Credit: Texas Baseball on X
By Chris Marler
It may be March Madness time on the basketball court, but there are a few SEC teams already fighting for their lives in conference play on the baseball diamond. All 16 SEC teams will be in action this weekend across eight different series.
Off and Running
Two weekend series are already underway on Thursday as Ole Miss traveled to Kentucky and Oklahoma opened their series at LSU.
As of Friday morning, it has not been a good trip to the Bayou for the Boomer Sooners. The No. 8 Sooners lost on Tuesday to Southeastern and were shutout 3-0 in that game. Their high powered offense was also shut down against Casan Evans in game one of the series.
Up in Lexington, Ole Miss showed once again why they’re a TEMU version of Auburn. That sounds way more condescending than I actually mean. The Rebels have struggled at the plate ranking 14th in team batting average. The pitching staff has been great though, ranking in the top half of the SEC in ERA (3.59) and second in strikeouts with 256 on the season. They got a big win against the top 20 Wildcats to start their series.
PALMER: Evans, Tigers cruise to Thursday win versus Sooners
FINAL: LSU 7 Oklahoma 1 #GeauxTigers
RECAP: https://t.co/zmutdsei3z pic.twitter.com/ZearviXfjR
— 104.5 ESPN (@1045espn) March 20, 2026
Best Series of the Weekend: Texas at Auburn
These are the best two pitching staffs in the SEC. They’re also the best two pitching staffs in the country.
Auburn and Texas have separated themselves early on this season as contenders in the conference. Yes, Arkansas and Mississippi State hover right around them in the rankings, but these two teams are different.
They are both dominant on the mound, and this series might as well be sponsored by Immodium AD because there will be almost no runs this weekend in Auburn.
Special @SEC series loading. ⌛️ #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/U9xZfYImF6
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) March 20, 2026
Auburn put the country on notice that they’re for real earlier this week with a dominant midweek win against No. 3 Georgia Tech. The question mark for this year’s Tigers has been the bats at times, but there were no issues at the plate against the Jackets.
Both teams are incredibly well rounded, ranking in the top five in batting average and in the bottom four of the league in strikeouts. Two of Auburn’s weekend starters, Jake Marciano and Andreas Alvarez feature an ERA under 1.09 each. Texas ace Ruger Riojas has an ERA over 2.00 but has a ridiculous 50 strikeouts in just 26.1 innings pitched.
It should be a good one on the Plains.
Who’s on Upset Alert: Florida or Georgia
It’s hard to pick an “upset” in this conference because there are so many good teams. I’ll go out on a limb here though, and say one of the former SEC East rivals, Florida or Georgia, could lose their series this weekend.
Both teams have to travel to face some good offenses away from home. It’s hard to fathom that Florida is going to lose on Friday night against Alabama considering their ace Aiden King hasn’t allowed an earned run in 23.1 innings pitched this season.
Florida is coming off a series sweep against South Carolina, but the Gamecocks are absolutely awful, and the Gators were awful against them. They managed just three runs in the first two games of the series and were held to just two hits in the first game of the series. They won’t be able to leave Tuscaloosa with two wins if they play like that in two of the three games.
Then, there’s No. 7 Georgia. I am really high on the Bulldogs this season, but Texas A&M has been really good this season, they’ve just flown under the radar. They lost their series last weekend to Oklahoma 2-1, but they outscored the Sooners on the weekend. They have just three losses on the season. One of those was to No. 1 UCLA, and the other two were to No. 8 Oklahoma by one run.
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