SEC Baseball Shakeup: Texas making its case

University of Texas Athletics

By Chris Marler

My what a difference a week makes. Last week the SEC went a combined 64-7 in games across the span of the week. This week they nearly matched that loss total before the weekend even started. Several teams struggled this week and into the weekend, here’s our recap from Friday through Sunday.

LSU struggles disappear from mound, re-emerge at the plate

LSU fans aren’t going to be happy with the run totals in the box scores this weekend. Jay Johnson wasn’t, either. The LSU offense struggled at the plate all weekend through the first three games of their series with Dartmouth and Northeastern. Through Sunday, they were just 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position. That included an 0-for-7 on Sunday. That number is frustrating for sure, but the fact that only seven players were ever in scoring position against Dartmouth was equally, if not more, frustrating.

Before anyone freaks out and thinks the sky is falling just three weekends into the 2026 season, do yourself a favor and stop.

LSU won all three of those games on the weekend despite their offense showing up on a milk carton. The reason they won was the reason for a lot of last week’s irrational concern from around LSU baseball – pitching.

The pitching this weekend was outstanding. Casan Evans looked great, Cooper Moore continues to be one of the best transfer portal additions in America and William Schmidt was fantastic once again on Sunday. As a staff, LSU combined for 41 strikeouts and just six walks on the weekend. All three starters held opposition hitters to just nine hits in three games while striking out at least nine apiece.

This season is a long way from being over, and LSU hasn’t begun to click yet offensively and on the mound. When that happens, watch out.

LSU starters this weekend…

Casan Evans: 5.1IP, 10K/3BB, 2H 2R
Cooper Moore: 7.2IP, 10K/1BB, 3H 1R
William Schmidt: 7.1IP, 9K/0BB, 4H 0R

That’s 20.1 innings, 29K/3BB, and an ERA of 1.33 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/RiN5itKKno

— Tigers On Deck (@Tigers_On_Deck) March 1, 2026

SEC struggles on the road

Several SEC teams traveled to the Lonestar state once again this weekend for non-conference tournaments. While Oklahoma and Arkansas fared well in their trips a few weeks ago, it was not the same for teams this time around. Ole Miss went 1-2 on the weekend after starting the season 9-0. UCLA took it to Tennessee and Texas A&M on Friday and Saturday.

It wasn’t all bad, as Alabama did well in Frisco and Texas clobbered No. 9 Coastal Carolina 8-1 on Friday. After going 1-2 in Arlington two weeks ago, Vanderbilt traveled even farther west and struggled again, dropping three straight to Arizona, UC Irvine and Oregon. The Commodores fell to 7-5 on the year, and will most likely ask Greg Sankey for help in making sure they never have to take a trip past the Mississippi River ever again.

Vanderbilt went 0-3 this weekend at the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic.

The Commodores are 7-5. pic.twitter.com/B1KXDB6dBf

— College Baseball News (@CollegeBSBNews) March 1, 2026

New number one

Texas is the best team in the SEC right now. Our weekly SEC Power rankings don’t come out until Monday, and it feels unfair to strip LSU of the No. 1 spot that they’ve held the first two weeks of the season. It seems even more unfair to not credit what Texas has done so far against a more difficult schedule. Texas hasn’t been flashy. They just dominate you on the mound and don’t give up any big crooked numbers in any inning.

Undefeated baseball teams

Mississippi State 11-0
New Mexico 11-0
Texas 10-0
USC 10-0 pic.twitter.com/EjEP5otbIw

— CFB Home (@CFBHome) March 1, 2026

They haven’t allowed more than four runs in a game all season. Coming into Sunday, they’ve held their opponents to two runs or less in eight of their ten games.

Mississippi State also deserves some love. They didn’t swing it well on opening weekend hitting a league low .236 against Hofstra at the plate. In their next eight games they scored 97 runs averaging over 12 runs per game. They’ve been fantastic, and regardless of what happens against No. 1 UCLA this weekend, they’ve shown they belong in the top five in the country and can play with anyone.

The good news for us baseball fans is that we get to watch all three of these teams duke it out all season long with SEC play beginning in just two weeks.