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After a crazy weekend of baseball to open play in the SEC. Let’s see how the top five fared or if there are any changes in this week’s weekly roundup.
Tennessee, Texas, LSU and Alabama swept their opponents, Georgia scored 36 runs in a wild series against Kentucky. Arkansas bounced back to win the series after dropping game one Friday to Ole Miss. Oklahoma marched into South Carolina and won the series. Auburn outlasted Vanderbilt to win Sunday’s rubber match and clinch the series.
With week five in the books, let’s see who the WRUF baseball team has ranked in its Week 6 top five. Plus, the writers give their thoughts on the biggest concern for Florida after getting swept by Tennessee.
SEC Top 5
Hunter DeLauder + Jacob Fedora
Tennessee (20-0, 3-0 SEC) is legit. Many felt the No. 1 Volunteers would be challenged by Florida (16-5, 0-3), possibly dropping the series. While challenging some, the Volunteers flexed their muscles with a sweep of the Gators. The starting pitching for Games 1 and 2 was superb. Left-hander Liam Doyle and right-hander Marcus Phillips combined for 11 2/3 innings pitched, with 13 strikeouts and one run allowed.
The coming out party of RHP Nate Snead was fun to watch. The flamethrower out of the bullpen put Games 1 and 3 on ice. Hitting as high as 99 mph with wicked off-speed seemed at times untouchable. In his two appearances, Snead tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings with six strikeouts and zero runs allowed.
LSU (20-1, 3-0) took Missouri’s best shot this past weekend, dusted it off and knocked it out. The Bayou Bengals proved to be the best cat in town as they swept the Tigers. Freshman Derek Curiel stayed hot at the plate with five more hits and is now hitting a scorching .451. LSU extended its winning streak to 15 games and will head to Austin, Texas, to face Texas this weekend.
No Pitching No Problem for UGA
Georgia (21-2, 2-1) remains at No. 3 after the series win against Kentucky. The Bulldogs scored 36 runs in three games, the majority of it coming in Sunday’s finale when they scored 17. Robbie Burnett had such a good weekend that he was named SEC Player of the Week. Burnett went 8-for-12 (.667) with two home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs. On Friday, he went 4-4 with a career-high 5 RBIs.
https://twitter.com/sec_d1baseball/status/1901695686107611176
It was impressive to watch Georgia attack a Kentucky pitching staff that entered the series with a 1.89 ERA.
Arkansas (18-2, 2-1) bounced back after dropping Game 1 to Ole Miss with two solid wins on the road to win the series. Both Wehiwa and Kuhio Aloy had a big weekend and were a big reason the Razorbacks won the series. The brothers combined for nine hits, eight RBIs and four home runs.
Alabama (20-1, 3-0) enters the top five for the first time this season. The Crimson Tide have been on the radar of teams to keep an eye for, but keep on rolling. They notched another series win over the weekend, sweeping Texas A&M in College Station. First baseman Will Hodo had a monster weekend highlighted by his go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning to clinch the series win on Saturday.
https://twitter.com/NCAABaseball/status/1901039733087547644
Alabama will defend its home turf in the upcoming series against the Tennessee starting Friday.
Brooke Park
- Tennessee
- LSU
- Georgia
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
After Tennessee’s performance against Florida, it deserve to stay in the top spot. The Volunteers dominated the Gators in all aspects of the game: pitching, fielding and hitting. Overall, they scored 22 runs against Florida and gave up only seven. With more challenges like this ahead, sweeping Florida was a huge confidence booster for the Volunteers.
LSU, Georgia and Arkansas stayed the same rank as last week as they all won their series. LSU swept its series against Missouri, scoring a total of 29 runs. Georgia lost once to Kentucky, but during that game, the Dawgs did their best to come back. The bullpen only allowed one run between innings five through nine. Arkansas also lost game one to Ole Miss, but dominated the rest of the series, so the Hogs stayed at four. Florida dropped out of the top five after being swept by Tennessee.
Instead, Oklahoma (17-2, 2-1) steps in at five. The Sooners won their series against South Carolina, but lost in Game 2. However, they have been consistent throughout the beginning of the season with a 17-2 overall record. For the first time in the SEC, Oklahoma will have a lot to prove but started on the right foot.
Biggest Concern with Florida
All WRUF Reporters: The Bullpen
The bullpen for Florida is the biggest concern following the conclusion of the Tennessee series. With how good the starting pitching was on Friday and Saturday, you would’ve liked to have seen the bullpen perform better, but that was not the case. On Friday, Luke McNeillie was the only relief pitcher from the weekend that did his job. McNeillie struck out three and only gave up one run.
Freshman RHP Aidan King pitched phenomenal Saturday. He went six innings, struck out six and allowed just one run. When King was pulled it was a 1-0 game heading to the bottom of the seventh. Nine runs, three pitchers and only one out recorded later, Tennessee walked it off to mercy-rule Florida. It was another collapse by the bullpen that bled right into Sunday’s finale.
Wow. Tennessee RUN RULES Florida after coming into the seventh inning with a 1-0 lead.
A LOUD way to win the series for the Vols. pic.twitter.com/3hMkcEd4Vh
— SEC Unfiltered (@SECUnfiltered) March 15, 2025
On Sunday RHP Jake Clemente left the mound with a lead, it was the first time all series the Gators had a lead. But that lead was short lived, because the bullpen failed again. Billy Barlow and Alex Philpott both came in relief and gave up five runs and walked five, all in five innings. Overall, this was the biggest fear for most because when inexperience and injuries attack the bullpen, it leads to outcomes like this.
Luckily for Florida, it gets to return home for five games, including two midweek games to get right. Because Friday when No. 4 Georgia comes to town, the Gators better have something figured out. Or the Bulldogs will do exactly what they just finished doing to Kentucky.
Hunter DeLauder, Jacob Fedora and Brooke Park contributed to this report.
