Michael Bacigalupi
By Chris Marler
It’s the penultimate weekend of the SEC baseball regular season. With just six games in the regular season left, there’s still a lot that can happen and some massive matchups that will shape the postseason as well as the SEC Tournament in Hoover. Here’s our SEC Baseball Weekend preview.
LSU just needs “A chip and a chair”
LSU heads to Athens to take on league-leading Georgia with their backs against the wall. LSU’s Jay Johnson spoke earlier this week on Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn that LSU just needs a chip and a chair. The old poker axiom is somewhat of a rallying cry for the Tigers who are finally playing their best baseball of the season.
Still, the uphill battle that awaits them in the Classic City is real.
Georgia has a 2.5 game lead in the conference standings. They lead the league in hitting and home runs with 131. LSU has really struggled on the road, going 3-10 away from Alex Box Stadium this season. Their pitching has gotten better, and the lineup has made a 180 since the freshman and underclassmen got sprinkled in. The pitchers will need to continue to not give up free bases and more importantly keep the ball down in Foley Field which is a bandbox.
2026 College Baseball Preseason Top 12 Current RPI
1. UCLA- 1st
2. LSU- 65th
3. Texas- 2nd
4. Mississippi State- 18th
5. Georgia Tech- 3rd
6. Coastal Carolina- 13th
7. Arkansas- 32nd
8. Louisville- 117th
9. Auburn- 5th
10. TCU- 43rd
11. UNC- 7th
12. Oregon State- 11th— CFB Home (@CFBHome) April 20, 2026
Off and running
Mississippi State and Auburn started their series on Thursday night. The Tigers are in the middle of the hardest three series stretch of any team this season. This trip to Starkville followed last weekend’s visit to Texas before wrapping up next week at Georgia.
Game one was a dominant 10-3 win from Mississippi State where the Bulldogs jumped all over the Tigers early. Each inning Aubun scored, the Bulldogs matched their run tally in the bottom half of that inning. It was winning baseball at its best, and it was great to see their bats going again. The middle of their lineup did the most damage going a ridiculous 10-of-17 from the four-through-seven hitters.
BEANS. TWO BOMBS. TWO GRAND SLAMS. https://t.co/iwFGka6431 pic.twitter.com/JP0ERik1aw
— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) May 8, 2026
Best Series
Aside from Mississippi State and Auburn, there are two other ranked matchups this weekend. Oklahoma heads to Arkansas, and Texas A&M is at Ole Miss. The Sooners don’t rank in the top off of the conference in average or ERA, and simply cannot hit for power. Don’t be surprised if the Hogs sweep at home.
That leaves Texas A&M at Ole Miss with the most riding on it. Two weeks ago it felt like the Aggies may be a potential top eight seed nationally, but their home loss to Auburn left a lot of questions that many thought were already answered. Texas A&M is trying to end their slide in Oxford this weekend against an Ole Miss team who is currently 25-6 at home and No. 13 in the RPI.
Ole Miss is flawed, but we’re starting to learn that the Aggies may be way more flawed than we thought.
Who’s on upset alert?
Here’s the slate for this weekend. Not sure there is a clear cut upset incoming this weekend. From the slate it looks like one, maybe two, choices here.
No. 24 Oklahoma at No. 17 Arkansas
No. 19 Alabama at South Carolina
LSU at No. 5 Georgia
No. 4 Texas at Tennessee
Kentucky at No. 21 Florida
Vanderbilt at Missouri
No. 9 Texas A&M at No. 20 Ole Miss
No. 6 Auburn at No. Mississippi State
So, who’s on upset alert? There’s only one, and as a Baton Rouge resident, it feels like writing it out would be jinxing it. So, this is me not saying that Georgia is officially on upset alert against LSU.
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