As we inch closer to the postseason around the country, many teams across college baseball remain in a state of identity crisis, while others continue to take care of business, and then you have a team like Georgia, which just keeps on winning. Once again, the parity this season across college baseball has given us one of the best seasons in the sport’s history. As for why that is, that’s a conversation for the offseason. As we do every Monday, let’s deep-dive into a few thoughts and takeaways from another insane weekend of college baseball. 

First, as I did last week with Tulane, let’s start with the new relationships made this weekend at the SSAC Conference Tournament in Jackson, Tennessee. An NAIA conference baseball tournament that delivered a solid product on the field to match an underrated venue that hosted the tournament. Some people around the sport would look at the tournament and scoff, but we were treated to Loyola, out of the great city of New Orleans, coming in as the 6th seed out of eight teams, leaving with the championship trophy and earning an auto bid to the national tournament for a second straight season. Once again, at the end of the day, college baseball is still college baseball, and despite the narratives that get pushed, college baseball will remain college baseball. 

Second, before diving deeper in the action on the field, this weekend was one of those where there wasn’t a whole lot of movement in terms of where teams stand in the Southeastern Conference this weekend, but still a solid weekend across the landscape all the while Georgia remains on top of the Southeastern Conference as everyone else battles for the final three double byes for the upcoming Southeastern Conference Tournament. 

We’re going to start things off in the American Conference, where credit is deserved to Coach Matt Riser and the Memphis Tigers as they earned a hard-fought series win over the traditional powerhouse of the American Conference in the East Carolina Pirates. Something that Memphis had not been able to do in over ten years. Since the last series win over ECU in 2015, the Tigers would pick up a win here and there, even a run-ruled game a few years ago in the conference tournament, but failed to take a series over the Pirates during that timespan. With the win, the Tigers improved to 10-11 in conference play and, if they can get into the conference tournament in Clearwater, could very well be a tough out for any number of teams as they play to win. Coming into the season, the goal for Coach Riser was simple: reach the conference tournament. Now, the Tigers are in a position to take care of business and reach that goal while improving the team’s overall well-being as each game passes. 

Staying in the American, UAB saw their at-large postseason chances go up in flames this past weekend after allowing Rice to sweep them. Given the series was in Houston, it was still a bad series loss for the Blazers as they will now shift the focus to taking down Auburn on Tuesday night, before trying to end the American slate on a high note with the final home series with Charlotte, before heading south to take on UTSA in what could be a series to decide the regular-season champion. As it stands, UAB is three games behind UTSA in the standings and needs to pull for Memphis this weekend to upset UTSA before setting the scene for a wild finish the weekend before heading to Clearwater for the American Conference Tournament. 

Heading into the Southeastern Conference, this past weekend delivered in the same way it’s been delivering all season long. 

Let’s start with the Kentucky and Tennessee series, where Kentucky needed a series win in the worst possible way. Coming into the weekend, Kentucky had lost six straight SEC series dating back to the Opening Weekend, where they swept Alabama. Kentucky found itself with its back against the wall, needing the series win over Tennessee just to have a chance at another Regional. The Wildcats delivered by taking two out of three, earning the 10th and 11th Southeastern Conference wins of the season. Now, all Kentucky has to do in the final two SEC series this season is not get swept by either Florida in Gainesville or Arkansas at home. As long as Kentucky wins at least two of the next six conference games, the Wildcats will be back safely in a Regional as a challenging out for any of the sixteen hosts. What we saw this weekend from Kentucky is the team we all expected from the start of the season. It’ll be interesting to see if Kentucky remains hot by going into Gainesville and having a chance to stun the Gators. 

Over in Austin, Texas, it was the 4th-ranked Texas Longhorns taking care of business against the 10th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, with all the feels of a Super Regional. Every pitch mattered, and not doing the small things would cost the Bulldogs the series as Texas continues with the mometum heading towards the SEC Tournament in three weeks in Hoover. Outside of the outcome itself, one massive takeaway from the weekend series between the two is the likelihood that we will see these two play again this season in some capacity, either in Hoover, a Super Regional, or in Omaha, Texas, and Mississippi State will likely become familiar foes this season. 

Georgia continues its dominance this season, completing the series sweep of Missouri this past weekend. Georgia is another bracket of their own with just two weeks remaining in the regular season. Georgia will likely be the one seed in Hoover, with the remaining two SEC series being against LSU at home, then at Auburn. Win both series and the Bulldogs will have all the mometum heading into the postseason with a manageable path forward to Omaha. 

Lastly, let’s talk about the Ole Miss Rebels, who had their hearts ripped out of their chest on Sunday when Christian Turner sent a two-run walk-off home run to deep right field to take game three 5-4, tipping the series in favor of the Razorbacks by taking two out of three games. Despite being run-ruled on Friday night, Ole Miss fought through the adversity by taking Saturday’s game, before baseball happened on Sunday. The series loss to Arkansas is not the end of the journey for Ole Miss, as the Rebels are still very much in play to host another Oxford Regional. A series win this weekend over 9th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies would position Ole Miss right back into the thick of the hosting conversation, with the last SEC hosting spot likely coming down to the final regular season series at Alabama to determine who gets the final hosting spot out of the Southeastern Conference. Short memory is important in this situation, forget the heartbreak of Arkansas, and move on now to defending Swayze Field and taking care of business and leaving yourself as a baseball team in a position to earn a home regional by taking two out of three over Alabama with a bit of mometum into the SEC Tournament.