The Auburn baseball team begins a three-game series with Ole Miss tonight. It's a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series so teams can rest up for next week's SEC tournament in Hoover.For once the Tigers (36-17, 17-10 SEC) actually have something to play for, as I wrote in my game advance for today's paper. Auburn is a game up on Ole Miss and Arkansas for first place in the SEC West.
Here's what Auburn needs to do to win the West for the first time since 1995:
- Win two of three against Ole Miss (guarantees a tie)
- Have Arkansas lose at least once to Vanderbilt (would give the Tigers the outright title if they accomplish goal No. 1)
Winning the West would likely mean hosting an NCAA Regional. Here are the latest RPI calculations. Notice the scrum of SEC teams in the teens. A division title would look awfully good to the selection committee. Here's a bracket projection that has Auburn hosting a regional site by a hair. That's how much of a fine line we're talking about here. Baseball America does a good job of breaking down the bracket as well. (And yes, those links were shamelessly stolen from the War Eagle Reader, which probably pays as much attention to college baseball as any Auburn site out there.)
As for the SEC tournament, Auburn's still playing for a high seed. The West winner will get the No. 2 seed; the 3-8 seeds are based on winning percentage. As you can see, if the Tigers aren't the two seed, they could very well end up a five or six. So this weekend is important. Here's how the seeds currently look (bold teams have berth locked up):
- 1. South Carolina/Florida, 20-7
- 2. Auburn, 17-10
- 3. South Carolina/Florida, 20-7
- 4. Vanderbilt, 15-10
- 5. Arkansas, 16-11 (won 2 of 3 vs. Ole Miss)
- 6. Ole Miss, 16-11 (lost 2 of 3 vs. Arkansas)
- 7. Tennessee/Kentucky/LSU/Tennessee, 12-15
- 8. Tennessee/Kentucky/LSU/Tennessee, 12-15
And lastly here's this weekend's slate of games:
- Alabama at Tennessee
- Arkansas at Vanderbilt
- Auburn at Ole Miss
- Florida at South Carolina
- Kentucky at Georgia
- Mississippi State at LSU
3 comments:
AB, will you be posting tourney schedules? When will Auburn play? We are going to drop everything at work and go to Regions Park to see Auburn. Wed.?
Here's your home for Auburn baseball:
http://auppl.blogspot.com/
I agree. Another excellent site. There are a bunch of them out there.
As for the tourney schedule, here's a link that has all the times and tiebreakers. Everything starts Wednesday:
http://www.secsports.com/sport_stats/Baseball/Road%20To%20Hoover.pdf
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