@TexasBaseball on X
By Chris Marler
SEC baseball rarely takes a backseat to anything. That includes March Madness. This weekend saw several huge series take place on the diamond, and several huge moments that will ultimatley shape the rest of the season in the SEC. That included an SEC legend getting laid off, and tempers flaring with a potential top five pick.
Here’s this weekend’s SEC baseball recap.
South Carolina finally does the right thing
South Carolina has been in a miserable place with men’s basketball and baseball for the last two plus seasons. Being a bottom dweller in both sports and having to choose between buyout money and potential relevancy is not a place any program wants to find themselves in. They’ve lived there for a while.
South Carolina did the right thing by deciding not to wait for the rest of this season to end even worse, or more embarrassingly, than it has begun. There’s no details on how the $4.1 million Paul Mainieri’s owed from a buyout will be paid or who will even be responsible for it since the two reportedly agreed to mutually part ways.
The decision to move on brought about an inspired effort from South Carolina immediately prior to game two of the series. It didn’t result in a win because bad teams find ways to lose games, and South Carolina is a bad team. They lost 3-2 in 10 innings to No. 4 Arkansas after blowing a 2-1 lead in the ninth thanks to an errant throw from their shortstop KJ Scobey.
Still, the energy was noticeably different, and the Gamecocks got a big win in the series finale.
Going to be honest, I don’t remember ever seeing any home run celebrations in the last year and a half.
Again, much different energy and vibe over the last 24 hours. https://t.co/uppN8H24Zi pic.twitter.com/dV8I8fyBzl
— Jack Veltri (@Jacktveltri) March 22, 2026
Starkville is the epicenter of college baseball
Mississippi State is different when it comes to college baseball. The university, the fans, and everyone involved just operate on a different level compared to most other programs. There’s no better example of that than the feat that they accomplished this weekend in their series against Vanderbilt. After Saturday’s crowd of over 13,000 at Dudy Noble Field, the Bulldogs now hold the top 25 highest attended games in college baseball.
All of them. That’s insane.
Mississippi State, tonight, officially took over the whole entire Top 25 NCAA on-campus attendance record games. pic.twitter.com/QyDWeTviyR
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) March 22, 2026
Upset alert was right, Florida is a fraud
During each weekend preview, we ask who is on upset alert this upcoming weekend. It’s hard to say what teams are on upset alert in a league where roughly half the teams are ranked at any and every point throughout the season. This weekend, I offered up Georgia and Florida, as both were headed on the road against good squads.
Florida fans have insisted all season long that this team is legit. Sadly, the one continuing detractor of that argument is Florida having to play actual baseball games. It felt obvious that the team that swept South Carolina in the least impressive way possible and lost their series to High Point the week before was fool’s gold. They proved that to be true this weekend in Tuscaloosa after getting swept. Tempers flared several times after long balls from Alabama with star shortstop Justin Lebron being at the center of it several times.
If they mad, make ’em madder.@bradyneal16 I #RollTide pic.twitter.com/PWXgFhDBo6
— Alabama Baseball (@AlabamaBSB) March 22, 2026
Texas-Auburn lived up to the billing
Auburn and Texas understood the assignment. Not only were all three games ultra competitive, the stars for each side were at their best as well. That was especially the case on Friday and Saturday with Texas center fielder Aiden Robbins who hit a home run in each othe first two games of the series. He also had a mishap that led to Auburn’s dramatic come from behind win on Friday night.
It was one of the best regular season atmosphere’s you’ll see all season, and regardless of who won the series it proved that both these teams are more than capable of meeting again in Omaha.
AIDEN ROBBINS AGAIN 🔥🔥
Dude is on an heater at the plate. Absolutely scorched pic.twitter.com/9BZyAzVtd4
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) March 21, 2026
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