SEC Baseball Tournament Day One: Four Contenders Eliminated

On Tuesday, the SEC Baseball Tournament began with a cutthroat, single elimination round that featured four matchups. In this exciting first round, four teams saw their hopes of an SEC Tournament win disappear. Here is the scoreboard from day one:

South Carolina 9, Georgia 0

Texas A&M 3, Tennessee 0

Alabama 4, Kentucky 0

Auburn 10, Missouri 4

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1661244848819830786?s=20

 

Plenty of Shutouts

In a conference as offensively loaded as the SEC, a shutout in an important game should be shocking. Yesterday, fans in Hoover saw three out of four games end with a zero on the scoreboard.

Volun-Tears

Out of all the shutouts, one stood out.

Final, Vols drop the contest, 3-0, to Texas A&M. pic.twitter.com/pCcbjVXvrJ

— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) May 23, 2023

Entering this season, the Tennessee Volunteers were thought to be one of the frontrunners in college baseball. Head coach Tony Vitello is one of the most polarizing figures in the sport, but his team was expected to rally behind him and crack the top five. They finished eighth in the polls in the 2022 season.

This showing was not indicative of those expectations. The Vols allowed Texas A&M pitcher Troy Wansing to toss a one-hitter, eliminating them from the bracket, and 14 of their 19 losses have now come from within the conference.

Gamecock Dominance

In all facets of the game, South Carolina played its best baseball.

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1661112327259783170?s=20

Though the Gamecocks were technically seeded higher than Georgia, they made it look like it shouldn’t have been close.

South Carolina pitching tossed a five-hit shutout while its bats exploded for nine runs. Six different Gamecocks recorded an RBI during the course of the game.

Roll Tide Roll

When an eight seed plays a nine seed, anything can happen. Alabama proved to be the better team on Tuesday.

The Tide relied on its defense heavily for this win. While the team did post the third shutout of the day, only five of the 27 total outs came by way of the strikeout.

https://twitter.com/AlabamaBSB/status/1661149971318710272?s=20

The Superior Tigers

The final game of the day showcased the Auburn Tigers and the Missouri Tigers. The 10-4 final was the only scoring line of the day that was not a shutout.

https://twitter.com/AuburnBaseball/status/1661222290288148480?s=20

Auburn pitching took care of business. While Missouri was able to post four runs, Auburn countered that with double-digit strikeouts.

Auburn’s offense also provided plenty of run support, and after a four-run fourth, the game was never tightly contested again.

Moving Forward

Wednesday is home to the second round of the tournament — another four-game slate. Here are the matchups:

LSU vs. South Carolina

Arkansas vs. Texas A&M

Florida vs. Alabama

Vanderbilt vs. Auburn