After a long and grueling journey, we have reached the doorstep of the postseason as we enter into the final weekend of the regular season, where work is still to be done, and the clock is right there at midnight for many teams. It all comes down to this weekend, when all the effort culminates in the final weekend of the regular season, deciding the postseason path for many teams. Some will be eliminated from making a Regional without winning a conference tournament, while others will build cases to be one of the lucky 16 teams who are able to at the very least start the journey to the College World Series within the friendly confines of their home stadiums, eight of those will have earned a postion a top-eight national seed that will see the road to Omaha go right through their towns in both a Regional and Super Regional. 

Without further introduction, let’s take a look at a couple of matchups that carry a little bit more weight than the others. 

All across the southeast, we have massive matchups to close out the regular season. We’re going to talk about a few of those and what a series win would mean for each of the teams. 

Starting in the great state of Alabama, where Alabama and Ole Miss meet as the 15th and 14th-ranked teams in the country, fighting for likely the last or second-to-last top-16 seed. The winner of the series will likely be hosting a Regional the week after the SEC Tournament, there is a world with the sixteen conference wins for Alabama would be enough for the Crimson Tide to be a Regional host, but losing to Ole Miss would make things in Hoover matter just a bit more as the Crimson Tide would be leaving thier hosting fate up to the selection committee based on the metrics they decide to be important this year. For Ole Miss, there’s very little grey area. A series win over Alabama would likely give the Rebels the RPI and SOS to host a Regional. A win or two in Hoover would also go a long way toward securing the Swayze Regional hopes for the Rebels. As far as predictions go, this one is hard to say. With as much on the line as this series has, the expectations are that this series will need a rubber match on Saturday to decide the series. 

Staying on the theme of Mississippi and big-time weekend series. This weekend in College Station has everything you could ask for and then some, as the 12th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs head to Aggieland to take on the 10th-ranked Texas A&M Fighting Aggies in a series that could deliver a weekend full of drama, as both teams are fringe top-eight contenders and both desperately need series wins this weekend to remain in the conversation. Both the Aggies and Bulldogs will likely qualify for Regionals unless they get swept this weekend, but they still hope to earn a highly sought-after top-eight seed to secure an easier path to Omaha. As of right now, Texas A&M has a game advantage over Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference standings. The Aggies hold the double bye, while the Bulldogs would play on Wednesday in the SEC Tournament if the season ended today. 

In what seemed like a bigger deal a few weeks ago, it has turned into Georgia wanting to keep on winning as they have already secured the outright Southeastern Conference Championship before heading to the Plains for a rivarly series with the Tigers of Auburn. Both ranked inside the top five; this series will come down to who wants it more. Georgia has secured the outright championship, and Auburn will be a top-eight national seed. This series will come down to good old-fashioned Southeastern Conference hate for each other, and knowing that you’ll have the bragging rights and recruiting advantage over the other for at least a year. From my vantage point, this series will come down to Georgia’s motivation to finish the regular season on a high note. As it stands right now, the Bulldogs are elite and have been worthy of the praise this season; a series win over Auburn would take it to another level, as the Bulldogs would have done everything they could have leading into the postseason to be considered a true National Championship contender. 

One more major series of interest in the Southeastern Conference this weekend is up in Lexington, where the Kentucky Wildcats welcome the 12th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks to Kentucky Proud Park for a massive Regional implication series for the Wildcats. Kentucky comes into the weekend series with Arkansas at 12 conference wins, needing a 13th or even the 14th to feel secure on the right side of the bubble for a Regional. As of today, coming into the series, the Wildcats are among the last four in a Regional, according to D1Baseball.com, and could use a series win over the Razorbacks to have the monkey off their back heading into next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover. On the other side of the field, you’ll have a red-hot Arkansas team that seems to be peaking at the right time after taking three straight series over Missouri, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma. As it stands, Arkansas still has plenty to play for, as the Razorbacks sit on the outside looking in for a Fayetteville Regional at 15-12 in league play. Arkansas would need some help from others, but the Razorbacks are still right in the conversation as a fringe top-sixteen seed earning another home regional, and a road series win for the Razorbacks would be a massive step in the right direction, as that would bring them to 17 or 18 SEC wins. 

In the Sun Belt, there’s a two-team race for the outright Sun Belt Championship as 8th-ranked Southern Miss and 20th-ranked Coastal Carolina enter the weekend with one game separating the two in the Sun Belt standings. As it stands right now, Coastal Carolina holds the advantage with a 20-7 Sun Belt record, while Southern Miss is 19-8 heading into the final weekend. One would think that with these two massive brands, they would have a head-to-head every year to determine the outright championship, but not this year. For whatever reason, the two best programs in the Sun Belt haven’t met, as everyone shifts the focus to a potential one-game championship between the two in next week’s Sun Belt Tournament. Coming into the weekend, Southern Miss has all but secured a top-16 seed, bringing a regional back home to Pete Taylor Park, while right on the edge of earning the top-eight seed that would provide Coach Ostrander and the Golden Eagles an easier path back to Omaha. Southern Miss will welcome Georgia Southern to Pete Taylor Park for a three-game series starting on Thursday night. On the other side, with Coastal Carolina, the Chanticleers are in need of a road series win over Louisiana-Lafayette to get back into the conversation after dropping two out of three last weekend at home to Old Dominion. Out of the two, Coastal Carolina certainly has the tougher weekend slate with the road trip to take on the Ragin Cajuns, but it’s also Sun Belt baseball, and anything can happen as we’ve seen all season long. 

Another solid weekend of college baseball ahead, sit back and enjoy the drama that will likely transpire this weekend all across the country. 

Other series of interest from around the Southeastern footprint: 

Tennessee at Oklahoma ( Oklahoma City) 

Florida at LSU 

App State at Georgia State 

Arkansas State at South Alabama 

Jacksonville State at Dallas Baptist 

Missouri State at Kennesaw State 

Memphis at Charlotte 

UAB at UTSA 

Tulane at Rice 

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