2023 SEC Baseball Tournament: Tide, Tigers riding winning streaks entering play in Hoover
The final day of the SEC baseball regular season wrapped up Saturday evening, finalizing the seeding for the 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament which is set to begin Tuesday in Hoover. Both Alabama and Auburn will be playing on the opening day of the tournament with games set for the evening session Tuesday.
Alabama (38-17, 16-14) finished the regular season by sweeping Ole Miss, giving the Crimson Tide a 16-14 record in conference play. It's the first time the team has finished above .500 in conference play since 2014. The team's 38-win mark is its most in a regular season since 2009.
The Crimson Tide is slated into the conference's No. 9 seed, falling short in a tiebreaker with Tennessee and Kentucky. Alabama will play Tuesday against the Wildcats with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Auburn (33-19, 17-13) is riding an eight-game winning streak which has included sweeping series against Ole Miss and Missouri to end the regular season. The Tigers still finished two games outside of earning a bye into the double elimination bracket but will enter the tournament as the conference's No. 5 seed. Their first game will be against 12-seed Missouri with first pitch coming approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Alabama-Kentucky game.
Both teams are looking to bolster their resumes in hopes of getting to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament.
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Florida earned a share of the regular season conference title along with the No. 1 seed in the tournament, winning the tiebreaker with Arkansas. LSU and Vanderbilt round out the top four seeds, each getting a bye to the double-elimination bracket which begins Wednesday morning.
The tournament features just 12 of the conference's 14 teams. The two teams on the outside looking in include the last two national champions, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The two teams failed to reach double-digit wins in conference play.
The 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament championship game is tentatively scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday. You can see the full schedule below.
2023 SEC Baseball Tournament
(All times Central and subject to change)
Tuesday, May 23 - Single Elimination
Game 1: No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 6 South Carolina, 9:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 10 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Tennessee, approximately 1 p.m.
Game 3: No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Kentucky, 4:30 p.m.
Game 4: No. 12 Missouri vs. No. 5 Auburn, approximately 8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 24 - Double Elimination
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. No. 3 LSU, 9:30 a.m.
Game 6: Game 2 winner vs. No. 2 Arkansas, approximately 1 p.m.
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. No. 1 Florida, 4:30 p.m.
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt, approximately 8 p.m.
Thursday, May 25
Game 9: Game 6 loser vs. Game 5 loser, 9:30 a.m.
Game 10: Game 8 loser vs. Game 7 loser, approximately 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 6 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 4:30 p.m.
Game 12: Game 8 winner vs. Game 7 winner, approximately 8 p.m.
Friday, May 26
Game 13: Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 loser, 3 p.m.
Game 14: Game 10 winner vs. Game 12 loser, approximately 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 27 - Single Elimination
Game 15: Game 11 winner vs. Game 13 winner, noon
Game 16: Game 12 winner vs. Game 14 winner, approximately 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 28
Championship Game, 2 p.m.