SEC baseball roundup

Kentucky's 12-4 mashing of Ole Miss last night at Cliff Hagan Stadium, matched with Thursday night results around the league, puts the Cats in the No. 4 spot heading into Friday's games.

Though that doesn't assure John Cohen's club of a spot in next week's conference tournament in Hoover, Alabama, which entertains the top eight seeds, it puts the Cats one step closer.

After Thursday night's play, Georgia, LSU and Vanderbilt have all punched tickets to Hoover. Auburn and Mississippi State are eliminated. The remaining seven teams are still fighting for five open spots.

Last night's scores:

• Florida 8, Vanderbilt 6
• LSU 6, Auburn 4
• Kentucky 12, Ole Miss 4
• Tennessee 13, South Carolina 2
• Mississippi State 6, Arkansas 5
• Georgia-Alabama rained out (doubleheader today)

Current seedings

•   1. Georgia          19-7-1          clinched regular-season crown
•   2. LSU                16-11-1        leads West; clinched spot in tournament
•   3. Vanderbilt       15-12           clinched spot in tournament
•   4. Kentucky         15-13          win tonight could clinch tourney berth
•   5. Florida            15-13          lost 2 out of 3 to Kentucky
•   6. Alabama          14-13          crucial doubleheader today with Georgia
•   7. Ole Miss          14-14          on-the-bubble Rebs need win tonight
•   8. Arkansas         13-14          hot Hogs cooled off in Starkville
•   9. South Carolina  13-15         Gamecocks are reeling
• 10. Tennessee        12-16         win over Carolina keeps Vols alive
• 11. Auburn             11-17          eliminated by loss to LSU
• 12. Miss. State        8-20           Bulldogs want to send Polk out with wins

Comments

[pdrewster]

How has Vandy clinched a spot when their win total equals UK's and UK won the series with them 2-1? They obviously have 1 less loss, but that's due to a rainout/postponement -- why should that fact count against UK?

[John Clay]

Good question. All I know is what the SEC is saying. Check out this source for the league's take on who's in and out: http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=5&url_article_id=11040&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

[pdrewster]

Thanks for the info. My guess is that the rainout helped Vandy -- otherwise UK would hold the tiebreaker (assuming Vandy had lost the game they never played). So all UK has to do is either win both remaining games and Vandy to lose once... or UK to win one and hope the other gets rained out to get third place in the conference. That's also assuming Florida and Alabama don't win more than 16 games. Whew! So confusing!