After another crazy midweek slate, week three of the Southeastern Conference slate is upon us, and boy oh boy do we have an incredible weekend of college baseball ahead of us. Rivalries galore, from Mississippi State and Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, Texas and Oklahoma, we’ll have it all this weekend across the Southeastern Conference. It’s one of the best weekends of baseball on the schedule this season. 

The drama will start on Thursday night, as we have a top-10 showdown between the 7th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and the 2nd-ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin. Once again, the Longhorns have the bright lights on them as they enter another top-ten Southeastern Conference matchup, this time those bright Texas lights will be shining down in Austin as the Longhorns look to make another statement by taking the series over a sneaky Sooners ball club that enters the weekend at 4-2 in league play, both teams come into the weekend apart of the long jam for first place with a 4-2 conference record. This is one of those series where the advantage goes to Texas as they’ll play in front of the hometown crowd. With that said, this could be a weekend where the bullpen issues for Texas come back to bite them against a balanced Sooners lineup. 

In one of the underrated rivalry series of the weekend, you’ll have the 21st-ranked Tennessee Volunteers heading to Hawkins Field to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. In what feels like a must-win for both programs, this series might not have Tony Vitello in one dugout, but the drama will be there in plenty. Vanderbilt comes into the series with Tennessee looking to keep the mometum from the athletic department as a whole, which has dominated Tennessee in most sports this season, with the latest coming a few weeks ago in the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. Tennessee comes into the series with a 3-3 conference record, while Vanderbilt comes into the weekend at 2-4 and licking the wounds of being swept last weekend in Starkville. Something has got to give for both these programs, with it being at Vanderbilt, the Commodores might have the edge, but expect this series to have drama and likely go all three games, with Vanderbilt having a slight edge with the game being played at home. 

In the great state of Alabama, it’s another top-25 Southeastern Conference showdown as the #22nd-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide welcomes the 5th-ranked Auburn Tigers to Tuscaloosa. Last weekend was the tale of two different series; on one side, you had Alabama dominating Florida, breaking out the brooms, and earning a massive sweep of the Gators. On the other side of this, with the Auburn Tigers, you had an Auburn team take game one over Texas but fell to the Longhorns in games two and three, dropping a heartbreaking series after an impressive performance over Georgia Tech in the midweek prior. With that said, this is another rivalry series that goes the full three games before deciding the series. Auburn has more talent in the lineup, but Alabama showed last week that it can play with anyone. Alabama takes the series with a game three winner. 

In a series that not many people are talking about, you have the 19th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats heading to Alex Box Stadium to take on the LSU Tigers starting on Friday night. LSU has been a weird team to figure out this season; they have a talented roster, but haven’t been able to put it all together. Once they figure things out, then watch out, LSU will be right back in the thick of the conversation. On the other side of this series, you have a 4-2 Kentucky team looking to rebound after dropping a game three that cost them the series at Ole Miss last weekend. In all honesty, it was a weird bottom of the 8th inning that played fatal for the Wildcats last weekend. Until they prove otherwise, picking Kentucky to take two out of three games this weekend feels like the safe pick as the Wildcats will look to continue doing what they do in winning baseball games. 

Overshadowed by Mississippi State and Ole Miss, Texas and Oklahoma, and even Tennessee and Vanderbilt, you have the 22nd-ranked Florida Gators heading to Fayetteville to take on the 4th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks in a three-game series starting on Friday night. Florida has been a weird team this season, losing all three to Alabama last weekend, but then turning around and dominating Florida State 5-0 on Tuesday night. Florida has just been one of those teams that nobody can seem to get a feel for through the first two months of the season. On the other side, you have an Arkansas team that comes into the weekend at 4-2 in SEC play and 19-7 overall. Arkansas has struggled some in the midweeks, but looked solid once conference play started. With that said, Baum Walker is too hard a place for the Gators to go into and escape with a win. Arkansas takes two out of the three this weekend. 

Lastly, in a major battle for the Magnolia State, you have 4th-ranked Mississippi State heading into Oxford to take on 17th-ranked Ole Miss at Swayze Field. Records be damned: when these two meet in any sport, when Mississippi State and Ole Miss meet, you can count on the insane happening. There’s hate, there’s drama, and always really good baseball when the Rebels and Bulldogs meet. Mississippi State has seen the resurgence of the program through the first two months of the season, with Coach O’Connor leading the Bulldogs back to contention in just one year as Head Coach. Both teams are down a pitcher due to injury, and Friday night, with Charlie Foster and Hunter Elliott on the mound, has all the makings of delivering an offensive show, while the rest of the weekend could come down to pitching, in which Mississippi State has the weekend advantage. Again, records be damned when these two expect an all-out war this weekend in Oxford. 

Elsewhere around the Southeastern Conference: 

South Carolina at #4 Georgia 

#24 Texas A&M at Missouri 

Photo Credits- School baseball accounts on X