Bulldogs, Rebels meet up at SEC Tourney
By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
May 21, 2003
HOOVER, Ala. Although bad weather seems to be hovering around the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium as the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament begins its five-day run, rain is not the biggest thing on the minds of the eight teams assembled for this year's conference championship.
Five of the teams have put in bids to host one of 16 NCAA regionals, and all eight are hoping to be in the 64-team field when it is announced on Monday.
MSU was set to open its tournament action against arch-rival Ole Miss at 5 p.m. today. The other side of the bottom bracket features No. 1 seed and No. 8 Arkansas at 8 p.m. State is seeded No. 4, while the Rebels are the No. 5 seed.
Weather permitting, the tournament was set to begin at 10 a.m. today with No. 3 seed Auburn tangling with No. 6 Vanderbilt. The 1 p.m. game was scheduled to be No. 2 seed South Carolina against No. 7 Alabama.
Auburn, Vandy, Alabama and South Carolina are all in the top bracket. Each bracket plays a double-elimination format with the two winners meeting in a one-game showdown at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Mississippi State, Auburn and South Carolina all have 38 wins going into the tournament, while LSU has 37. All four of those teams not only will receive NCAA bids, but are likely to be hosting a regional.
Arkansas has the next best overall record at 34-18, while Alabama is 33-22, Ole Miss is 33-23 and Vanderbilt is 27-26.
But when it comes to receiving an NCAA bid, it is Ole Miss' 17-13 conference record that gives the Rebels an edge over the other three teams, which all finished at 14-16 in league play.
The team with the biggest concerns is Vanderbilt.
The Commodores swept arch-rival Tennessee 7-4, 9-1 and 6-5 the last weekend of the season to squeak past Florida and Tennessee to earn a spot in the SEC Tournament.
