 10 runs in three of its last six games and closed the regular season with series losses to Florida and Tennessee.

Alabama could be catching the Wildcats at the right time, which could lead to another major offensive output.

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Predictions:

No. 6 South Carolina def. No. 11 Georgia

No. 7 Tennessee def. No. 10 Texas A&M

No. 9 Alabama def. No. 8 Kentucky

No .5 Auburn def. No. 12 Missouri

[aubiefifty 13,048]

 

[toddc 10,187]

Good grief man! Past my bedtime 

 

Edited May 23 by toddc

[augolf1716 18,949]

32 minutes ago, toddc said:

Good grief man! Past my bedtime 

 

Old fart

[toddc 10,187]

2 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

Old fart

Takes one to… never mind. 😝 

[WeaglWeaglWDE 505]

.....Gonna be tough to get the same team 4 in a row. 

[autigeremt 5,842]

The Hoover Curse continues it looks like so far. 

[AUFightingSoldiers 511]

Cole foster hit a 3 run bomb that landed somewhere around Miami, FL! I mean, the definition of getting ALL of it

[Gowebb11 7,471]

36 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

The Hoover Curse continues it looks like so far. 

Maybe not. Our offense is getting dialed in and Isbell is settling down. 

[I_M4_AU 6,166]

He knew it as soon as he hit it:

 

 

[Gowebb11 7,471]

15 minutes ago, AUFightingSoldiers said:

Cole foster hit a 3 run bomb that landed somewhere around Miami, FL! I mean, the definition of getting ALL of it

That guy hits line drive home runs. Excellent power relative to his frame. 

[AUFightingSoldiers 511]

Bryson with a bomb and this home plate ump can kiss my crack! 

[I_M4_AU 6,166]

 

Line driver over the CF.

[I_M4_AU 6,166]

And the home run:

 

 

[WeaglWeaglWDE 505]

4 Game sweep!

[tigers23 501]

WDE!!! Hopefully that should be enough to host

[CCTAU 2,149]

15 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

And the home run:

 

 

I posted in the wrong thread.

What the heck happened in the 8th?

That was an odd batting sequence.

Foster tries to bunt the first 2 strikes and than hits between first and second. 

Pierce comes up and no bunt. With 2 strikes smokes one over CF. Scores Foster.

McMurray hits in deep left and LF misses it at the fence. Pierce heads home and slides head first. The catcher slides over the catch the ball and blocks Pierce’s  left arm from plate. Looks like it hurt his arm. He’s called out, but again looks like a blocked plate. Nowhere for Pierce to slide?  Review stays with out. Does anyone understand the blocking rule?
Next up, Ware homers. Scores 2.

10-4 AU.

1 out bottom 8th. 

 

[I_M4_AU 6,166]

31 minutes ago, CCTAU said:

I posted in the wrong thread.

What the heck happened in the 8th?

That was an odd batting sequence.

Foster tries to bunt the first 2 strikes and than hits between first and second. 

Pierce comes up and no bunt. With 2 strikes smokes one over CF. Scores Foster.

McMurray hits in deep left and LF misses it at the fence. Pierce heads home and slides head first. The catcher slides over the catch the ball and blocks Pierce’s  left arm from plate. Looks like it hurt his arm. He’s called out, but again looks like a blocked plate. Nowhere for Pierce to slide?  Review stays with out. Does anyone understand the blocking rule?
Next up, Ware homers. Scores 2.

10-4 AU.

1 out bottom 8th. 

 

It was weird.  Butch said after the game he had to talk to Gross for sending him, but felt Pierce was blocked from the plate.  It worked out and was a good win.  Looking forward to the Vandy game and hope the whistler is not there.

[LPTiger 1,862]

14 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

That guy hits line drive home runs. Excellent power relative to his frame. 

100%.  When he gets on a streak, there is not a better hitter in the SEC.  See i.e. last year's regional. 

[LPTiger 1,862]

13 hours ago, CCTAU said:

I posted in the wrong thread.

What the heck happened in the 8th?

That was an odd batting sequence.

Foster tries to bunt the first 2 strikes and than hits between first and second. 

Pierce comes up and no bunt. With 2 strikes smokes one over CF. Scores Foster.

McMurray hits in deep left and LF misses it at the fence. Pierce heads home and slides head first. The catcher slides over the catch the ball and blocks Pierce’s  left arm from plate. Looks like it hurt his arm. He’s called out, but again looks like a blocked plate. Nowhere for Pierce to slide?  Review stays with out. Does anyone understand the blocking rule?
Next up, Ware homers. Scores 2.

10-4 AU.

1 out bottom 8th. 

 

Re the catcher blocking rule.    The NCAA adopted MLB rule 7.13.   7.13 is a little nuanced.   The catcher is not allowed to block the plate without the ball, unless in the umpire's judgment, the catcher could not have caught the ball without blocking the plate.   Bottom line, whatever the umpire calls will not be overturned.   Our home plate umpire last night, Mr. Kevin Sweeney, called a poor game IMO including this particular call.   Butch doesn't chirp at umpires.   He came out of the dugout last night at least twice. 

[LPTiger 1,862]

1 minute ago, LPTiger said:

Re the catcher blocking rule.    The NCAA adopted MLB rule 7.13.   7.13 is a little nuanced.   The catcher is not allowed to block the plate without the ball, unless in the umpire's judgment, the catcher could not have caught the ball without blocking the plate.   Bottom line, whatever the umpire calls will not be overturned.   Our home plate umpire last night, Mr. Kevin Sweeney, called a poor game IMO including this particular call.   Butch doesn't chirp at umpires.   He came out of the dugout last night at least twice. 

Re Gross sending Pierce.   It was a tough decision.   Big park with a ball hit to the very deepest part of the park.  And, Pierce is a really good athlete.  Missouri did not appear to have plus arms at any OF position.  But, we have Bryson coming up and he had absolutely smoked the ball in his first 2 at bats, and I think the out at the plate was out number 1 in the inning.   Good lord we blasted 3 pitches that inning.   Pierce's ball to center made me feel sorry for the CF.   One of the toughest plays in baseball is a straight/non-hooking line drive hit right at you in center, and Pierce's was more than an ordinarily line drive.   I believe the exit velo was 114.   McMurray and Bryson's also had exit veto's of 110+.   1-7 we are as good as anybody in the country right now.

[mustache eagle 1,921]

Heck, even Nate is hitting around .250 recently 

[RunInRed 12,425]