Another slate of top games this weekend as per usual in the SEC.
The number represents the team's highest poll ranking.
Thursday serie
#1 Texas at #5 Arkansas – 7 p.m. [ESPN2]
Friday series starts
#5 Auburn at #5 Tennessee
#16 Alabama at #14 Vanderbilt (we went from 9th to 14th after losing a road series 1-2 to the now #12 despite out-scoring them 17-15)
Florida at South Carolina
#3 Georgia at Missouri
Kentucky at Mississippi State
#2 LSU at Texas A&M
#12 Ole Miss at #14 Oklahoma
It's interesting to note that 4 of the 5 unranked teams play each other which might lead to 1 or 2 of them being ranked next week.
Texas @ Arkansas
Arkansas has lost 3 consecutive SEC series. Texas has won 7 consecutive SEC series.
But don't let that fool you. Arkansas plays much better at home. Texas has been thriving on 1-run wins (7-1 in SEC, 3 last weekend against A&M.)
None of the 9 SEC games played at Arkansas have been 1-run games.
Texas is threatening to break Vandy's all-time best SEC record of 26-3 as they are currently 19-2 so we've got to pull for Arkansas to take the series and keep that record safe yet another year.
Arkansas' best chance is to hit a lot of HRs which they often do at home. Texas doesn't score a lot of runs as pitching is their best weapon. So something has to give in that regard. Good pitching most often beats good hitting so this should be a tight series. Maybe 3 1-run games. But Arkansas is 0-2 in the SEC in 1-run games so something has to give there as well for them to win the series.
Watch, they'll be no 1-run games this weekend in this series which means I wasted a lot of time researching that.
Bottom line: everyone should practice calling the hogs.
Auburn @ Tennessee
The Vols have been slumping of late having lost their last two series, one at home to an unranked team.
Is Auburn as good as most people think? I don't think so but they just keep winning even though they were swept by Texas two weekends ago after only scoring 7 runs in 3 games. Their series wins are Vandy, Kentucky, Bama, LSU (a sweep), and State. So they are 5-2 in series play and that puts them way ahead of Vandy's 3-4 record. We need them to lose the series.
But we also need Tennessee to lose the series as we are only 1 game behind them in the standings.
So we win and we lose no matter how this series goes.
In the end, Vandy fans should never pull for Tennessee.
Alabama @ Vanderbilt
This is a MUST WIN series for Vandy to keep alive our postseason hosting(s) hope(s). You just can't lose home series especially when you've already lost 4 series (1 at home) and there's only 3 series to go.
If you go 4-6 in series play you won't be a Top 8 seed no matter how good your other metrics are.
Our winning formula must be operating at a high level this weekend -- solid starts, steady relief pitching, good defense, score just enough runs to win.
Everybody do something good tomorrow for as many people as possible and dedicate it all to Spencer Hawks. That might help him be available this weekend.
Clearly, everyone needs to pull for Vandy to win.
Either that or GET OFF OUR BOARD! It's for Vandy fans only.
Florida @ South Carolina
This is a series between two of the lower teams in the league.
But not really. Florida is getting it's act together of late. South Carolina has not, plus they've lost their best player, Petrie, for the rest of the season. There's a very real chance that Florida sweeps.
Even so, pull for Paul Mainieri and his rag-tag bunch simply because Florida is closer to Vandy in the standings than is Carolina.
Georgia @ Missouri
One word -- sweep. You know it's going to happen and we don't like that because we're tied with Georgia in the standings and it's highly unlikely Vandy can sweep Bama to stay even.
However, somebody has to lose to Missouri (I think) and for us it is best that it be Georgia. Their last 2 series are A&M and State and it really doesn't do us any good for them to beat either of those teams.
Kentucky @ Mississippi State
State has fired Lemonis so their fans and players will be happy this weekend. These two are evenly matched talent-wise although Kentucky has much better pitching, State a better slightly offense.
Kentucky is only 2 games behind us in the standings so we need them to lose the series.
LSU @ Texas A&M
The surging Aggies (won 7 of their last 8 SEC games prior to last weekend) lost that momentum by losing 3 1-run games last weekend at Texas.
LSU got a big home series win over Tennessee last weekend but got swept by Auburn not long ago.
LSU is only 2 games ahead of Vandy in the standings so it'd be great for them to get swept, especially since the Aggies are 4 games behind us.
Pull for the Aggies to sweep.
Ole Miss @ Oklahoma
This is a big series for Vandy. We lost series to both of them but we are tied with Ole Miss in the SEC and 1 game ahead of Oklahoma.
We need for the Sooners to win the series 2-1. Couple that with a series win over Bama and that moves us ahead of both of them for the time being.
Here's how I think it all goes:
Arkie 2, Texas 1
UTjr 2, Auburn 1
Vandy 2, Bama 1
Florida 2, USCjr 1
Georgia 3, MO O (it's been right there in their initials the whole time yet we didn't see it)
State 2, Kentucky 1
A&M 2, LSU 1
Okie 2, OM 1
Should all that come to pass this weekend (it won't, it never goes how you think it will) we'd actually drop to 6th in the standings but would be all alone and only 1 game behind LSU, Tennessee, and Georgia who'd be tied for 3rd place.
The number represents the team's highest poll ranking.
Thursday serie
#1 Texas at #5 Arkansas – 7 p.m. [ESPN2]
Friday series starts
#5 Auburn at #5 Tennessee
#16 Alabama at #14 Vanderbilt (we went from 9th to 14th after losing a road series 1-2 to the now #12 despite out-scoring them 17-15)
Florida at South Carolina
#3 Georgia at Missouri
Kentucky at Mississippi State
#2 LSU at Texas A&M
#12 Ole Miss at #14 Oklahoma
It's interesting to note that 4 of the 5 unranked teams play each other which might lead to 1 or 2 of them being ranked next week.
Texas @ Arkansas
Arkansas has lost 3 consecutive SEC series. Texas has won 7 consecutive SEC series.
But don't let that fool you. Arkansas plays much better at home. Texas has been thriving on 1-run wins (7-1 in SEC, 3 last weekend against A&M.)
None of the 9 SEC games played at Arkansas have been 1-run games.
Texas is threatening to break Vandy's all-time best SEC record of 26-3 as they are currently 19-2 so we've got to pull for Arkansas to take the series and keep that record safe yet another year.
Arkansas' best chance is to hit a lot of HRs which they often do at home. Texas doesn't score a lot of runs as pitching is their best weapon. So something has to give in that regard. Good pitching most often beats good hitting so this should be a tight series. Maybe 3 1-run games. But Arkansas is 0-2 in the SEC in 1-run games so something has to give there as well for them to win the series.
Watch, they'll be no 1-run games this weekend in this series which means I wasted a lot of time researching that.
Bottom line: everyone should practice calling the hogs.
Auburn @ Tennessee
The Vols have been slumping of late having lost their last two series, one at home to an unranked team.
Is Auburn as good as most people think? I don't think so but they just keep winning even though they were swept by Texas two weekends ago after only scoring 7 runs in 3 games. Their series wins are Vandy, Kentucky, Bama, LSU (a sweep), and State. So they are 5-2 in series play and that puts them way ahead of Vandy's 3-4 record. We need them to lose the series.
But we also need Tennessee to lose the series as we are only 1 game behind them in the standings.
So we win and we lose no matter how this series goes.
In the end, Vandy fans should never pull for Tennessee.
Alabama @ Vanderbilt
This is a MUST WIN series for Vandy to keep alive our postseason hosting(s) hope(s). You just can't lose home series especially when you've already lost 4 series (1 at home) and there's only 3 series to go.
If you go 4-6 in series play you won't be a Top 8 seed no matter how good your other metrics are.
Our winning formula must be operating at a high level this weekend -- solid starts, steady relief pitching, good defense, score just enough runs to win.
Everybody do something good tomorrow for as many people as possible and dedicate it all to Spencer Hawks. That might help him be available this weekend.
Clearly, everyone needs to pull for Vandy to win.
Either that or GET OFF OUR BOARD! It's for Vandy fans only.
Florida @ South Carolina
This is a series between two of the lower teams in the league.
But not really. Florida is getting it's act together of late. South Carolina has not, plus they've lost their best player, Petrie, for the rest of the season. There's a very real chance that Florida sweeps.
Even so, pull for Paul Mainieri and his rag-tag bunch simply because Florida is closer to Vandy in the standings than is Carolina.
Georgia @ Missouri
One word -- sweep. You know it's going to happen and we don't like that because we're tied with Georgia in the standings and it's highly unlikely Vandy can sweep Bama to stay even.
However, somebody has to lose to Missouri (I think) and for us it is best that it be Georgia. Their last 2 series are A&M and State and it really doesn't do us any good for them to beat either of those teams.
Kentucky @ Mississippi State
State has fired Lemonis so their fans and players will be happy this weekend. These two are evenly matched talent-wise although Kentucky has much better pitching, State a better slightly offense.
Kentucky is only 2 games behind us in the standings so we need them to lose the series.
LSU @ Texas A&M
The surging Aggies (won 7 of their last 8 SEC games prior to last weekend) lost that momentum by losing 3 1-run games last weekend at Texas.
LSU got a big home series win over Tennessee last weekend but got swept by Auburn not long ago.
LSU is only 2 games ahead of Vandy in the standings so it'd be great for them to get swept, especially since the Aggies are 4 games behind us.
Pull for the Aggies to sweep.
Ole Miss @ Oklahoma
This is a big series for Vandy. We lost series to both of them but we are tied with Ole Miss in the SEC and 1 game ahead of Oklahoma.
We need for the Sooners to win the series 2-1. Couple that with a series win over Bama and that moves us ahead of both of them for the time being.
Here's how I think it all goes:
Arkie 2, Texas 1
UTjr 2, Auburn 1
Vandy 2, Bama 1
Florida 2, USCjr 1
Georgia 3, MO O (it's been right there in their initials the whole time yet we didn't see it)
State 2, Kentucky 1
A&M 2, LSU 1
Okie 2, OM 1
Should all that come to pass this weekend (it won't, it never goes how you think it will) we'd actually drop to 6th in the standings but would be all alone and only 1 game behind LSU, Tennessee, and Georgia who'd be tied for 3rd place.
