SEC Tournament Baseball Preview : Vanderbilt Vs Missouri

The SEC Baseball Tournament gets underway Tuesday and the first game finds number 11 seed Missouri facing six seeded Vanderbilt in Hoover, Alabama.  Mizzou sophomore Tanner Houck will start on the mound against Commodore freshman Partrick Raby. The Commodores will come into tournament play with high momentum finishing the season 41-15 overall while coming off a series sweep of the Auburn Tigers.  The Tigers finished their regular season play 26-29 overall.

Vanderbilt is 13-0 all time against Missouri and comes into the game a certain NCAA Tournament team.  They have played a tough schedule, facing three top five teams and they are 10-5 over their last 15 games.  Patrick Raby is coming off a tough SEC start against the Gators last Sunday as he gave up a career high six runs on six hits over 2.1 innings.

Missouri Starting pitcher Tanner Houck had a great performance back in March when the Tigers and Commodores played an SEC series.  Houck held the team to four runs in the series opener until a late four run rally in the ninth inning by the Commodores gave them the win. Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin says Houck was tough to play against and had a great team to back him up in the that series. According to Baseball America Houck is the #1 MLB 2017 draft prospect.

The Tigers will have to win the SEC Tournament to have a shot at making the NCAA Tournament in all likelihood.  The Tigers rank near the bottom of the SEC in many offensive categories and coach Jameison says returning players haven’t stepped up and hit the ball like he thought they would. Leading offense is senior Zach Lavy who leads the nation with eight triples which is the most Mizzou has seen since 1994. Lavy leads the SEC in extra base hits, slugging, and triples and ranks third in doubles with 18.

The teams will face off on Tuesday in Hoover Alabama at 9:30am.