Alabama baseball has three more chances to make its case for the SEC tournament. The Crimson Tide is in a three-way tie in the conference standings for the final spot in Hoover with one more weekend of SEC play remaining.
“For me personally, it’s a big deal,” coach Brad Bohannon said. “I haven’t shied away from it. It’s nice to have something tangible to play for and it’s a big deal for me personally to do everything I can to will this group to extend their season.”
Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky each enter the final weekend of the season at 7-20 in SEC play. Only one will reach the SEC tournament; Florida is currently the 11th team at 10-17 in SEC play with series wins over all three teams behind the Gators.
Alabama holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over South Carolina if they finish with the same record; the Gamecocks also have a head-to-head tiebreaker with Kentucky. If Alabama and Kentucky finish the weekend tied in the standings, the tiebreaker is determined by the win-loss record of the two teams versus the No. 1 seed, then the No. 2 seed if still tied, and so on down the standings. If all three teams are tied, because they did not all face one another, the spot is decided by win-loss percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 seed and proceeding through the No. 12 seed.
That means there’s still much to be determined during the weekend. Vanderbilt, ranked No. 2 in the nation, currently holds the top spot in the conference. The Commodores swept South Carolina and Alabama; they travel to Lexington this weekend.
All three teams contending for the tournament have a difficult road. Alabama plays a series at No. 7 Georgia. South Carolina is at No. 5 Mississippi State.
Vanderbilt hasn’t yet clinched the No. 1 seed, meaning a tiebreaker using a team’s record against the Commodores may not come into play. Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi State are all mathematically in play for the conference’s top seed. That could create complicated scenarios that will still have to play out.
“We’ll be scoreboard watching,” Bohannon said. “Everybody in the league has a big game this weekend. You’re either trying to win the league and to be a national seed or host a regional or just scratch and claw to get to the NCAA tournament or the SEC tournament.”
